In early 1970s Rome, construction worker Oreste and his young fiancée Adelaide meet Nello, a pizzeria cook, sparking a three-way love affair. As the trio navigates Ostia’s gritty beaches and communist rallies, desire and rivalry stir tensions that threaten to tip into jealousy.

Set against the turmoil of Italy’s Years of Lead, Ettore Scola’s ceaselessly inventive commedia all’italiana draws sly national allegory from crazed amours. Starring as warring lovers, Monica Vitti and Marcello Mastroianni helm the film’s tongue-in-cheek histrionics with glorious, hot-blooded ardor.