In Detail

In an ancient spa town, poet Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovskiy), accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano), meet the lunatic Domenico (Erland Josephson), who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in his house for seven years to save them from the evils of the world.

Seeing some deep truth in Domenico's act, Andrei becomes drawn to him. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for Eugenia and Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.

Winner of the Grand Prix de Creation and FIPRESCI prize at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.

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