AllMovie

A woman finds her own anxieties are her greatest stumbling block in building a new life in this drama from Italy. Malvina (Agnieszka Czekanska) was born and raised in Romania, but following that nation's 1989 revolution, she pulled up stakes and moved to Friuli, where she now studies to be a nurse and supports herself as a waitress. Malvina's memories of her past are troubled ones, and she tries to blot out her past with a series of meaningless sexual liaisons with strangers. But she stumbles into a deeper and more affecting relationship when she meets an émigré schoolteacher (Corso Salani, who also directed and co-wrote the film). Occidente was shown in competition at the 2000 Turin Film Festival.