Michele (Antonio Albanese) has been ousted from the company he founded by his best friend and another power-seeking colleague. Shamed by this betrayal and frightened by the prospect of no work, he decides to hide the fact from his wife Elsa (Margherita Buy) who is completing her art history degree. Several employment agencies give him the same assessment of his employment prospects: he is over-qualified and there are no high-level management jobs available. When Elsa hears the news, she immediately panics and is deeply hurt by her husband's secrecy about their precarious financial status. They immediately put their home in Genoa up for sale and end up selling their boat as well.
They decide not to tell their 20-year-old daughter Alice (Alba Rohrwacher); it's all just too humiliating. They also do not put the word out to their close friends who recently attended a lavish surprise birthday party for Elsa. She eventually gets a job as a telemarketer. In the evenings she continues working with two other women on an art restoration project. The only thing Michele can find is some handyman work with two unemployed men who used to work for him. Elsa is quite proud of herself when she lands a job as a secretary and is able to keep the bill collectors at bay.
Days and Clouds is flawlessly directed by Silvio Soldini who was at the helm of the award-winning Bread and Tulips. He is a masterful mood maker able to draw out the emotions which both challenge and hinder married couples. The drama here is one that will resonate with couples around the world. Unemployment drains the spirit and sucks the life out of people. It also eats away at trust and honest communication in intimate relationships.
Michele and Elsa fight over money and are both reluctant to ask for help from anyone. Finally, he asks a friend to pay him back a loan he made several years ago, but the fellow claims he already paid him. In the midst of his major depression, Michele still visits his elderly father regularly and senses what lies ahead of him in old age. Like the fresco that Elsa is uncovering, this resilient couple manages to re-connect with the hidden qualities that first brought them together in love and loyalty.
