A dream of murder becomes a fuse for chaos in Sorrentino's most unhinged Neapolitan fever dream.
Alberto Saporito spent a very eventful night. His friend Aniello Amitrano was brutally killed and his body was hidden by his neighbors, the Cimmarutas. But he can't remember if it was just a dream or if he actually lived it. That's why he shows up early to the police to file a complaint. However, he doesn't know that his gesture will be the fuse that will cause chaos to explode. Just like his uncle Nicola does with his firecrackers. The uncle has in fact decided to stop talking, because the degradation in which humanity finds itself repels him, and is expressed only through his pyrotechnic language.
Acting
Toni Servillo's unraveling is masterclass in comic paranoia.
Direction
Sorrentino's controlled chaos before his Oscar fame.
Writing
Dialogue that weaponizes Neapolitan theatricality.
Director
Paolo Sorrentino
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Peppe and Toni Servillo are real-life brothers, casting that amplifies the film's volcanic sibling rivalry energy.
Sorrentino adapted this from a 1948 Eduardo De Filippo play, keeping the theatrical DNA while adding his signature visual excess.
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