I heartily recommend that you watch this movie for the acting, not the plot. Briefly, this is a half-baked concept, sloppily written around the edges, but the handful of actors in the high-profile roles make it worth renting -- as long as you're not expecting more. The main characters are excellent in their roles, with a supporting cast deserving of award nominations. Sophia Loren does more with few words than most of our cinema stars; the rest of the cast match her well. The supporting actors with not quite too many words walk the fine line between doing too much and too little, and make each arc come alive for the woman in the middle.
But give up on the plot. The three arcs do not share the common thread stated in the promotional materials. The little girl who appears to each is not a herald of emotional transition; rather, she is Ponti's (writer/director) admission that the preceding scene, supposedly emotional, has a weak ending, just as with the movie's ending (which is more like a cartoon ending than a high-profile movie). The girl is a pop-up window with a tiny banner reading "missing climax".
I don't insist on having a cheesy Hollywood ending, where all the loose ends are tied up and the main characters are happy. "Between Strangers" simply fails to tie the three stories together. They are not "intertwined". They're paced similarly, but hardly parallel. When the movie finishes at a minor cadence point for each, there's no real feeling of resolution or accomplishment; any of the three could easily return to the previous life. The loose ends left behind are typical for real life -- in fact, none of the three seems to feel any need to clean up any loose ends. They all come off as self-centered, thoughtless people in this respect. (To be honest, several of their loose ends deserve no more.) Still, the plots start in the middle, end at a minor cadence, and don't really develop cleanly on the way. Various minor characters drift in and out, apparently important to the central woman, but the writer never informs us of what they're doing in her life, why she pays so much attention to them.
But give up on the plot. The three arcs do not share the common thread stated in the promotional materials. The little girl who appears to each is not a herald of emotional transition; rather, she is Ponti's (writer/director) admission that the preceding scene, supposedly emotional, has a weak ending, just as with the movie's ending (which is more like a cartoon ending than a high-profile movie). The girl is a pop-up window with a tiny banner reading "missing climax".
I don't insist on having a cheesy Hollywood ending, where all the loose ends are tied up and the main characters are happy. "Between Strangers" simply fails to tie the three stories together. They are not "intertwined". They're paced similarly, but hardly parallel. When the movie finishes at a minor cadence point for each, there's no real feeling of resolution or accomplishment; any of the three could easily return to the previous life. The loose ends left behind are typical for real life -- in fact, none of the three seems to feel any need to clean up any loose ends. They all come off as self-centered, thoughtless people in this respect. (To be honest, several of their loose ends deserve no more.) Still, the plots start in the middle, end at a minor cadence, and don't really develop cleanly on the way. Various minor characters drift in and out, apparently important to the central woman, but the writer never informs us of what they're doing in her life, why she pays so much attention to them.