Like a Cat on a Highway (2017) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The film is set primarily in Italy, spanning the quiet Tuscan town of Capalbio and the lively Coccia di Morto beach. Key scenes also take place in Brussels, where the European Parliament think tank operates, and Rome's Piazza Cavour, anchoring the story in Italian civic life.

• capalbio
• tuscany
• brussels
• italian setting
• beach location

The story takes place in contemporary, present-day Europe. It follows a European think tank focused on poverty alleviation through entrepreneurship, with the timeline reflecting current social policy debates and modern family dynamics.

• present day
• modern europe
• contemporary
• time period

The film explores how wealth and opportunity shape relationships through the contrast between Agnese's life in the Bastogi neighborhood and Giovanni's elite think-tank world in Brussels. This theme questions how policy translate into real-life change when living rooms and policy rooms operate so differently.

• class divide
• social class
• wealth
• poverty
• policy
• privilege

Giovanni and Monica's romance across different social spheres challenges family boundaries and strains both their families. Their relationship tests loyalties and acts as a catalyst for examining social mobility and empathy, showing how personal desire intersects with public policy concerns.

• romance
• social boundaries
• class differences
• love
• relationship

The think tank investigates whether money can uplift peripheral communities through entrepreneurship. The film illustrates the gap between policy promises and on-the-ground impact, suggesting that funding alone isn't enough without social relevance and inclusion.

• policy
• funding
• entrepreneurship
• poverty alleviation
• europe

Giovanni Minimo is a high-level think tank leader for the European Parliament who studies poverty alleviation through micro-entrepreneurship. He is also a single father protecting his daughter Agnese, and his pragmatism is tested as he navigates between policy, family, and his growing entanglement with Monica's world.

• giovanni minimo
• think tank
• european parliament
• father
• poverty

Monica is a tough, resourceful woman who lives with her son Alessio in a modest apartment in the Bastogi neighborhood. She challenges Giovanni's assumptions about her social class, and her motives blend practical choices with a willingness to bend rules for her family's sake.

• monica
• mother
• bastogi
• resourcefulness
• working class

Agnese is Giovanni's 13-year-old daughter, navigating a world where her elite father's worldview collides with the realities of Bastogi. She represents innocence and curiosity, and her romance with Alessio drives the tension between the two families from different social spheres.

• agnese
• daughter
• teenager
• giovanni
• alessio

Alessio is Agnese's boyfriend from the Bastogi neighborhood. His family's struggles and his father's recent release from prison shape his environment. He embodies both the allure and danger of crossing social lines, as well as the fragility of adolescent romance.

• alessio
• boyfriend
• bastogi
• family struggles
• prison

Sergio is Alessio's father, recently pardoned and released from prison. He represents the lure of old criminal networks and the potential for redemption, but also serves as a destabilizing force that tensions both families and complicates Giovanni's and Luce's positions.

• sergio
• father
• prison
• redemption
• criminal
• alessio

The title uses the metaphor of a cat on a highway to represent the fragile and precarious nature of connections across class divides. The ambiguous ending on a bench underscores this fragility without a clear resolution, creating a bittersweet but hopeful metaphor for the characters' relationships.

• title meaning
• metaphor
• symbolism
• cat
• highway
• ending

Despite dealing with class conflict, the film maintains a primarily comedic and light tone. The emotional weight is kept low, with social friction rather than high drama driving the intensity. The humor and focus on social observation keep the mood accessible and entertaining.

• tone
• comedy
• humor
• light
• family film
• genre