I laureati (1995)

Leonardo, Rocco, Bruno, and Pino are four university students in their thirties who have fallen behind in their studies and share an apartment in Florence. They neglect their studies and muddle along without any desire to take responsibility for their lives: Leonardo left his wife after just a few months of marriage; Bruno pretends to be successfully attending university, but in reality he is financed by his wealthy father-in-law and is carrying on a secret affair with Cecilia, his wife Marta’s sister; Rocco, a shy, disillusioned young man from Basilicata, supports himself by working as a night watchman, a job he hates; and Pino tries, with little success, to make it in cabaret, dragging his girlfriend Sonia into it against her will. Leonardo talks about these comic and tragic misadventures with the wise Professor Galliano, his former high-school teacher and now his mentor, who tries in vain to offer him some prospects for the future. Each of the four friends seems to be presented with an unmissable opportunity: Rocco wins over Anna, a beautiful student from Naples; Pino gets a booking on a RAI program hosted by Carlo Conti; after failing a series of exams, Bruno considers leaving Marta for Cecilia; and Leonardo gets the chance to meet the fascinating Letizia, Rocco’s sister and a photo-novel model, whom he has secretly desired for years. But all these opportunities fall apart: Rocco discovers that Anna meant to involve him in a threesome with her boyfriend Luciano; overcome by camera anxiety, Pino lets out a loud blasphemous exclamation live on air; Bruno becomes increasingly dissatisfied with his situation, while Letizia tells Leonardo that she is pregnant by a former partner, leaving him unsure whether to accept the paternity that a relationship with her would entail. All these tensions lead the friends to quarrel furiously and reproach one another for their immaturity. After Professor Galliano attempts suicide, having himself fallen into Anna and Luciano’s trap, each of the four friends resolves the situation in his own way: Rocco quits his job and abandons his studies to return to his hometown; Pino decides to give up cabaret for good; Bruno comes close to confessing his affairs, but then gives in to fear: he breaks up with Cecilia and tells his family he intends to quit his studies and work full-time at his father-in-law’s company. Leonardo reluctantly gives up Letizia, realizing that their lives are completely incompatible. The four friends meet for lunch at a trattoria to take stock of their decisions, which will inevitably lead to the group breaking up; their final prank is to run out of the restaurant without paying the bill.