Still Time

Dante, Edoardo Leo abruptly and passionately kisses the stranger Alice, Barbara Ronchi on New Year’s Eve, mistaking her for his date Federica Valentina Pastore. This reckless moment begins an unlikely pair-bond: Alice moves in with Dante, and she’s a gifted painter while he’s overwhelmed by work. Their life at home is a mix of creative energy and exhausting schedules, and their circle of friends helps stitch together a plan for Dante’s fortieth birthday in October 2010 at their place. He’s chronically late—caught between deadlines at the office and ailing responsibilities toward his dementia-stricken father—while the party unfolds around him. At the gathering, Dante’s lifelong friend Valerio Mario Sgueglia presents tickets to ride a roller coaster they always dreamed of, a symbolic gesture of the moments they never seem to have. Dante hopes to ignore the looming future as he blows out the candles, but the celebration ends abruptly when he makes a wish that his world won’t change.

Dante wakes with a shock: Alice is vomiting in the bathroom, and he misreads the scene as a night of binge drinking. Soon he learns she’s pregnant, in her 21st week, and she invites him to feel the baby kick. The news unsettles him further as he notices the furniture has shifted, and his sense of reality starts to tilt. He decides to push work off, planning to handle this new chapter later, while Alice steels herself and prepares his 41st birthday pancake. The next morning, he suspects it was all a dream when Alice appears thin again, but the sound of a crying baby breaks the illusion. Alice asks him to cradle their daughter, and he hesitates—unsettled by the idea of fatherhood, yet forced to step forward. His doctor confirms he’s healthy, though work stress might be a contributing factor. The baby’s name, Galadriel, comes as a surprise, and Dante wrestles with this unexpected future while Alice asks him to care for their fragile infant.

As days turn into a blur, Dante discovers that every day is a leap into the next year’s birthday. He misses Galadriel’s first words and steps, and his friend Valerio is skeptical of his tale about time jumps. The pressure to quit his job collides with a new ambition: Dante eventually becomes the boss eight months later. The balance between love, parenthood, and ambition fractures their relationship. Therapy sessions are a distant memory as Dante realizes he’s never truly present, his life consumed by a relentless clock. A seven-month detour of reality follows: Dante travels to another year, returning to a home where his priorities teeter on the edge of collapse.

The timeline grows messier when Dante confronts the consequences of his choices. Returning to an empty house, he is drawn into a six-month affair with his secretary, Francesca Francesca Cavallin. The moment Alice arrives, Dante urges Francesca to hide, and the emotional tension erupts into a charged confrontation about love and fidelity. Francesca expresses longing, they exchange a tense kiss, and Alice ultimately realizes Dante isn’t alone. She leaves, and Francesca agrees to end things, but the moral weight lingers as the days blur together.

By the time Dante is 46, the party atmosphere returns, and Francesca guides a backyard celebration where he tells Valerio that his old wish—more time—has yielded the opposite. He goes to Alice’s door, but she closes it, signaling a decisive edge to their relationship. In a moment of desperation, Dante faces Omar, Raz Degan, Alice’s partner, and the drama shifts to the park where Galadriel and the family’s puppy accompany a reflective walk. Omar suggests living in the present, a philosophy Dante initially rejects but gradually begins to consider. The dog’s ball flies, and another year rolls past.

In the park, Dante learns Valerio is battling cancer, a sobering reminder of mortality, and he resolves to call him tomorrow. He combs through mementos, glimpses Alice’s art exhibition, and visits his father, recognizing that neglect has also touched his own family. By the time Dante reaches 49, he admits that he has become as forgetful of his loved ones as his father once was. He fetches water for his father, only to find him gone, and Valerio waits outside in remission, a sign that life can still bend toward hope.

Dante borrows Valerio’s car, demands a generous stretch of vacation days, adds a puppy to the household, and reunites with Alice and Galadriel at home. In the present moment, he longs to simply be together, to do nothing special and to savor the now, an echo of something Galadriel and Omar had both once suggested. They spend a day playing, ordinary and perfect in its simplicity. Dante reads a book illustrated by Alice to put Galadriel to sleep, and the family settles into a quiet, shared nap. When he wakes, it feels like another year has passed, but the kitchen reveals a belated birthday pancake that finally marks tomorrow. With a renewed vow, Dante promises that work will never come before his family again, choosing to live in the moments that truly matter.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:17