CATHERINE BISLEY samples the offerings at the 13th Italian Film Festival, touring centres until late November.

FILLED with (mainly) beautiful women and the odd handsome man, Manual of Love 2 taught me nothing of its professed subject. The film consists of four stories which segue together in glaringly fabricated coincidence. Threading through them all is the radio show from which the title derives; at the office of Manual of Love, everyone sits around smiling and nodding as the DJ muses over Eros. Manual of Love 2 suffers from too much self-congratulation.