David’s Birthday 2009

Two couples, Matteo and Francesca, and Shary and Diego, decide to spend the summer together in a beach house at the foot of Mount Circeo. Matteo, a psychologist, is married to Francesca, and they have a five-year-old daughter named Elena. Shary and Diego, who share a more volatile relationship, have a son together named David, who studies abroad in the United States. David returns to Italy for the first time in five years to spend time with his family and celebrate his birthday.

Upon David’s arrival, the air in the house changes as David and Matteo begin to develop unexpected feelings for each other. Only Leonard, Shary’s brother who has come back from his travels around the world, seems to sense what’s happening, watching the tension grow with a wary, almost preoccupied calm.

As the days unfold, the delicate balance of Matteo’s marriage starts to crack. The previously easy rhythm of the two couples becomes strained, and the undercurrents of desire and loyalty threaten to pull the families apart. The escalating tension hangs over meals and conversations, making every shared moment feel thinner and more charged.

One night, while everyone else is out preparing for David’s birthday party, Matteo slips into David’s bedroom, and the two men have sex. Francesca returns home, unable to gain entry through the front door and entering instead through a patio door into David’s room, where she discovers the scene. She runs out, and Matteo follows in a frantic attempt to confront what’s happened. In a sudden turn of events, Francesca dashes around a corner and is struck by a car, dying in the street.

Later, as the four adults gather for supper, Shary confronts Matteo about his whereabouts at the time of the accident, and the film closes on Matteo’s sobs, leaving a quiet, unresolved ache in its wake.