The Family

The Family (La famiglia, 1987) is Ettore Scola's eight-decade saga, free to watch online on iFILM. It follows one Roman man, Carlo, from his christening as a baby in 1906 to the party for his eightieth birthday — and never once steps outside the family apartment.

Every room of that home holds a memory, and Scola lets the walls carry the story. Vittorio Gassman plays the older Carlo, a man quietly torn between the wife he settled for and the sister-in-law he never stopped loving. Around him move three generations — Stefania Sandrelli, Fanny Ardant, Ottavia Piccolo, Philippe Noiret — through lunches, weddings, funerals and small betrayals.

There are no big plot twists here; time itself is the drama, marked by changing fashions and ageing faces. The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. If you like patient European cinema about memory and the passing of years, this one rewards your attention. Stream The Family (1987) online on iFILM.