Michele is the leader of the Italian communist party and a professional water polo player. Following a car accident, he’s just lost his memory. So he has to learn about his life again—through an improvised psychoanalytic trip symbolized by the friendships and adversities of a water polo game.

Released shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nanni Moretti’s witty and heartfelt film bids farewell to a stormy era of Italian left-wing politics. Weaving Marxist quarrels with Doctor Zhivago excerpts, this poolside reverie begs the eternal question: can cinema and life ever be separate?