Leap into the Void features one of those deeply dysfunctional wealthy families that appear in Bellocchio’s films with some regularity. Here that family is made up of a middle-aged brother and sister who have always lived together and who are so enmeshed that the director has described the film as “the story of a couple.” This (non-sexual) couple is haunted by the shadow of madness, which threatens the sister as Leap into the Void begins. She begins to slowly cure herself by turning her back on the past—hence the film’s title—but her journey toward the light seems to cast her brother into darkness. With Leap into the Void, Bellocchio introduces a new subtlety into his visual style; the film “murmurs,” as he puts it, breaking with the grotesquerie and expressionism of his earlier work. Few major events occur onscreen; rather, the spectator is asked to notice and decode small signs.