The Best Years

Italy, 1980. Three 16-year-old idealists, Paolo, Giulio and Riccardo, share everything like brothers. Along with them is Gemma, Paolo’s girlfriend, who quickly becomes a full part of their lives. 

But life catches up with them and the young friends embark on different paths. Paolo (Kim Rossi Stuart) graduates with a degree in literature and has a hard time finding a teaching position. Giulio (Pierfrancesco Favino) becomes a successful lawyer and soon trades his youthful ideals for wealth and fame. Riccardo (Claudio Santamaria) bounces from one job to the next, from failed actor to wannabe journalist. Gemma (Micaela Ramazzotti) leaves Rome for Naples where she struggles to make ends meet, only to return a few years later and reunite with Paolo. When Gemma and Giulio begin having an affair behind Paolo’s back, the group seems to fall apart irrevocably.
 
As years go by, the four friends reconnect and lose touch over and over, while struggling with their hopes, disillusionments, successes, failures and the passage of time.