You’re stuck in a house of unemployed epileptics.
Your mother’s blind and your sister’s starting to look pretty cute.
One day it dawns on you how much freedom you’d have if some of these people would just die.
Then you could have a normal life, whatever that means (you’re not sure).
There’s nothing to distract you from the idea, so you keep thinking about it.
You even make a plan. You’re nervous about it. You have a false start.
Eventually though, you get it together, you take a deep breath, find your center, step forward and do what needs to be done: You start killing.
It doesn’t solve all of your problems, but at least you’re not having petty arguments over the dinner table anymore.
This is a terrific Italian black comedy that’s not afraid to get mean. Director Marco Bellocchio (making his first feature) plants laughs in odd places, often right in the middle of something bleak, where some audiences won’t even find it. Meanwhile, Paola Pitagora is one underrated brunette beauty as the crush-worthy sister and Ennio Morricone scores the whole affair like the horror film that it really is.