What if curing your husband's nuclear anxiety meant faking World War III?
Exasperated by her husband Matteo, who lives with the nightmare of an imminent third world war, Virginia asks her brother Arturo for help. He decides to indulge the man's phobia by creating a fake newspaper announcing the outbreak of the conflict. The ploy works and Matteo seems to calm down, but the fear of the return of war reawakens fears and concerns in those around him that were thought to be buried.
Acting
De Filippo's trembling everyman perfection
Writing
Sharp adaptation from his own stage play
Direction
Intimate chamber staging that breathes
Director
Eduardo De Filippo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
De Filippo adapted this from his own 1950 play, written during Italy's post-war reconstruction when nuclear anxiety was palpable.
The film's power comes from never leaving the apartment—like a Neapolitan 'No Exit' where hell is other people's coping mechanisms.
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