Antonia (Margherita Buy) seems to have the perfect life with husband Massimo (Andrea Renzi). Healthy, wealthy, and happy, they live in a sprawling villa on the outskirts of Rome and share everything together. Well, almost everything.
After Massimo is killed in a road accident, Antonia discovers her doting husband was having an affair. Worse still, the widow realises that her rival isn't a she, but a he.
As Antonia pieces together Massimo's secret life (through an inscription on a painting entitled 'The Ignorant Fairy' no less!), we're taken into an enclave of Rome's gay community that's supposed to be a revelation, but turns out to be distinctly over-familiar.
Owing more than a nod and a wink to the colourful, tempestuous world of Pedro Almodóvar's films, "Le Fate Ignoranti" is a tender tale of love and death from Turkish filmmaker Ferzan Ozpetek, that never manages to be quite as raucous, or as riveting, as the work of his Spanish counterpart.
In Massimo's lover Michele (Stefano Accorsi), Ozpetek gives us a rarity in contemporary cinema - a gay male lead who's not exaggeratedly camp, emotionally crippled, nor an outright caricature.
It's just a shame that in Michele's circle of friends, the writer-director resorts to the usual stereotypes, with a mix 'n' match selection of fag hags, mincing queens, and horny young studs.
Playing it safe, Ozpetek offers an AIDS subtext, skims over the realities of gay sex, and presents yet another tired old vision of the gay community as an all-inclusive world where uptight, middle class bores like Antonia can feel good about themselves.
If the film had more than one foot out of the closet, this could have been an even more refreshing slice of Italian cinema. But with its idealised, politically-naïve overtones, "Le Fate Ignoranti" is Almodóvar-lite - fluffy but never too hot or heavy.
In Italian with English subtitles.
Le Fate Ignoranti (His Secret Life) (2003)
