The first thing that I want to say about Love & Gelato (2022) is that it is a palette cleanser.  Then again, this is inside information with me, though you might be able to guess if you are a regular reader what I am getting at with what I watched of late.  I am prevaricating because while I enjoyed the film, I am seemingly alone in this sentiment.  The general mood of other critics leans towards it being cliché.  Readers of the novel on which it is based are also not happy, but what else would you expect from such crowds.  As with most films, I go into them with zero knowledge of any of these contexts, usually choosing whatever looks watchable in that moment.  I can only guess at the correctness of these various opinions.  I liked it, and it had one of the best ways of thinking about Faith I have heard in a movie.  That is good enough for me.

What is not good for Lina Emerson (Susanna Skaggs) is the first scene in Love & Gelato: her mother’s funeral.  Her narration gives us some detail, mainly that mom was on the eccentric side, died of cancer, and her wish is that her daughter takes a trip to Italy.  It was something mom had done after graduating high school, and she wanted Lina to do the same.  Lina must go alone, though, which means her loud but loyal (and oddly matched) best friend Addie (Anjelika Washington) cannot travel with her.  Lina is nervous, citing a number of things that can go wrong, but Addie convinces her to go.  Upon getting to Rome, Lina meets Francesca (Valentina Lodovini), mom’s Italian best friend, and Francesca’s cousin, Howard (Owen McDonnell).  They are not Lina’s only new acquaintances.  Almost simultaneously, she is introduced to Lorenzo Ferazza (Tobia de Angelis), a shy but up-and-coming chef, and rebellious, rich, and suave Alessandro Albani (Saul Nanni).  It is the latter of these two who first charms Lina, getting her phone number from Addie, who sets up a social media profile for the introverted Lina.  He invites Lina to the opera with his family, which she haltingly accepts.  Also given to her that same day is the diary her mother kept while in Italy.  It had been mailed to Francesca to present to Lina when the American crossed the Atlantic.  From this point on, there are a few interludes as Lina reads the words of her young mother about events that eerily match her own.  For the moment, there is the evening out with Alessandro to worry about, for which the fashion designer Francesa helps the young woman prepare.  It is an enchanting night, punctuated by Alessandro defying his father’s expectations of him by leaving the show early with Lina and having some fun backstage.  It is not that kind of fun.  Once he is summoned back to her father, she suddenly feels out of her depth.  In her haste to depart, she runs into Lorenzo, who offers to give her a ride home on his moped.  Along their route, they stop for some pastries from a secret bakery he knows of and share some conversation.  Nothing else happens because, for now, she is smitten with Alessandro, going with him the next day to a romantic waterfall and kissing for the first time.  Yet, when Addie phones to get details of the relationship, she goes on his profile and learns that not only has he not posted any pictures of her, but that he is out with another woman.  Enraged, Lina tracks him down and yells at him for his promiscuity despite his protests.  You might think this makes an opportunity for Lorenzo, but when she attends a dinner he is preparing for his parents and some other guests, we find out that he already has a girlfriend, Giorgia (Claudia Stecher).  She is a bit possessive, but her intensity is not Lina’s only problem.  Mom’s journal suggests that Howard is her biological father, whom she has never known.  Lina had been conceived in Rome, her mother knew Howard at that time, and he had comforted mom after she learned of her pregnancy.  Yet, Howard informs Lina that as much as he cared for her mom and Lina, he is not her dad.  The person in question is Matteo Fossi (Cristiano Piacenti), mom’s former photography teacher who now lives in Florence.  The next day, Lina resolves to take a trip to the Tuscan city to meet her real father.  The day she goes happens to be the same time Lorenzo is making his way Florence, it being where he is to undergo an important interview for his career as a chef.  Since they are about to individually face difficult moments, they provide emotional support for each other.  This includes after their failures, with Matteo not wanting anything to do with Lina and Lorenzo not impressing the panel.  They kiss in this moment, but when they return to Rome, she tells him it was a mistake and that she is still trying to find herself.  You know how young people do things.  In fact, she is about to leave Rome prematurely when Howard intervenes, paying for Addie to come over and force Lina to spend more time in the Eternal City.  Being who she is, Addie also arranges for her and Lina to attend a party being hosted by Alessandro to celebrate his graduation.  Lina reluctantly agrees, and that feeling is warranted when, while acknowledging his mistakes, he says they are perfect for each other because they are both “messed up.”  She also learns that Lorenzo is leaving for Paris to continue his culinary education in Paris.  She rushes there to say goodbye and tell him that the kiss was not a mistake.  Next, she has a heartfelt discussion with Howard, who regrets not being more direct with her mom and offers to be a surrogate father for her.  She agrees and adds that she has decided to take a gap year and stay in Italy for that time.  The final sequence takes place one turn of the calendar later when Lina happens upon Lorenzo just as he has purchased the secret bakery.

Actually, the last scene in Love & Gelato is of Lina and Lorenzo on a Vespa riding through the Italian countryside.  By the end, she has become a more self-possessed woman, ready for the world.  It is full of the kind of cliché language that I suppose led people to pan the movie.  That may be, but as alluded to earlier, there is some language in it that is worth any amount of romantic comedy predictability.  When Francesca is preparing Lina for the opera, she gives the young woman some advice on the opposite sex.  I had to rewind it a couple of times to make sure I am precise in my quotation.  It goes: “If you’re moved by something, it doesn’t need explaining.  If you’re not, no explanation will move you.”  Francesca is referring to Lina being unsure about Alessandro, which is complicated by the young man’s reputation for dating a lot of women.  Since I view films through a Catholic lens, I saw this advice differently.  The quote strikes me as an accurate description of Faith and how it is perceived.  Though this method can be used in any made-up way you like, we can all be divided into two camps: those who believe and those who do not.  God reaches out to everyone, all the time.  There is not a second of a day that His gaze is not upon you, desiring a relationship.  For reasons that only He knows, not all of us answer this call.  There was a time, particularly in places like Italy, when Christianity was more a matter of course.  Please note that I am not praising this Faith by default approach, but rather stating a fact.  For others, though, they feel and acknowledge that deep down stirring that says that there is something out there bigger than ourselves.  It is an emotion that God writes on our hearts at the moment of our making, and it is the kind of thing that, as Francesca would say, needs no explanation.  On the other hand, there are those that close their heart off to it.  For them, sadly, there is no amount of convincing that can get them to see things differently.  I pray that they find it, and it is a more specific revelation than whatever it is Lina experiences.

I do not mean to impugn my enjoyment of Love & Gelato.  Maybe I liked it more because I had just spent a few days watching Die Hard movies.  It may also be that I have Italy on the mind since I have had separate conversations about the country with separate friends recently.  In any case, it is a sweet movie about a girl making good decisions.  That is a formula I can recommend any day.