A barber, a plague, and a pillar of shame—Small-town Italians weaponize gossip into a death sentence.
Acting
Francisco Rabal's dignified desperation as the doomed barber.
Production
Grimy, suffocating 1630 Milan—plague-ridden and paranoid.
Writing
Manzoni's source material weaponized with surgical irony.
Director
Nelo Risi
Helmut Berger
Il capitano di giustizia Arconati
Vittorio Caprioli
Il commissario di sanità Guglielmo Piazza
Francisco Rabal
Giacomo Mora - il barbiere
Lucia Bosè
Chiara Mora - la moglie di Giacomo
Annabella Incontrera
L'amante di Arconati
Pierluigi Aprà
Il senatore Monti
Martin Balsam
Feodor Chaliapin Jr.
Il cardinale arcivescovo di Milano Federico (as Feodor Chaliapin)
Philippe Hersent
Guglielmo Migliavacca
Salvo Randone
Il protofisico Settala
Steffen Zacharias
Stefano Baruello
Andrea Aureli
Bruna Cealti
Ernesto Colli
Un giudice
Giuseppe Colombo
Commissario Porta Orientale
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Manzoni's 1842 novel was itself historical reconstruction; Risi filmed during Italy's Years of Lead, when state violence and paranoia felt freshly urgent.
The real Column of Infamy stood until 1778. Its destruction was celebrated as enlightenment triumph—Risi's film asks if we build different pillars now.
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