Il Posto

Il Posto

Year: 1961

Runtime: 98 mins

Language: Italian

Director: Ermanno Olmi

Drama

Facing family debt, Domenico leaves his home for Milan, taking a messenger job at a firm instead of continuing his studies, hoping for promotion. There he meets Antonietta, another young worker in a similar plight, and they begin a tentative romance, though the routine of their jobs threatens to keep them apart.

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Timeline & Setting – Il Posto (1961)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Il Posto (1961). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Location

Big-city corporate building, Local cafe

The film largely unfolds within a sleek, modern city office where Domenico begins his new life as a junior worker. A nearby local cafe serves as a human counterpoint, where quick conversations reveal ambitions and dreams outside the workflow. The New Year’s Eve party at the workplace brings workers together, offering a rare moment of community amid routine. The contrast between working spaces and casual social spaces underscores the film’s focus on ordinary life in a modern corporate environment.

🏙️ Urban setting ☕ Café culture

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 16:14

Main Characters – Il Posto (1961)

Meet the key characters of Il Posto (1961), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Domenico Cantoni (Sandro Panseri)

A cautious, hopeful young man who forgoes advanced schooling to support his family. He approaches the corporate world with restraint, observing how exams, assignments, and office politics shape a career path. His connection with Antonietta reveals a desire for something more than clerical routine, which is quickly challenged by departmental placements.

🏢 Workplace 💭 Dreams

Antonietta Masetti (Loredana Detto)

A determined young woman who, like Domenico, has left school to help her mother. She embodies practical ambition and resilience, seeking a better future through honest work. Her fleeting romance with Domenico offers a human counterbalance to the film’s mechanized workplace environment.

☕ Café life 💬 Ambition

Portioli (Guido Spadea)

The recently deceased employee whose former desk becomes Domenico’s. His absence marks the shift from one generation of clerks to the next and foreshadows the impersonal nature of corporate life.

🏢 Desk legacy 🧭 Workplace changes

Sartori

An office worker who instructs and works beside the accountants’ area. His presence anchors Domenico’s routine tasks and exemplifies the everyday guidance found within the corporate structure.

🧭 Guidance 🗂️ Office life

Domenico's Senior Fellow Colleague (Mara Revel)

A senior colleague who witnesses Domenico’s early struggles and provides a delineation of office culture, illustrating how seasoned workers perceive newcomers and their own place within the hierarchy.

🤝 Mentorship 🧰 Office life

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 16:14

Major Themes – Il Posto (1961)

Explore the central themes of Il Posto (1961), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

💼 Work Life

Domenico's entry into the big city company frames work as a proving ground where persistence matters as much as talent. The absence of clerical openings after he passes the tests shows how opportunities are controlled by a rigid bureaucracy. He ends up in a modest messenger role, then is relegated to a dim back desk, highlighting how routine can curb ambition. The setting emphasizes the cold efficiency of modern employment over personal growth.

❤️ Romance

A brief encounter with Antonietta offers warmth and shared aspiration amid the grind of exams and transfers. Their coffee rendevous and the New Year’s Eve party provide a human connection that punctures the office’s monotony. The romance faces obstacles as professional paths pull them in different directions. Their separation underscores how work realities can complicate personal dreams.

🏢 Bureaucracy

The workplace culture reveals how rank and routine shape a young worker's life, often more than talent. The desk reshuffling and the relegation to the back row illustrate a rigid hierarchy that stifles upward movement. Roles are defined by position within the office, not by individual potential. The film critiques a society that prioritizes compliance with the system over personal ambitions.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 16:14

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Explore Movie Threads

Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Gentle coming-of-age stories like Il Posto

Observational stories about the tender and lonely transition into adult life.If you liked the quiet, observational style of Il Posto, you'll find more movies like it here. These stories explore the tender and melancholic side of growing up, focusing on first jobs, youthful ambition, and tentative romance with a gentle, realistic pace.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative follows a linear, character-driven path, often centering on a protagonist leaving home or school to face the mundane realities of adult work and responsibility. The central conflict is internal—a quiet negotiation between youthful dreams and the limitations of their new environment, punctuated by small, significant moments of connection and disillusionment.

Why These Movies?

Movies in this thread are grouped by their shared gentle, melancholic tone, slow pacing, and focus on the intimate, non-dramatic initiation into adulthood. They resonate through their poetic realism and empathetic observation of everyday life.

Movies about office life and bureaucracy like Il Posto

Stories finding small moments of humanity within the monotonous routine of office life.Discover films similar to Il Posto that capture the specific vibe of office routine and working-class life. These movies like Il Posto often feature bittersweet endings, tentative workplace romances, and a poetic look at the small dramas unfolding within corporate walls.

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Narrative Summary

The plot typically follows characters—often newcomers—navigating the impersonal structures of a large company or institution. The narrative tension arises from the clash between individual aspiration and the dehumanizing system, resolving not in dramatic upsets but in quiet, bittersweet acquiescence or small, personal triumphs within the confines of the system.

Why These Movies?

These films share a distinct setting and mood: the low-intensity, slow-burn observation of workplace dynamics, a melancholic tone stemming from the compromise between dreams and reality, and a narrative focus on how personal relationships blossom in spite of, or because of, institutional monotony.

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Il Posto Summary

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Il Posto Timeline

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Il Posto Timeline

Il Posto Spoiler-Free Summary

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Il Posto Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Il Posto

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