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Neapolitan writer/director Paolo Sorrentino follows up his Mafia thriller The Consequences of Love with the wonderfully strange The Family Friend, which he himself has described as "a dive into humanity and its degeneracy." Burrowing into the psyche of an elderly, lecherous loanshark Geremia (Giacomo Rizzo), the film defies straightforward categorization: it's simultaneously a 'Beauty and the Beast'-style fairytale, a homage to Fellini's small-town tragi-comedies, a con-artist yarn, and a study in emotional dysfunctionality.

Sorrentino takes a real gamble in The Family Friend by presenting us with such a dislikable central character. Living alone with his invalid mother (Clara Bindi) in a leaking apartment, the physically unattractive Geremia is, in his own words, "a pathetic and disgusting person." He presents himself to his clients as a generous benefactor, helping only the poor and needy, and relying on his assistant, the cowboy-hatted Gino (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), to ensure payments are maintained. Falling for the stunning bride-to-be Rosalba (Laura Chiatti), Geremia discovers that those he trusted are more than capable of betrayal...

"AN ARRAY OF ENIGMATIC IMAGES"

Drawing on an eclectic soundtrack, which ranges from Antony And The Johnsons to Elgar's Cello Concerto, The Family Friend sees Sorrentino and his cinematographer Luca Bigazzi effortlessly blur the boundaries here between dreams and 'reality', in a manner reminiscent of BuΓ±uel's Belle De Jour. Arranging the characters in stylized tableaux, and using vividly contrasting colours, they present the viewer with an array of enigmatic images: a nun buried up to her neck in sand, an ecstatic-looking female volleyball-player lying on a brick-red outdoor court, the townsfolk carrying their own chairs to the local beauty contest. A single viewing doesn't do justice to this film's singular visual imagination.

In Italian, with English subtitles.

The Family Friend (L' Amico Di Famiglia) is released in UK cinemas on Friday 16th March 2007.