| language = Italian
| language = Italian
| budget =
| budget =
| gross = {{Currency| 1796835|EUR|linked=yes}}<ref name=”box:lgtw”/><ref name=”box:mm”>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mymovies.it/boxoffice/italia/top20/?weekend=26/10/2025 |title=Classifica Top20 Italia del week-end del 19/10/2025 {{!}} MYmovies.it |access-date=28 October 2025|website=[[Mymovies.it]]}}</ref>
| gross = {{Currency| |EUR|linked=yes}}<ref name=”box:lgtw”/><ref name=”box:mm”>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mymovies.it/boxoffice/italia/top20/?weekend=26/10/2025 |title=Classifica Top20 Italia del week-end del /10/2025 {{!}} MYmovies.it |access-date= October 2025|website=[[Mymovies.it]]}}</ref>
}}
}}
2025 Italian comedy film by Riccardo Milani
| Life Goes This Way | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Italian | La vita va così |
| Directed by | Riccardo Milani |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by |
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| Music by | Moses Concas |
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Production |
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| Distributed by | Medusa Film |
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Release dates |
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Running time |
minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| Box office | €1,984,604[1][2] |
Life Goes This Way (Italian: La vita va così) is a 2025 Italian comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Riccardo Milani.[3] Starring Virginia Raffaele, Diego Abatantuono, and Aldo Baglio, the film “inspired by a story that has traveled the world and ended up on international headlines,”[4] was selected as the opening film of the 20th Rome Film Festival and screened out of competition on 15 October 2025 in the Grand Public section.[5][6]
A week after its festival premiere, the film was released in the Italian cinemas on 23 October 2025.[7]
The narrative of film is a humorous and passionate tale set over a twenty-year period, in the region of Sardinia. It explores the experiences of a local community grappling with tensions between economic development and the preservation of their land and cultural identity.
The film was inspired by the life of Sardinian shepherd Ovidio Marras, who died in January 2024 at the age of 93. Marras garnered national and international attention for opposing a high-profile tourist development that endangered one of Italy’s last untouched coast-line.[8]
The film written by Riccardo Milani and Michele Astori, is produced by Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Mieli and Sonia Rovai with Medusa Film and Wildside as co-distributors.
Filming began in Cagliari with shooting taking place in the Teulada, Sardinia commune in the south-west region in February 2025. The film was completed on 4 August 2025.[9][10]
Life Goes This Way opened the 20th Rome Film Festival on 15 October 2025.[11] On 23 October 2025, it was released in Italian cinemas by Medusa Film.[12]
The film was released on 23 October 2025 on 650 screens throughout Italy.[13] It opened at the top of the Italian box office with €124,994.[14]
As of 28 October 2025[update] the film has collected €1,984,604 from 283,285 addmission in Italy.[1][2]
Vittoria Scarpa in her review for Cineuropa, describes the film both as “a story about a Sardinian shepherd against the world” and a portrait of a divided community grappling with tensions between economic survival and environmental preservation. She notes that the film depicts a setting where “the State is all but absent,” local institutions are easily swayed, and justice is embodied by a locally born judge, whose brief appearance is nonetheless “swift but significant” and ultimately just. Scarpa criticized the film’s pacing and structure, observing that its nearly two-hour runtime feels repetitive. Although the narrative spans a decade, she finds that “the characters and settings remain pretty much the same,” and that comedic elements of Aldo Baglio occasionally feel out of place. While she considers these shortcomings “fairly trivial,” and adds that “you don’t expect them from a director of Riccardo Milani‘s calibre, who’s now on his 16th feature film.”[15]
- ^ a b “Box Office”. Cinetel (in Italian). Retrieved 29 October 2025.
- ^ a b “Classifica Top20 Italia del week-end del 26/10/2025 | MYmovies.it”. Mymovies.it. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
- ^ Milani, Riccardo (27 February 2025). “Riccardo Milani’s La vita va così”. Cineuropa. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
- ^ “La vita va così, film di apertura della Festa del Cinema di Roma 2025” [Life Goes This Way: The plot and cast of the opening film of the 2025 Rome Film Fest]. Sky TG24. 15 October 2025. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
- ^ Andrea Cauti (August 4, 2025). ““La vita va così” di Milani aprirà la Festa del cinema di Roma” [Milani’s “Life Goes This Way” will open the Rome Film Fest]. AGI (in Italian). Retrieved August 5, 2025.
- ^ ““La vita va così” di Riccardo Milani is the opening film of the Fest 2025date= 4 August 2025″. Rome Film Festival. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
- ^ “La vita va così” [Life Goes This Way]. CinematoGrafo (in Italian). 4 August 2025. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
- ^ Canessa, Fabio (4 August 2025). “Sardegna sul grande schermo: il film sul pastore Ovidio Marras apre la Festa del cinema di Roma” [Sardinia on the big screen: the film about shepherd Ovidio Marras opens the Rome Film Fest]. La Nuova Sardegna (in Italian). Retrieved 4 August 2025.
- ^ De Marco, Camillo (27 February 2025). “The first clapperboard slams on Riccardo Milani’s La vita va così”. Cineuropa. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
- ^ “La vita va così” [Life Goes This Way]. Cinecittà (in Italian). 4 August 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
- ^ “Festa di Roma, apre La vita va così di Riccardo Milani” [Rome Film Festival opens with Riccardo Milani’s “Life Goes That Way”]. ANSA (in Italian). 4 August 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
- ^ “La Vita Va Così” [Life Goes This Way]. Coming Soon. 4 August 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
- ^ “La Vita Va Così, il film di Milani arriva in sala in 650 copie” [Life Goes This Way, Milani’s film hits theaters in 650 copies.]. ANSA (in Italian). 22 October 2025. Retrieved 25 October 2025.
- ^ “La vita va così di Riccardo Milani debutta in testa al box office italiano” [Riccardo Milani’s Life Goes This Way debuts at the top of the Italian box office]. Mymovies.it (in Italian). Retrieved 25 October 2025.
- ^ Scarpa, Vittoria (17 October 2025). “Review: Life Goes This Way”. Cineuropa. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
