‘The Other’s Profile’ review: Unfocused, uneven Italian drama puts influencer culture in the spotlight

Dir: Francesco Bruni. Italy. 2026. 105mins

Combining an offbeat mentor and protégée tale with a dissection of social influencer culture and a potential sapphic romance makes for an uneven result in Francesco Bruni’s The Other’s Profile, which is fortunate to have two compelling performances at its heart to help mitigate its mood swings. Premiering in Rome, Bruni’s drama will be released by Vision Distribution on home soil and has already sold to a number of territories, including the US, but those hoping for an incisive consideration of social media pitfalls in a similar vein to Sweat or Babystar may feel shortchanged.

Melodramatic developments detract from the sensitive performances

Thirty-year-old Antonia (Pilar Fogliati) is stuck in a holding pattern. Once a high-flying student who went on to write an award-winning novel, she now works in a Milan bar, selling sexy selfies on the side to make ends meet. When an old friend suggests she apply for a job as an image consultant for 18-year-old social media influencer Cecilia (Ginevra Francesconi), she decides to take the plunge. She is hired by Cecilia’s grandmother (Bruni regular Raffaella Lebboroni), who is less concerned with the online world than finding someone to guide her granddaughter through the final stage of adolescence.

Cecilia, who is known as La Ceci to her army of followers, is the polar opposite of the cynical and downbeat Antonia. The younger woman’s wardrobe screams pink – featuring sterling work by costume designer Alberto Moretti, who sets Antonia’s dark-toned outfits in contrast – while her attitude is relentlessly positive. She is also described as “an empty box”, which Antonia is tasked to fill. 

At first Bruni seems intent on holding influencer culture up to the light, touching on themes including the power that comes with the sheer weight of followers Cecilia has, and the problems of reflected fame that Antonia begins to encounter as she finds herself unwittingly at the edge of her employer’s spotlight. There are also nods to the darker side of living so much of your life through a camera lens. Despite putting these issues in the frame, however, Bruni too often swipes quickly past them in order to get to the next one.

The writer/director has tackled older mentor/younger pupil dynamics before in Easy! and Tutto Quello Che Vuoi and it remains a touchstone here as the women begin the predictable course of learning something from one another, while travelling to photogenic destinations including Rome and Paris – all captured with warm fluidity by cinematographer Clarissa Cappellani. There are signs Bruni wants to experiment, at one point using the first-person camera of Cecilia and at others bringing in hints of magic realism, and more commitment to this might have reaped dividends.

The film’s main selling point is Fogliati and Francesconi, who make an impressive double act, as the initial sparring between their characters begins to soften towards something else. Fogliati, in particular, conveys an underlying melancholy that, like much in The Other’s Profile, will go on to be over-explained. They are, however, hampered by a narrative that lacks flow, so that emotional beats arrive with little in the way of build-up, and are jettisoned almost as quickly.

These melodramatic developments – particularly when it comes to the express delivery of backstories and the use of on-the-nose music including a modern version of 1970s soft-rock ballad ‘Alone Again (Naturally)’ – distract from the sensitive performances. The character development is also skewed towards Antonia, meaning that Cecilia’s inner world remains opaque. Multiple endings, which offer diminishing returns, cement the impression that Bruni was undecided about where to put his focus.