THE AMATI GIRLS

THE AMATI GIRLS is a heart-rending, captivating family drama. Its strength is not a suspenseful plot but the people: four sisters, their grieving mother, imperfect marriages, family meals, and the love that carries them through trials. The character development is superb, and the acting is superior.

The film preaches many virtues. It presents marriage and family as answers to human problems, even when those marriages and families have serious defects. Its Catholic setting includes prayers to saints, which many Protestants will object to. The film also contains five lightweight exclamatory profanities and seven lightweight obscenities, along with alcohol, smoking, and other concerns detailed below.

If your family can exercise discernment about those elements, this is worth watching for its warmth, moral seriousness, and emphasis on family.

In an extended Roman Catholic Italian family, four sisters and their mother gather around large family meals while carrying grief, disappointment, and differing views of marriage.

Their mother mourns her husband and asks her oldest daughter, Grace, to sew a burial dress for her. Grace serves as the family’s spiritual leader, while her sisters face difficult marriages, loneliness, and fear of commitment. Together, they face trials that test what family means.

The 3.5-star rating reflects a captivating movie with superb character development and superior acting. The family feels like everyone’s friend, and the story offers many lessons through its affectionately drawn characters.

The film is somewhat episodic because it is driven by the characters rather than by a strong plot line. That may make the experience feel less focused, but it also allows the family relationships and their growth to remain at the center.

THE AMATI GIRLS presents an extended Roman Catholic Italian family in which prayers to saints are part of everyday life. The source review notes that many non-Roman Catholic theologians would stress that prayers should be directed to God alone. The film’s message is not that the prayers are answered; instead, it presents marriage and family as answers to life’s problems, even though those marriages and families have defects.

The movie exalts faith, family, love, moral growth, marriage, and the importance of remaining connected through trials. It also recognizes that family members can be selfish, absent, weak, or unhappy while still being worth loving. The film’s treatment of faith is distinct from a Protestant understanding of prayer, and its inclusion of prayers to saints and the smashing of saint statues may trouble many viewers.

Its central conviction—that family is precious even when family life is painful—aligns with Scripture’s call to care for one’s own: “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith” (1 Timothy 5:8).

THE AMATI GIRLS is a warm, well-acted family drama with genuine moral substance. Its episodic structure and religious and content concerns call for discernment, but its message about love, marriage, and family gives viewers much to discuss. For middle schoolers and up, it is WORTH THE TRIP — MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UP.