Synopsis
In a splendid Venetian monastery built in the Renaissance, Andrea encounters the other novices as well as his severe Father Superior (André Hennicke) and all seem to look at him with a strange gleam in their eyes that betrays contempt, amusement, longing, disdain, jealousy and fear. Andrea finds it difficult to find his place even in the rigidly structured life of the religious order and he is distracted by every minute detail that does not seem to be part of the daily routine, including strange happenings after dark. Andrea starts wondering around at night, and viewers might at first be led to believe that the film will go into Name of the Rose territory, but Costanzo is interested in more substantial matters; the wanderings of Andrea in the dark have more thematic value than narrative purpose.
The immense vaulted corridor that connects all of the novices' cells becomes a leitmotiv that shows the lost souls that make up the congregation in their most naked state of being: wandering around aimlessly, trying to understand things that can perhaps not be understood. Andrea forges acquaintances if not exactly friendships with some of the other novices and each one seems to be as lost as the next, which both creates a connection of recognition between them but which also positions each one as an island. Will Andrea find the answers he is looking for here?
