VENICE -- Set in southern Italy two years after World War Two, Pupi Avati's atmospheric "The Second Wedding Night" is a likeable fable about kindness and bravery that just misses the magical touch that would have made it special.

The film, screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, has an appealingly burnished look and amiable performances but the story lacks punch and is unlikely to register with audiences on a wide basis.

All the elements are there when the simple but affluent Giordano (Antonio Albanese) invites his late brother's widow Lillian (Katie Ricciarelli), on whom he had a crush as boy, and her ne'er-do-well son Nico (Neri Marcore) to live at his spacious home.

Giordano hasn't been the same since the electric shock treatment, but he has a going concern producing sugared almonds with his grumpy aunts Suntina (Angela Luce) and Eugenia (Marisa Merlini) and in his spare time he finds and disposes of bombs left over from the war.

Meanwhile, Lilliana and Nico have been struggling to make ends meet with increasing desperation. The mother gives herself to men who will provide even the meanest shelter while the thick-skinned son is a chancer always on the make.

When Giordano replies to Lilliana's pleading letter with a moony invitation to come and be his fiance, Nico blithely steals a car so they can make the trip. Dismayed by Giordano's mental state and shunned by the aunts, Lilliana is keen to leave but Nico conspires to keep them there with an unconvincing development involving a friendly movie star (Robert Madison).

All the players do well and Albanese is particularly affecting as the slightly addled romantic who destroys bombs so that children can play in the fields and forests even though he knows he has the job because he's also regarded as disposable.

Simona Miglioitti's production design and Pasquale Rachini's cinematography help writer/director Avati achieve a period resonance that makes the film a pleasure to watch even if it ultimately proves unsatisfying.