La dea fortuna (2019)

Arturo, a writer, and Alessandro, a plumber, have been a couple for more than fifteen years, living in Rome surrounded by many friends. Their relationship, however, has been in crisis for a long time: passion and intimacy have faded, and Arturo knowingly puts up with Alessandro’s many affairs, while Alessandro has become increasingly withdrawn and silent around him. One day, Annamaria, Alessandro’s best friend, entrusts her two children, Martina and Sandro, aged 12 and 9, to the two men to look after while she is in hospital for some tests. Her stay, initially planned to last only a few days, is extended after a congenital illness is discovered, which will first require a biopsy and then surgery. Living with the children upsets the already fragile balance between the two men, who begin arguing frequently, creating tension between the siblings as well. Martina also plants in Arturo’s mind the suspicion that Sandro might actually be Alessandro’s son—after all, he is named after him. Later, Alessandro discovers that Arturo, without his knowledge, has also been having a secret relationship with an artist for more than two years. This triggers a major crisis, after which the couple decide to separate. Meanwhile, realizing how serious her condition is, Annamaria writes a will naming Alessandro the legal guardian of her children, but when she sees how distraught the two men are over their breakup, she cannot bring herself to tell them. With their separation imminent, Alessandro and Arturo can no longer look after the children, so they ask Annamaria to leave them with her mother, Elena, a fallen baroness who lives in Sicily. Annamaria hates her and cut off contact with her after her brother Lorenzo died of an overdose, but given the urgency of the situation, she lets herself be persuaded. During the ferry trip from Naples to Palermo, the two men have a dramatic confrontation, accusing each other of all the ways they have failed one another. The children console them during what seems to be the final end of their relationship. When they arrive at the eighteenth-century villa in Bagheria where Elena lives, the two men immediately realize that she is excessively strict with the children, but, believing their stay will be only temporary, they leave them there. Back in Rome, they witness Annamaria’s sudden death. Returning to Sicily for their friend’s funeral, Alessandro and Arturo are prevented by Elena from seeing the children. The woman shows that she has always known everything about her daughter’s life, including the fact that Alessandro and Arturo are gay, and therefore believes the two men would be unable to raise the children properly. Lea, Elena’s housekeeper, secretly explains to them that Elena was extremely cruel to Annamaria and Lorenzo, even becoming violent. The two men then decide to take the children back by force, locking Elena in the same wardrobe in which she used to lock up her children as punishment—and now her grandchildren. Though overwhelmed, the woman threatens to report them for abducting a minor. On the way back, Alessandro and Arturo stop along the coast, convinced that things could fall apart if they return to Rome. During the night, for the first time in a long while, the two share a moment of intimacy, suggesting a possible reconciliation. Dawn comes, and all four go for a swim in the sea. Each performs a ritual of the Goddess of Fortune, which Annamaria taught them and which is meant to keep the person dearest to you in the world by your side: gaze fixedly at the face of the person you desire, then close your eyes and open them again right away, so that the image, as if photographed, sinks down into your heart. Sandro and Martina perform it toward Alessandro and Arturo, who in turn perform it toward each other.