The Story:
Mascarpone is an Italian drama about a gay man discovering himself after his marriage ends. Although some might want to categorize it as a rom com, I would file it under a story of self-discovery.
Antonio (Giancarlo Commare) is a 30-year-old stay at home husband who is content with his life. He sleeps in, goes to the gym, and cooks for his spouse, Lorenzo (Carlo Calderone). When Lorenzo comes home from work one day and tells him that he’s no longer happy with their relationship, Antonio is devasted. And to make things worse, Lorenzo has been seeing another man for the past year.
Antonio is soon forced out of the house and rents a room from Denis (Eduardo Valdarnini), a flamboyant, sex positive gay man who is also a drug dealer. When Antonio asks Denis to lower the rent, Denis responds by getting him a job at a bakery owned by his friend, Luca (Gianmarco Saurino). The job is legitimate and allows Antonio to make some money and find his purpose.
Antonio’s best friend sets him up on a date, but Antonio is uncomfortable and goes home early. He’s in a mood when he gets home and finds Denis in the living room getting a blowjob, which puts him over the edge. After informing Denis that the living room is a shared space, Antonio storms into his room and slams the door.
Denis later visits with him, and the two men have a heart-to-heart talk. Denis tells Antonio that he’s spent too long believing in fairy tales and that he needs to grow up. So Antonio starts to date and makes the grave mistake of talking about his ex and turning the other guy off. His heart isn’t in it.
It isn’t until Antonio and Luca are alone in the bakery and have wild sex in the kitchen that things get steamy. It’s a fun scene and Saurino and Commare play it up. Luca helps Antonio become more sexually liberated, explaining the rules of casual hookups. Soon Luca, Denis, and Antonio are fooling around with each other and other people. And although the sexual freedom helps Antonio get past the pain of his broken marriage, he still longs for the stable relationship he’d once had.
The plot plays out in the typical fashion, even with the requisite scene where Lorenzo wants him back, only this time Antonio gets to kick Lorenzo to the curb. Deep friendships area formed between Antonio, Denis and Luca that are believable. And Luca forms an even deeper attachment to Antonio.
By the end of the movie Antonio meets someone who offers him the life he’d had with Lorenzo, forcing him to choose between his freedom and going back to living in another man’s shadow.
Final Thoughts:
While Mascarpone is a fun romp, it doesn’t offer anything new to a story about self-discovery. We’ve seen the straight version of this many times before, which I didn’t mind, but I wanted a bit more. I like the way the movie ends between Antonio and Luca, which I thought was believable. The acting overall was decent, the story was never dull, and the young men were attractive. Also, for a sex positive film, there could have been more nudity and variations of men.
You can watch Mascarpone on Amazon Prime.
