Deranged after a fall from a horse, a man has lived for twenty years in a castle laboring under the delusion that he is Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. His psychiatrist concocts an elaborate scheme to shock him out of his medieval reverie.
Acting
Mastroianni's terrifying charisma—madness as sovereignty
Direction
Bellocchio's claustrophobic castle becomes a pressure cooker
Writing
Pirandello adaptation that weaponizes theatricality itself
Director
Marco Bellocchio
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Adapted from Luigi Pirandello's 1922 play, written as Italy descended into Mussolini's fascism—Henry's fake empire eerily mirrors real political delusion.
Mastroianni performed the entire role in a single 15-minute take for the opening scene; Bellocchio kept it uncut.
IT
