Gino Curcione

Two aging men bond over their respective heartbreaks, but it may not be over yet...

Naples, 1959. Pure Mathematics professor Renato Caccioppoli, Bakunin's grandson, is a tortured soul. Recently discharged from the psychiatric hospital, left by his wife, and increasingly disillusioned with academia and the Communist Party, he lives his last days with painful detachment.

Five Neapolitan directors depict life in the city under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius for this anthology film of comedy, drama, surrealism, and political commentary.

Three episodes. In the first, Aurora lives in a luxurious apartment. Among some workers called to her house, she recognizes an old lover, who returns to courting her, but then empties her house. In the second, a boy released from reform school discovers that his mother is actually his father: a transvestite. In the third, a newsagent, suspecting her husband, who constantly pretends to be ill, is cheating on her, places a video camera in her room. She records his sexual encounters on a videotape that she sells at newsstands. In his directorial debut, Corsicato demonstrates a sharp and poetic talent (he was Almodovar's assistant) in creating three portraits of women that are also portraits of his city, Naples.

Mario Martone films the eponymous stage show by Enzo Moscato.