In Dark Eyes (1987), Marcello Mastroianni played Romano, an ageing Italian architect who, in Russia, falls in love with a married woman and finds his life transformed by a late, impossible passion. Directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, the film gave Mastroianni the Best Actor award at Cannes, and it is one of the great performances of his later career.
Romano is a man looking back on his life and finding it wanting, and Mastroianni plays him with a mixture of humour, regret and sudden, boyish hope. The film’s Chekhovian mood suits him perfectly: here is the gentleman of Italian cinema, older now, still elegant, still dreaming, and still able to make an audience believe that love can arrive at any age.