: A playwright-turned-director who infused the film with a "carnivalesque" atmosphere. Critical Reception and Themes

: Captures the transition of an adolescent boy into a man driven by intense, "unfilial" passion.

The story follows (played by Maria Grazia Cucinotta), a young Sicilian single mother who moves to a rural community to marry Fosco (Lazar Ristovski), an older, rough-edged truck driver. The household also includes Livio (Giorgio Noè), Fosco's sensitive teenage son from his first marriage.