La Ragazza Del Lago (aka The Girl By The Lake) (2007)

When the nude body of a young girl (Alessia Piovan) is found by a lake in a small Italian mountain village, a detective's (Toni Servillo) investigation into her murder begins to peel layers off the seemingly average small town to reveal darker secrets that cause him to look at his own messy life with a more honest eye. Based on the novel by Karin Fossum and directed by Andrea Molaioli in his directorial film debut. Winner of 10 David Di Donatello awards (the Italian Oscar) including best picture, this marvelous little gem goes beyond a mere detective story. Like many good films, the film works on two levels. As a detective story, it's taut and engrossing and there's a multitude of suspect and motivations. As a portrait of human relationships, most specifically between parents and children but not entirely limited to that, it explores our guilt at feeling things we have no control over and how that guilt can lead to something as heinous as murder. The film is well acted. At first, Servillo's performance seems routine and merely a reacting board to the other more interesting characters and performances but on closer observation, you notice the quiet intensity which covers layers of  conflict. With Valeria Golino, Denis Fasolo, Nello Mascia, Fabrizio Gifuni, Heidi Caldart and Giulia Michelini.