Every scene Sophia Loren isn’t in feels like a wasted one: The Life Ahead reviewed

The Life Ahead stars Sophia Loren, and if there is one reason to see The Life Ahead it is this: Sophia Loren. And if you need a second reason, it is this: Sophia Loren. Also, it is the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh reason. And probably the eighth. She is magnificent, truly.

Directed by Edoardo Ponti, Loren’s son, the film is based on the 1975 novel The Life Before Us by Romain Gary. It was filmed in 1977 as Madame Rosa, starring Simone Signoret, and won the Oscar for best foreign film. Here, the action has been transposed from France to Italy and the port city of Bari which is, from what we see of it, rough and poverty-stricken rather than picturesque. And our Madame Rosa is Loren, in her first proper film role for 11 years. She is now 86 and still a triumphantly commanding presence. Also, as famously beautiful actresses are meant to become reclusive and lock themselves away rather than star as the old women they’ve become — see: Garbo, Hedy Lamarr, Joan Crawford, Bardot etc.