Raffaella Pontarelli

It is summer in Milan; the city is quiet, and a mother and her young daughter, Daria and Lia, go about their daily routine. Daria no longer leaves the house and has created a small ecosystem of plants inside the flat. Lia only goes out to do the shopping and to work on her art project inspired by the myth of Demeter and Persephone. It is the images she films outside her home that lead her, little by little, to recognise her own destiny.

Under the shade of a Magnolia tree, a group of pregnant women gathers weekly. Among them is Teresa, an experienced midwife who listens to them attentively. Sitting in a circle, the women reflect on the impending birth of their children and their own emerging roles as mothers.

Vittorio Zemeli is a man of about 60. He lives in an apartment in a grey building in a grey city center in Europe, crossed by a river. At the center of his house he leads a solitary life, with TV on continuously for company. One evening, like many other evenings, Vittorio sees an actor on TV identical to himself, while eating. The TV Victor kills himself. The next day Vittorio is anxious while on the way to work. Three friends surprise him and drag him into a popular restaurant in town for a birthday dinner. But the journey on the way back home will be one he won't forget.