In seaside Italy, a Holocaust survivor with a daycare business takes in a 12-year-old street kid who recently robbed her.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.9/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.28/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 66
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Edoardo Ponti
Production
Palomar, Artemis Rising
Cast
Sophia Loren, Ibrahima Gueye, Renato Carpentieri, Diego Iosif Pirvu, Massimiliano Rossi, Abril Zamora, Babak Karimi, Malich Cissé, Simone Surico, Nicola Valenzano, Francesco Cassano
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A tender, performance-led drama with real emotional warmth, especially in Sophia Loren’s return and the central bond between two wounded outsiders. It’s moving and humane, but also fairly conventional and uneven, so it lands more as a solid watch than a must-see.
Best for
viewers who like intergenerational dramas
fans of restrained, actor-driven performances
audiences drawn to stories about grief, found family, and redemption
people interested in European social dramas with a humane tone
Skip if
you want something formally daring or unpredictable
you’re looking for a tightly plotted film
you’re tired of familiar prestige-drama beats
you prefer lighter stories without Holocaust trauma or street-level hardship
Overview
The Life Ahead is at its best when it simply lets its two leads sit in the same emotional space. Sophia Loren brings gravity, wit, and bruised dignity to a role that depends on lived-in presence, while Ibrahima Gueye gives the film its pulse as a guarded, observant kid trying to survive on instinct. Their relationship gives the movie its heart and most of its sincerity.
Worth noting
The film’s themes are easy to admire: trauma passing between generations, the possibility of trust after damage, and the way care can become a form of mutual rescue. It’s also unusually open-hearted in how it handles identity and difference, aiming for compassion rather than conflict.
Bottom line
Still, the story often feels like a familiar prestige-drama template, and some turns are more dutiful than surprising. If you’re in the mood for a gentle, emotionally accessible drama anchored by a star performance, it works well. If you want something sharper, stranger, or more original, it may leave you wanting more.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Sam (3★) · 213 likes
She’s back! Sophia Loren gave a really wonderful performance here, proving her status as a legendary actress. The role gave her quite a bit to do, and she nailed it. Her line delivery was really convincing and the emotional beats were handled perfectly. I also want to acknowledge the child actors who did a really great job as well. All the performances were really strong here.
The story was interesting and engaging here, but idk if it’s anything new. We’ve… more
Matt Neglia (3★) · 147 likes
Legendary actress Sophia Loren delivers her best performance in decades as a Holocaust survivor & daycare worker who takes in a troubled young boy in THE LIFE AHEAD. A beautiful, tender & heartbreaking drama about living life on your own terms. Ibrahima Gueye impresses in his acting debut.
The Oscar Expert (3★) · 100 likes
It’s fine. It does what you expect it to and nothing more. But there were enough genuine moments that I liked it overall. Sophia Loren and Ibrahima Gueye are very good. I don’t think there is a reason to nominate Loren for an Oscar other than her just being Sophia Loren. It’s just Central Station but not as good.
Allison M. 🌱 (3★) · 87 likes
Edoardo Ponti directs his mother: Sophia Loren. It's not only slow, but ANOTHER adaptation of Romain Gary's La Vie devant soi, known to American audiences as Madame Rosa. I am a little biased since I love Simone Signoret, so I found it to be ultimately unnecessary.
Diego Gary (son of the novelist Romain Gary -- extra points for being Jean Seberg's son too) is listed as associate producer.
Netflix release date: November 13, 2020
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (2★) · 82 likes
Despite the fact that I had read a lot of unfavorable and mixed reviews about this picture, I decided to give it a shot nonetheless because my mother hasn't been in the mood to watch a lot of action movies with lots of people dying. Oddly, she fell asleep virtually the entire way through the movie, as did I around half hour in.
There isn't much wrong with the movie, and its success in other adaptations shows that it's a… more