Human Capital

On the night before Christmas Eve, a cyclist is struck by a jeep on a road near Lake Como, leaving him gravely injured and the driver unidentified. The aftermath draws in two families from very different positions in society: the wealthy Bernaschi household, whose fortune rests on financial speculation, and the struggling Ossola family, headed by a real-estate agent in financial difficulty. Their lives become entangled as details of that night gradually come to light.

Paolo Virzì directed Human Capital, working from a screenplay he wrote with Francesco Bruni and Francesco Piccolo. Adapted from Stephen Amidon's novel, it sits between The First Beautiful Thing and Like Crazy in Virzì's filmography. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Fabrizio Gifuni play Carla and Giovanni Bernaschi, with Fabrizio Bentivoglio and Valeria Golino as Dino and Roberta Ossola; Luigi Lo Cascio and Giovanni Anzaldo also appear. The film runs 111 minutes and was produced across Italy and France.

Made for around 6 million dollars, Human Capital took in a similar amount worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from about 14,000 votes, while TMDB users give it 7.4 from roughly 960 votes; a critics' score of 6.8 from 68 reviews places professional assessments lower than audience ones.