| Nasty Love | |
| Director: | Mario Martone |
| Producer: | Angelo Curti Andrea Occhipinti Kermit Smith |
| Starring: | Anna Bonaiuto |
| Music: | Steve Lacy Alfred Shnitke |
| Cinematography: | Luca Bigazzi |
| Editing: | Jacopo Quadri |
| Runtime: | 104 minutes |
| Country: | Italy |
| Language: | Italian |
Nasty Love (Italian: L'amore molesto) (released in the United States as Troubling Love) is a 1995 Italian thriller film directed by Mario Martone. It was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.[1] It is based on the novel of the same name, by Elena Ferrante. The film was shot mainly in Naples, Italy.
Delia, a Neapolitan artist who has lived for many years in Bologna, returns to Naples after the sudden death of her mother, who apparently committed suicide by drowning. She doesn't believe the official verdict of suicide, convinced that her mother's exuberance, vivacity and existential positivity, which she remembers very well, would never have led her to do such a thing. She therefore begins to investigate her mother's recent past, given further impetus by disturbing phone calls received from an unknown interlocutor.
The fragmentary reconstruction of the last days of her mother's life bring to light remote events that Delia had hidden and buried in her memory, and force her to contemplate a reality different from what she had hitherto understood. Delia remembers and relives the moment when, under the influence of her oppressive father, she breaks her relationship with her mother, accused by her husband of a clandestine relationship with an unknown individual. But Delia is not ready to discover the truth about her mother, and therefore perhaps about herself, and just when the mystery about the last days preceding the supposed suicide is about to be clarified, she decides to return to Bologna, moving away forever from a painful past and from the hidden truth.
L'Amore Molesto won 3 David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for 2 for Best Film and Best Producer. It was also nominated for a Palme D'or by the Cannes Film Festival for director Mario Martone. Anna Bonaiuto also won a Silver Ribbon under the category of Best Actress for her role as Delia.