The Son's Room

Nanni Moretti writes, directs and stars in this Italian drama about family grief and bereavement.

Psychiatrist Giovanni (Moretti) lives happily with his family in a small Italian coastal town.

One Sunday he is due to spend time with his son Andrea (Giuseppe Sanfelice), when he receives an anguished call from Oscar (Silvio Orlando), one of his patients, and feels he must go and see him instead; later that afternoon Andrea dies in a diving accident.

Over the following weeks, Giovanni, his wife Paola (Laura Morante), and daughter Irene (Jasmine Trinca), remain shell-shocked with grief; with Giovanni suspending his practice, and relations between himself and Paola becoming increasingly difficult.

When a love letter arrives from a girl whom Andrea met the previous summer, the family become curious to learn more about this person who meant so much to their departed son and brother.