L'amore, in teoria (2025)

Leone is a brilliant philosophy student: kind, polite, and sweet, but unable to express his feelings. He has always been in love with Carola, a former high school classmate who, unfortunately, is dating another guy, Manuel. Carola openly takes advantage of Leone’s good nature, pretending to her wealthy parents that she is dating him to conceal her relationship with the more irresponsible Manuel. One evening, Carola’s father lends Leone his luxurious car. Manuel causes an accident with it, but Leone is wrongly blamed for the offense (partly because Carola does not stand up for him). He is forced to do community service and, as a result, misses the opportunity to sit his degree exams. At community service, he meets Meda, an eccentric homeless man, and, above all, Flor, a strong-willed, independent, free-spirited environmental activist who was arrested for indecent exposure in public during a protest. After some initial hostility, the two become friends. This leads Leone to take part in an environmental protest, where he makes a speech that surprises everyone present, including Flor herself. She invites him to visit her at home that evening, in a communal house shared with other activists, making it clear that she wants to sleep with him. Having no experience with romance or sex, Leone looks up information online and asks Meda for advice. With the homeless man’s tips, too, he happily loses his virginity with Flor that evening. On his way home, he runs into Carola, who has realized the harm she caused him and feels sorry about it. She wants to apologize and ends up kissing him; however, the young man, who has now fallen for Flor, reacts indifferently, leaving Carola saddened. Later, Leone and Flor meet again, and he tells her how he feels. But she rejects him, saying that she considers what happened between them a one-off and has no feelings for him. Meanwhile, Rocco, a colleague of Leone’s who belongs to his social circle, says he met Flor on social media and reveals that, despite turning Leone down, she actually had feelings for him too. When Leone tells Rocco what happened, Rocco pieces everything together and goes to meet Flor to persuade her to tell Leone the truth, inviting her to an evening at a bar with the whole group. But Carola also shows up. Leone has started going out with her again, having given up hope of getting together with Flor. Seeing them together, Flor leaves, upset. Leone decides to win Flor back and explain the situation to Carola once and for all; Carola accepts it understandingly. But in the end, nothing comes of it, because this time Flor admits that she has feelings for Leone, but says she is not ready to start a relationship. Some time later, Leone defends his thesis, as planned, on the subject of love, and the committee receives it very positively. Flor makes a surprise appearance at his graduation ceremony and tells him that she tried dating other guys, but with none of them did she feel the same happiness she felt with Leone. The two kiss, finally marking the beginning of their love story.