Genre: Drama

Language: Italian with English Subtitles

Director: Alessandro di Robilant

Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Francesca Neri, Emilio Solfrizzi & Alberto Di Stasio

Released: 2003

Duration: 96 Minutes

Rating: M contains adult themes

Distribution: Adriana Chiesa Enterprises

Giovanni (Giancarlo Giannini) is a top penal lawyer whose life is characterised by professional success and extra-marital conquests. The unexpected arrival of the beautiful, ruthless Sara (Francesca Neri), a woman practiced at seducing powerful men like him, upsets his ordered existence. Sara controls their love affair, alternating moments of great passion with sudden moments of distance when she cuts herself off from her lover with an indifference that is almost cruel. Giovanni leaves his family, but Sara’s fear of a stable relationship makes her abandon him. He then falls into a serious state of physical and psychic prostration, a pathology known as a “scratched spirit”. Giovanni is taken for treatment to a specialised clinic, where, despite the attention of psychologist Doddoli, he goes into steep decline, losing interest in life, and after a desperate attempt to run away one night, dies. Doddoli, grieving over his personal and professional loss, and curious about his patient’s last words, decides to discover the cause of the “scratch”. He tracks down Sara, who begins to explain to him, and for herself, the intense affair she had with Giovanni.

“A love story ‘beyond all reason’. Francesca Neri is perfect in the role of the impossible mistress. She has that aura of elegance and fascination, a palpitating icon of beauty. Giancarlo Giannini, the mature lawyer, is a monster of talent.” La Stampa