An Italian television crew visit a dilapidated auditorium in a 13th-century church to meet an orchestra assembling to rehearse under the instruction of a tyrannical conductor. However, as petty squabbles break out amid the different factions of the ensemble, the session descends into anarchy.

Cinema maestro Federico Fellini gleefully satirizes the ivory tower of classical music in this playful late work, where the rehearsal of a Nino Rota piece erupts into a cacophony of sore egos. Brilliantly self-referential, the structure of a TV documentary forms a meta critique of the medium itself.