Let's be realistic.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Between Strangers is about three women who find themselves in an emotional crises with regards to the men that happens to be a big part of their lives.It stars an ensemble cast that includes Sophia Loren,Mira Sorvino,Deborah Kara Unger,Pete Postlethwaite,Klaus Maria Brandauer,Malcolm McDowell and Gérard Depardieu. It was directed by Edoardo Ponti,who happens to be Loren's son.Olivia takes care of her husband John,who is on wheelchair.Despite her old age,she still wanted to pursue a career as an artist.But her husband does not want to listen to her stories about it and she finds solace from Max,a French gardener.While Natalia is a news photographer that is assigned to do work in Angola.She took a picture of a child orphaned during war.Her well-known photojournalist father made her famous for it but she is haunted by the fact that she wasn't able to save the child's life.Meanwhile,a musician named Catherine has never resolved her hate towards her father,who killed her mother by beating her to death.When her father was released from prison,she wanted to kill her father.But she does not know that he has changed for the better.The film tackles three themes:hope,redemption and forgiveness.This was shown by the three main female characters in Olivia,Natalie and Catherine respectively.Although the story could have been interesting,we get into one cliché after another with the three main female characters trying to fight their own personal demons.Added to that,there were really no great performances due to underdeveloped characters in it despite the fact that we have a talented cast on the film.It was obvious that the film tried to rely on the films famous faces particularly the gorgeous and age-less Sophia Loren.Would she have accepted doing this modest film if her son wasn't the director?

BETWEEN STRANGERS is a tough story told with unrelieved intensity, acted with underplayed angst, and directed with quiet strength by Eduardo Ponti. The "Strangers" are three unrelated women, each of whom has a burden that grows until it must be lifted.Mira Sorvino is a media photographer, daughter of Klaus Maria Brandauer (who has multiple awards for his own news photography, who has just had one of her images appear on TIME magazine - an image of a little girl from Angola who we gradually learn died in the fire Mira was photographing. She is haunted by the fact that the time she spent photographing the child could have been used to save the child's life.Deborah Unger is a concert cellist whose wife-abusing father (Malcolm McDowell) is released from prison despite her conviction that he should die for his cruelty, forcing her to leave her own family in the attempt to end her father's existence.Sophia Loren is a haggard housewife who has devoted her sad life to caring for her wheelchair-bound past athlete husband (Pete Postlethwaite) until she sees her illegitimate daughter she was forced to abandon becoming the sculptor artist she herself always wanted to be. Each of these women have visions of the same small girl at moments when they are forced to confront their pain and each finds a way back to salvation through 'living out a dream'.Some may find the story saccharine, but the actors deliver these sad folk in such an honest way that together they manage to capture our hearts. It is a true pleasure to see Sophia Loren act again and even the makeup she dons for her dowdy role cannot hide the fact that she remains one of the most beautiful women the screen has known - and one of the best actresses. All cast members are superb. Just be aware of the fact that this is a bleak story that requires much from the viewer. The rewards are worth it.

"Between Strangers" tells of three women with something in common. They are all laconic, slothlike zombies moving from scene to scene as though they bear the weight of the world on their shoulders. Though this film offers a good cast and execution, it is little more than a trio of short subjects with an unfortunately bland and overly ponderous result lacking the only reason to make one film from three stories; synergism. (C+)

"First time everything"..is Sophia Loren's closing statement in the movie. A suitable statement that incidentally mirrors Edoardo Ponti's film making debut; his first feature film. The film: technically impeccable (very well shot), touching and deep story, and obviously given a great vote of confidence by the presence of its remarkable cast. Sophia Loren, legendary in her performance as she is as a person, has a lot to celebrate about this film; her 100th and her son's first; a demonsration of success for both mother and son in terms of performance and talent for making a film that has been written and directed very courageously. "First time everything"?... well then...Bravo!