Before the Revolution

In Parma in 1962, Fabrizio wrestles with joining the Italian Communist Party while trying to preserve his comfortable middle-class upbringing. He questions how his engagement to Clelia aligns with a growing sense of political duty and personal security. This inner conflict frames his decisions in the years ahead.

Fabrizio shares his turmoil with Agostino, whose own concerns about faith, family, and ideology create tension between Catholic roots and Marxist rhetoric. The conversation reveals how friendship becomes a space for testing belief rather than confirming it. The bond between them foreshadows the later rifts in their lives.

Aunt Gina, Fabrizio's mother's younger sister from Milan, moves into the family house and upends the fragile balance of the household. Her presence introduces a new dynamic that intersects with politics, desire, and old loyalties. The atmosphere grows more charged as the year unfolds.

News reaches Parma that Agostino has drowned in the Po River. Fabrizio begins interviewing local youths who were present the night of the tragedy, determined to uncover what really happened. His investigation leads him to suspect that the death may be a suicide rather than an accident.

As Fabrizio pieces together testimonies, he realizes that Agostino's outward hatred of his parents may conceal a deeper self loathing. The revelation unsettles Fabrizio and shadows his own sense of purpose. The investigation thus shifts from a crime story to a meditation on identity and loyalty.

A fragile affair develops between Fabrizio and Gina, with Fabrizio introducing her to Cesare. The trio read and discuss philosophical works while reflecting on Italy s fascist past. Gina keeps her feelings distant while she wrestles with love, insomnia, and fear.

Gina's nights are haunted by insomnia and a constant sense of anxiety. She speaks to a nameless doctor in nightly phone conversations and worries that someone is trying to push her away from Parma. The tension in their unconventional bond deepens as insomnia becomes a symbol of unsettled futures.

Fabrizio spots Gina leaving a hotel with another man, and he confronts her in anger. Later that same night Gina consoles him, insisting that he is not yet a mature man with a wife and family. She implies that their connection cannot be dismissed as mere flirtation.

Puck, Gina's longtime lover who has lived off his father's land, arrives to voice anxieties about the changing times and their uncertain future. Gina rebukes Fabrizio for insulting Puck, highlighting the friction between loyalty, pride, and the social order shifting under their feet. The scene heightens the sense of precarious livelihoods and competing loyalties.

Gina leaves Parma and Fabrizio attends a communist rally in Parco Ducale, where his disillusionment with the party begins to surface. The public display contrasts with his private entanglements, underscoring the gap between ideology and personal life. The rally marks a turning point in his stance toward politics.

A few days after the rally, Fabrizio marries Clelia, choosing to preserve his original social milieu while his heart drifts toward a more unsettled stance. The union binds him to tradition even as his inner thoughts widen toward doubt. The ceremony becomes a mirror of the tensions between duty and desire.

On the wedding day, Gina is seen kissing Fabrizio's younger brother Antonio, signaling the persistence of old attachments beneath the surface of the ceremony. The moment interrupts the harmony of the day and reveals the unresolved currents running beneath political commitments. The scene emphasizes how love and loyalty can survive past social expectations.

The film closes by tying personal longing, existential doubt, and a critique of ideological certainty to a broader national history. It portrays a generation caught between tradition and transformation, where love, loyalty, and the compromises of everyday life intersect in intimate, painful ways. The ending invites reflection on what remains when certainties fade.