For his fourth film, Pif, born Pierfrancesco Diliberto, returns to the role of main protagonist, after having entrusted it to Fabio De Luigi in his third work, and tackles two very delicate themes for his Sicily: food and faith.
Arturo is a single, atheist real estate agent from Palermo whose main goal in life is to keep things exactly as they are. He has an obsessive passion for desserts—Sicilian ones, in particular—about which he posts reviews on social media with the seriousness of an art critic. His friends put up with this obsession, and in exchange for their patience, he sacrifices himself as goalkeeper in their soccer games—a role his teammates dislike but accept with resigned self-sacrifice. This is his routine, until the day he meets Flora, the daughter of the pastry chef who makes the best desserts in Palermo. Struck by her beauty, Arturo falls in love with her instantly.
Flora is cheerful, smart, and enterprising, as well as deeply Catholic: she is as scrupulous about religion as he is about cannoli. She, too, falls in love with him, and for a while the two live happily together. Arturo manages to hide his total religious indifference from her until, to keep up the pretense, he agrees to play Jesus in a Stations of the Cross reenactment that turns into a veritable ordeal for him and a performance bordering on blasphemy.
When Flora realizes his Catholic coldness, the couple enters a crisis. He tries to deflect the blows, but in the end, exhausted and out of sheer provocation, he decides to apply the rules and teachings of Christianity to the letter. What begins as a bet turns into a true revolution. Following the Gospel to the letter, in contemporary society, proves to be a radical and uncomfortable act, capable of shaking those around him and revealing to Flora—and not only to her—the most authentic and forgotten nature of the Christian message. A truth that, as Arturo will soon discover, comes at a very high price.
In this work as well, Pif skillfully blends candid irony with profound reflection, pointing the finger at the hypocrisy of those who profess to be Christian out of convenience or only in words. A fun, intelligent romantic comedy that uses religion to explore our ability—or inability—to be honest with ourselves and others.
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