28/01/2026 - In his new movie, based on a novel by Delia Ephron, Gabriele Muccino returns to the subject of middle-class couples in crisis, betrayals and imperfect families

Is it possible to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after going on holiday with friends? It is, according to Gabriele Muccino, and this is exactly what happens to one of the protagonists in his new movie, Things We Don’t Say, which is due for release in Italian cinemas on 29 January via 01 Distribution. Based on the novel Siracusa by Delia Ephron - the sister of the more famous Nora and the co-screenwriter of the present film, alongside Muccino himself - the plot for this 14th feature film offered up by the director behind The Last Kiss and the US film The Pursuit of Happyness revolves around a trip – whose destination is switched from the Sicilian city explored in the book to the more exotic location of Tangier in Morocco – taken by two couples who are also long-time friends, with a pre-teenage daughter in tow. They’ve organised the trip to change up their ideas, but instead they face a catalogue of dramas.

Hoping to see things through fresh eyes, Carlo and Elisa (Stefano Accorsi and Miriam Leone) - the former a philosophy professor, the latter a journalist, and both in crisis in terms of inspiration (as well as in their relationship since they’re struggling to conceive) - decide to set off on a regenerating trip with their dearest friends, Paolo and Anna (Claudio Santamaria and Carolina Crescentini) and their daughter, Vittoria (Margherita Pantaleo). When they arrive in Tangier, the atmosphere is far from serene, primarily on account of the teenage mood swings experienced by Vittoria, who hates her mother and feels like Carlo’s the only one who listens to her. But the arrival in Tangier of Carlo’s university pupil and young lover, Blu (Beatrice Savignani), makes things especially complicated, not least because the latter decides to deliver an ultimatum eight months into their affair: it’s either me or your wife. The tension rises, Blu starts to appear everywhere, and Carlo’s friends grow suspicious. Apart from Elisa who clearly doesn’t want to face facts.

None of the characters are honest with themselves, but each of them tries to open the others’ eyes. Set up as a thriller – the story is told retrospectively by its protagonists in what appears to be a police station, and the film interweaves different temporal planes through which we slowly piece the puzzle together - Things We Don’t Say is a Gabriele Muccino film: you either love it or you hate it. It doesn’t hold back on melodrama, middle-class neuroses, characters on the verge of nervous breakdowns or extreme emotions. Accorsi playing the part of an angst-ridden philanderer torn between his beloved wife and a far younger lover who’s becoming a problem is a little déjà vu (think Martina Stella in The Last Kiss), but the film does touch upon a number of other tender subjects which we can all identify with: friendship and its contradictions, things left unsaid, and fragile and imperfect human relationships. Add a drop of cynicism and a handful of extreme situations, and it’s bound to raise a smile or two.

Things We Don’t Say was produced by Lotus Production (of the Leone Film Group) together with RAI Cinema in association with Asa Nisi Masa. World sales are entrusted to RAI Cinema International Distribution.

(Translated from Italian)