Abel Ferrara made “Tommaso” at 67. That’s a bit old for a film about second chances and starting over, inspired by his own life and the experiences of Willem Dafoe (who plays its title character). But in recent years, the Italian-American director has reversed his forefathers’ journey, moving from New York to Rome. (He’s made documentaries about life in Naples and Rome.)

In this film’s opening scene, Tommaso attends an Italian-language class, determined not to be an Ugly American. “Tommaso” is a paradox: full of anxiety about the difficulties of marriage yet relaxed and shaggy. Content to run a leisurely two hours, it feels as though it were invented scene by scene. Ferrara has spent the five years between it and his previous narrative film, “Pasolini,” making documentaries, and although “Tommaso” is quite ambitious, it feels caught on the fly.