If ever there was an Italian artist who was underrated as an actor and, above all, director (who is still waiting to be discovered), it is Massimo Troisi (1953–1994). Dying young at only forty-one after playing the lead in Il postino, he was a brilliant stage actor before becoming an astonishing film director. His understanding of comedy, his fragile and melancholic character, and his keen observations of the intimate and political relationships between men and women have been a source of inspiration for an entire generation.