75-year-old Giuseppe De Metrio has spent 30 years in Geneva, as foreign worker for the Broyer company. Upon retirement, he returned to Puglia, Italy, where his family had continued to live. His only grandchild, 7-year-old Carla, is blind. The whole family looks forward hopefully to the day when Carla's sight can be restored by means of a cornea transplantation. After a heart attack, Giuseppe decides to wait no longer and returns to Switzerland to ask his former boss Mr. Broyer for the money necessary for the operation, as an old promise binds the two men. Intended as a 48-hour trip, Giuseppe and Carla's visit in Switzerland becomes a journey that both grandfather and granddaughter never dreamt of...
Acting
Paolo Villaggio's farewell performance, stripped of his usual comedy.
Cinematography
Puglia's golden light vs. Geneva's sterile blues.
Direction
Rabaglia's patient observation of faces that say everything.
Director
Denis Rabaglia
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Paolo Villaggio was Italy's beloved slapstick comedian; this was his final serious role before his 2017 death.
The film captures the real 'Swiss Italian' diaspora—hundreds of thousands of Southern Italians who built Swiss industry but remained invisible.
IT
FR
