INSIGHT INTO THE ITALIAN HEART AND MIND.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

Although it's not the most inspired story about child abuse ever written, Italian import "Don't Tell" steadily builds power thanks to a fine ensemble cast that's well-versed in giving specific expression to timeworn types in time-tested situations.

Directed by Cristina Comencini (filmmaker Luigi's daughter) and based on a novel that she wrote, this foreign language film Oscar nominee not only charts a tale familiar to many movie and movie-of-the-week watchers - a young woman gradually awakens to the fact that her dear, departed dad molested her many years ago - it also takes us on crowd-pleasing side trips that lighten the weight of the heavy main melodrama.

So, besides Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) upsetting both her patient boyfriend Franco (Alessio Boni) and guilt-ridden brother Daniele (Luigi Lo Cascio) with her troubling dreams and growing suspicions of all things masculine, we're also treated to the romantic misadventures of Sabina's blind, gay childhood friend, Emilia (Stefania Rocca), and bitterly divorced, middle-age co-worker, Maria (Angela Finnochiaro).

For those who like a voyage-to-Italy effect, Comencini offers an architecturally astute assortment of settings that range from classical to modern. And since Sabina, Franco and Maria all work in filmed entertainment, we're also treated to fan-delighting locations inside Rome's legendary Cinecitta studios. To further the art excursion, there's a crass yet sensitive director, Andrea (Giuseppe Battiston), whom actor Franco works with and discusses the future, if there is one, of cinema.

But regardless of whether they're cast as verging on breakdowns, repressed intellectuals or lovelorn cliches, the players all turn their roles into finely shaded individuals. Mezzogiorno essentially the It Girl of what passes for serious Italian cinema these days (works include "Last Kiss" and "Facing Windows") reaches Magnani-esque depths of despair here. Sabina takes off on obnoxious rants and literally drives those closest to her into others' arms and, in her brother's case, to another continent (he's a professor at the University of Virginia). Yet there's something good and attractive about her that the characters recognize, as should movie audiences. In the current vernacular, we simply can't quit her, and that's all due to Mezzogiorno's robust yet emotionally judicious performance.

The other actresses find subtle behavioral humor in their calculatingly conceived roles. And much to both Comencini's and the actors' credits, the film's three main men never come off as easy targets for blame, though all of them have pronounced flaws and make terribly ill-advised decisions.

Deep down, though, they're basically well-meaning guys. That's rare enough in an Italian movie, rarer still in one about a bad daddy. I don't think "Don't Tell" has much to add to the literature of psychological recovery. But any movie with such a humane grasp of people and their weaknesses is a nice addition to any nation's movie culture.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

DON'T TELL - Three stars

(R: sex, nudity, language, children in jeopardy)

Starring: Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Alessio Boni, Stefania Rocca, Angela Finocchiaro, Luigi Lo Cascio.

Director: Cristina Comencini.

Running time: 2 hr.

Playing: Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Laemmle Sunset 5, West Hollywood; Landmark Westside Pavilion, West Los Angeles.

In a nutshell: The actors bring distinction to an otherwise fairly standard melodrama about a young woman recovering memories of childhood abuse. (In Italian with English subtitles.)

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Director Cristina Comencini's child-abuse tale ``Don't Tell'' stars Giovanna Mezzogiorno.