The Overcoat

Carmine De Carmine works as a clerk in the town hall and lives a very modest life in a rented room in 1930s Pavia. He is diligent and devoted to his duties, yet is repeatedly ignored or demeaned by the town's general secretary and by the ambitious mayor. He endures cold winters and a shabby coat that mirrors his precarious status.

One day a beautiful and elegant woman, mistaking Carmine for a beggar, gives him a large sum of money. He uses the money as a down payment to obtain an elegant coat with a fur collar from a tailor. The tailor's pride in his work is clear as he helps transform Carmine and the coat becomes a symbol of status.

At work, Carmine accidentally witnesses a compromising meeting during which businessmen promise a bribe to the general secretary. In exchange, the secretary promises him a large productivity bonus to keep him quiet. The encounter foreshadows the corrupt power structure that will dominate the town.

With the coat finished, Carmine wears it and feels like a king as he walks through the town. The tailor follows proudly, savoring his role in the transformation. The coat elevates Carmine's presence and draws attention from the townspeople.

On New Year’s Eve Carmine attends a reception invited by the secretary general. He moves among the guests, feeling the weight of his new image. The room is filled with pomp that does not share his wonder at being seen as somebody important.

During the reception Carmine gives a speech that expresses compassion for the impoverished masses. The response is cool and distant, revealing the crowd’s skepticism toward his sudden status. The moment highlights the cold reality of social climbing in the town.

Towards the end of the party Carmine waltzes with the beautiful woman who is the mayor's mistress. The moment is intimate, yet it feels hollow against the backdrop of corruption around him. The moment underscores the moral distance between his new life and the town's power structures.

Leaving the party, Carmine is attacked in a dark street and robbed of his coat. He is left desolate, his dignity stripped away along with the fur collar. His fall from grace is swift and brutal.

Despairing, he seeks help but encounters indifference from bystanders, policemen, municipal officials, and especially the mayor. Unable to rely on the city, he returns to his old threadbare coat. The rejection erodes his spirit and fuels his decline.

Carmine's condition worsens and he suffers a nervous breakdown that ends in pneumonia. He dies after a short, quiet struggle, leaving the town to move on with the memory of his humiliation. The tragedy concludes his private tragedy.

The funeral procession for Carmine disturbs a pompous public ceremony officiated by the mayor. The noisy passage of the wagon interrupts the mayor's ritual, highlighting the shallowness of the town's public spectacle. This moment marks the city as a place unable to acknowledge its difficult citizens.

Even after death Carmine's hurt and humiliated spirit cannot rest. His apparition roams the town streets on cold and foggy evenings, stealing winter coats and frightening passersby with his voice. He appears in the mayor's mistress's house while the mayor is present, triggering a premonition of unease that culminates when the mayor sees Carmine's floating image and his own hair turns white, prompting repentance.