Martone belongs to a new generation of directors who have put Naples at the forefront of Italian filmmaking. His intelligent first feature (now succeeded by Wounded Love and others) provides a fictionalized account of the days leading to the suicide of the well-known intellectual and political radical Renato Caccioppoli (Cecchi) in 1959. The camera follows him as he moves, unkempt and depressed, through a variety of settings and social situations, revealing the vicissitudes of this complex Italian city through his distanced interactions. The film changes mood decisively with the scene of Renato’s funeral, a carnivalesque series of encounters with ironic and self-interested friends and acquaintances.