13/03/2026 - Produced by Mad Entertainment and Picomedia, the Italian director’s new film is adapted from Domenico Starnone’s novel and follows a domestic duel between a grandfather and his grandson

Filming is underway in Naples on Scherzetto, the new film by Mario Martone, starring Toni Servillo. Adapted from the 2016 novel of the same name by Domenico Starnone, which he co-wrote with his long-time collaborator Ippolita di Majo and which was published by Einaudi, the movie unfolds within four walls and on a balcony, where a veritable duel plays out between a grandfather and his grandson over the course of a few days.

Marking his seventh collaboration with the Neapolitan director (after works ranging from Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician and The King of Laughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Martone
film profile] to We Believed [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Mario Martone
interview: Mario Martone
film profile] and Rehearsals for War), Servillo (awarded the Volpi Cup at the most recent Venice Film Festival thanks to La grazia [+see also:
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film profile]) plays Daniele Mallarico, a renowned illustrator who has lived and worked alone for years. He’s joined by Lorenzo Perrotta as his grandson, Mario, who’s a very small yet very boisterous child. According to the book’s synopsis, he’s “A grandson he’s only seen once or twice, entrusted to the grandfather’s care for three whole days” in a “razor-sharp tale, a quintessential chamber ‘scherzetto’, in which anger at growing old walks hand in hand with faith in the future.”

Joining him in the cast are Serena Rossi (The Children’s Train, Love and Bullets [+see also:
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interview: Marco and Antonio Manetti
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interview: Laura Bispuri
film profile], Rose Island [+see also:
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interview: Mario Martone
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interview: Andrea Di Stefano
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film profile]) in little cameo roles.

The film’s cinematography comes courtesy of Paolo Carnera (awarded a David di Donatello for his work on Io capitano [+see also:
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Several films have previously been adapted from Domenico Starnone’s books, including three directed by Daniele Luchetti (La scuola, Trust [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Daniele Luchetti
film profile], The Ties [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Daniele Luchetti
film profile]), Auguri professore by Riccardo Milani and Teeth by Gabriele Salvatores. Martone, who won the Grand Jury Prize in Venice in 1992 for Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician and the David di Donatello for Best Film via We Believed, as well as for Best Documentary via Massimo Troisi: Somebody Down There Likes Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Martone
film profile], among other awards, was selected in competition in Cannes thanks to his most recent fiction features Nostalgia [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Mario Martone
interview: Pierfrancesco Favino
film profile] and Fuori [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Mario Martone
film profile].

Scherzetto is produced by Maria Carolina Terzi, Carlo, Lorenza and Luciano Stella and Mauro Luchetti for Mad Entertainment together with RAI Cinema, in association with Picomedia (Roberto Sessa). Made and distributed with the support of the Film and Audiovisual Investment Development Fund, the movie will be released in Italian cinemas by 01 Distribution. International distribution falls to RAI Cinema International Distribution.

(Translated from Italian)