Occhiali neri (2022)

Rome. A solar eclipse envelops the city on a summer’s day. That same evening, a prostitute leaves a hotel where she has just met with a client and is attacked by a maniac who kills her with a metal wire: she is the third victim of a serial killer who targets prostitutes using the same modus operandi. Diana, a high-end escort, becomes the killer’s target when she flees a client’s violent advances. The murder attempt fails, but Diana is involved in a car accident in which she loses her sight permanently and causes the death of a Chinese family when her car collides with theirs. Only their 10-year-old son, Chin, survives the crash. While trying to keep her escort business going, Diana is placed in the care of Rita, a specialist support worker for people with visual impairments. Rita soon becomes her only friend and helps her adjust to her new life, with the help of Nerea, her guard dog. Diana is tormented by guilt over causing the family’s death and visits Chin at a care home, from which the boy later manages to escape. Chin moves in with Diana and becomes her new eyes, eager to help her discover who the killer is and avenge his family. Meanwhile, Inspector Baldacci leads the investigation and identifies the killer as the owner of a white van that has been seen several times at the crime scenes. Rita also saw a similar vehicle while she was with Diana: the killer is indeed spying on Diana and seems determined to kill her at any cost. Police officers Bajani and Jerry, sent to question Diana about Chin’s disappearance from the care home, are also killed by the murderer. Jerry is hit by the white van, while Inspector Bajani, still alive after the collision, is stabbed in the back. Diana and Chin, meanwhile, flee from the killer and take refuge in the boy’s house, which is now completely empty. This gives the killer a chance to break into Diana’s home and drug Nerea, the guard dog. During their escape, Diana and Chin find shelter at Rita’s home, a country house on the outskirts of Rome. Chin secretly calls Inspector Bajani, whose number she had previously given Diana, but he does not know that the person on the other end is the killer, who has taken the woman’s cell phone and thereby discovers their location. A few hours later, the killer arrives in the white van near Rita’s house. He strangles Rita like the other victims and discovers Diana and Chin’s hiding place. The two flee into the woods around the house and end up getting lost. Diana is alone and disoriented because of her blindness; she first falls into a snake-infested pond, then reaches an industrial building, where she finds Chin. But the killer has followed her and kidnaps them both, after also taking out two rescuers who had stopped to help them. Diana and Chin find themselves prisoners at a guard-dog training center, where Nerea is also being held after the killer took her and locked her in a cage. It is then revealed that the killer is Matteo, a former client of Diana’s who was rejected because of his bad smell and now intends to take revenge on her for humiliating him. Nerea manages to escape from the cage and reach Matteo, who at first tries to turn her against Diana. But when the dog hears her owner crying for help, she leaps at Matteo’s throat and tears him apart, while Chin manages to untie himself and free Diana as well. The police arrive and rescue the survivors, while taking away Matteo’s mangled body. The film ends at Fiumicino Airport, where Diana says a final goodbye to Chin, who is entrusted to a cousin who has come to Italy to take him to live in Hong Kong. Left alone by the police officers who accompanied her, Diana talks to Nerea, telling her that she is now the only friend she has left.