The Consequences of Love (2004)

This Italian film had me hooked from the start as I just couldn't see where it was going or why the cold and grey main character exerted such a pull on my curiosity.  The lead  is Toni Servillo, pushing fifty himself, and a relatively recent entry to the rank of actors.  I don't know what he did previously but he could well have been a colourless accountant; here he plays a drab broker who lost a fortune for his bosses, but not by criminal intent, and who has been consigned ever since (for some eight years now) to an elegant hotel where he is effectively a bagman for the mob, taking a weekly suitcase of cash to the bank.  He seems to have no life of his own -- separated from his wife, estranged from his children, having nothing in common with his much younger brother, and surly and uncommunicative with the hotel staff. He passes his time observing the guests and the staff, but backing away from any minimal intimacy until he is challenged by the young barmaid, Olivia Magnani (grand-daughter of the great Anna).  Suddenly everything begins to change for him, but not necessarily for the better, and a final disappointment brings him to the shocking and totally unforseen ending.  What a cool guy this little grey man turned out to be!