Wags might say that "guns and roses" encapsulates Italian society. This gross generalisation aside, Carla Appuzzo's film actually does touch upon cultural stereotypes and social roles.

Her offbeat tale - of independent, I-Ching-consulting Rosa and too- gorgeous, but not-too-bright Angelo as lovers on the lam - plays a classically noir scenario as black comedy. Its graphic violence and grotesque situations, mixed with bizarre subsidiary characters and a non-linear structure, hark to a much emulated and evoked American auteur.

But the traditional choices that the unconventional heroine Rosa makes bring up other issues.

"It is true that the inheritance of classic feminism doesn't have a hold on the young generations," says Appuzzo. "Confusion, dispersion and fear of the future push many young people towards a return to tradition, but at the same time these young people can't help but be conditioned by other models that circulate in society."

Natalie Gravenor