The same Romain Gary novel that became the Oscar-winning 1977 French drama, Madame Rosa, earning a César Award for Simone Signoret in the title role, gets relocated from Paris to a Southern Italian coastal town in The Life Ahead. This sensitive contemporary remake, set in one of the hubs of the Euro-Mediterranean migrant crisis, reshapes the work as a vehicle for director Edoardo Ponti's celebrated mother, Sophia Loren, back on the screen after a 10-year absence.