A group of heroin users hanging out at Ostia beach in Rome spends their time squabbling among themselves as they relentlessly pursue their next score, fuelled by petty theft and armed robbery. This routine is only momentarily punctuated with the faint hope of getting clean.

An unflinching portrayal of heroin use on the streets of Rome, Claudio Caligari’s bracing masterwork captures the mundanity and desperation of life between fixes. With its nonprofessional cast of real-life addicts, Toxic Love tempers its graphic verisimilitude with profound empathy and compassion.