Having found inspiration in the lives of real-life former politicians Giulio Andreotti (Il Divo, 2008) and Silvio Berlusconi (Loro, 2018), Paolo Sorrentino and regular collaborator Toni Servillo, who essayed the previous two men so convincingly, return to the political milieu with this study of a fictitious Italian president. In the final months of his presidency, Mariano de Santis, widower and former judge, mulls over a pair of pardons and a euthanasia bill that require his decision before he leaves office.

Notes by Kevin Coyne