Well-meaning but patronising

It stars top Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini, who plays a middle-aged man with Down's syndrome whose need for self-sufficiency leads him to volunteer to work at the local hospital.

While pruning the bushes, he comes across a young woman vegetating in a wheelchair (Chiara de Bonis) and teaches her to communicate through eye movement and smiles.

Well, he has to, because her self-obsessed mother (Giuliana de Sio) seems incapable of visiting her daughter, never mind communicating, since they've both been abused in the past.

Until, that is, Eugenio gives her a lesson in basic humanity, since she's the woman that he lusted after when he was a young lad and was incapable of working out that she was merely playing around.

It's basically a charming tale with great emphasis on disabled people being given a chance to prove themselves. Sadly, unlike Eugenio, many don't have the advantages of a private income.

A well-meaning message movie with saccharine musical accompaniment, its sweetness is calculated to have you weeping in the aisles if you haven't choked on its patronising tone.

JEFF SAWTELL