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Self-discovery is the theme of Flying Lessons, the latest of director Francesca Archibugi’s perspicacious studies of youth’s psychological pitfalls. Having failed their final school exams, two 18-year-old lads from two very different Italian families decide to leave for India. Well-to-do, lethargic Apollonio, aka Pollo (Andrea Miglio Risi) persuades his parents to let him accompany best friend Marco, aka “Curry” (Tom Kharumaty), who is Indian by birth and now wants to see his native land. In Jodhpur, the two fall in with Italian doctor Chiara (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), who takes them to her aid agency’s clinic in the deserts of Rajasthan. Needing some release from the stress of her job, and with her Scottish husband (Douglas Henshall) in Sri Lanka, Chiara welcomes a mindless roll in the hay with Pollo. He, however, fails to grasp the transient nature of their bit of fun.

Tackling some weighty themes — the search for identity, the conflict between parents and children, cultural diversity — with a disarming lightness of touch, Archibugi neither panders to nor glamorises India.