Mid-August Lunch

A man unexpectedly finds himself talking care of four women, three of whom he barely knows, in this touching and funny film from Italy. Gianni (Gianni Di Gregorio) is a man in his mid-fifties who still lives with his mother, Valeria (Valeria De Franciscis), who is well into her nineties. When Gianni falls behind on the rent their landlord makes him a deal — the debts will be forgiven if the landlord’s elderly mother can stay with Gianni and Valeria for a few days during the mid-August holiday. Gianni grudgingly agrees, but is upset when the landlord also shows up with his aging aunt Maria. Word spreads that Gianni is running an informal home for the elderly, and Gianni’s family doctor asks a similar favour of him. While Gianni scrambles to look after the various needs of four elderly women, it soon becomes clear the ladies have strongly differing views on a number of subjects, making his job all the more difficult.