08/09/2026 - VENICE 2026: In Anna Foglietta’s feature, a married couple’s relationship hits a bump after their daughter moves out to go to university

Having one’s children move out may suddenly bring some peace and quiet, and even aid with the rediscovery of one’s own life. But what if, at its core, this life is unfinished and not truly fulfilled? What if having a child to take care of only ever papered over the cracks underneath? In Anna Foglietta’s A Common Story, which has premiered in the Orizzonti section of the 83rd Venice Film Festival, a couple is forced to reach that epiphany when one of them can’t handle the stillness and the other can’t find peace.

Already when dropping their daughter, Irene, off at her student dorm, the dynamics become very obvious. Mauro (Guido Caprino), who likes to be in control of the situation, asks who else will be moving in and where they come from. Then there is his wife, Erika (Alba Rohrwacher). The quieter of the two, she soon disappears off into the kitchen, cleaning pots and pans, which is a bit embarrassing for the newly liberated daughter. But at its core, this is the very life Erika has been living: never on the frontline, mostly reacting to those around her, and always in service of her daughter, Mauro and her elderly mother.

Back at home, at first the couple can reap the benefits of their childfree house. No rush during sex and impulsive changes in dinner plans have an air of freedom about them. Mauro has time to train the local boys in football, and Erika starts spending more time at her mother’s. But this is only the first chapter of their new life, of which Foglietta has crafted four. Soon enough, as winter and its depressive moods creep in, it becomes clear that Erika is starting to struggle with her day-to-day tasks. “Why are you back?” is how her mother greets her when she returns in the evening with unsolicited groceries. Mauro, on the other hand, has to face the fact that his cold, egocentric father has sold the family business.

But while Mauro keeps clinging on to his habits and rituals, revelling in the training of the boys, his time with Erika and the spontaneity of his activities, Erika starts to be more secluded. Suddenly, the food she has prepared for Mauro is cold, and she starts forgetting about her shifts at work. With conflict softly bubbling up, it becomes fully confrontational after an emotional birthday party where Erika explodes: what if she should “wake up every morning and think, ‘This is all there is’?”

Foglietta takes her time and does not offer any easy solutions when it comes to the crumbling of lives and façades. A woman lives the life of a tightrope walker if she chooses to have children, the TV ominously blares at one point. Erika becomes a case in point as a woman who kept giving her all to everyone around her until she lost the essence of who she is. Mauro is her helpless partner, who never truly learned to accept anger and pain, and just wants to fix things.

The movie tries to relay these complex emotions through slow observations of daily rituals, close-ups of Rohrwacher’s and Caprino’s expressive faces, and the bleak monotony in a somewhat uneventful rural town. It’s a choice that can test the viewer’s engagement, leaving much to be imagined and often too little of a reward. In the end, it is the raw emotion of the leading couple that keeps one fully locked in until the credits roll.

A Common Story was produced by Italy’s HT Film, Indigo Film, Tenderstories, Blu One Lab and Rai Cinema, as well as HBO MAX. It is distributed internationally by True Colours.