Saturn in Opposition – Saturno contro

Saturn in Opposition (Italian: Saturno contro) is a 2007 Italian drama film directed by Ferzan Özpetek. The Turkish title is Bir ömür yetmez. It had its United States premiere at Frameline in San Francisco on 20 June 2008.

Plot
Saturn in Opposition is the story of a group of very close friends in Rome and how they cope with the sudden death of one of their members. The original group, who have been together for many years, are two straight couples, Antonio and Angelica and Roberto and Neval; and a gay couple now separated, Sergio and Davide, a successful author. Relatively new additions to the group are Davide’s current lover Lorenzo and Lorenzo’s friend Roberta. Early in the movie a final member is added to the group: Paolo, an acquaintance of Lorenzo and Roberta and an aspiring writer.

Although the members of the group love each other and spend much time together, there are tensions both within the group and within the three couples who make up the group. Antonio and Angelica seem to be a perfect couple, but their two young children are dysfunctional, and Antonio has been having a secret affair with Laura, a married woman with teenage children. Roberto feels like an outsider, because while Neval is a core member of the group he is not. And although Davide and Lorenzo look like the epitome of a beautiful, affluent gay couple, Paolo’s entry into the group stirs up hidden currents of competition and infidelity that begin to test the relationship.

During a dinner party in Davide’s apartment, Lorenzo without warning suffers an aneurism and falls into a coma from which he does not recover. His friends are deeply shaken by his death; problems that have until then been hidden begin to emerge and threaten to destroy the group; and Davide almost commits suicide. They all finally convene at Davide’s retreat in the mountains overlooking the sea and come to terms with one another and Lorenzo’s death.