Hammamet 2020

In 1989, during the 45th Congress of the Italian Socialist Party at the Ansaldo plant in Milan, the party treasurer Vincenzo Sartori Renato Carpentieri tries to voice serious concerns about the conduct of Bettino Craxi Pierfrancesco Favino. Sartori argues that Craxi has betrayed the core ideals of socialism in favor of illicit activities, and that the party is being dragged into an ongoing investigation. Although Sartori is keen to resign and step away from politics, the President—clearly Craxi—dismisses the gravity of the accusations and deflects responsibility, effectively blocking Sartori from leaving the party. The tension between loyalty and conscience hangs in the air as Sartori senses he is being watched, even as he clings to his integrity.

Four years later, Tangentopoli—the sweeping corruption inquiry that would upend Italian politics—has erased much of the party’s credibility. Craxi’s grip on power loosens, and Sartori’s life takes a tragic turn as he commits suicide by leaping from his office balcony. The era of political immunity gives way to public scrutiny, and the personal price of power becomes vividly clear.

Seven years pass, and Craxi lives in self-imposed exile in Hammamet, Tunisia, where his health has deteriorated due to diabetes. He spends his days in a villa surrounded by family but under constant watch. One night, a man dressed in guerrilla gear slips past the guards and is revealed to be Fausto Sartori [Luca Filippi], Vincenzo’s troubled son. Fausto has come to deliver a letter that his late father supposedly left behind, one that indicts Craxi for a lifetime of illicit deeds. Craxi dismisses the accusations, yet the encounter unsettles him enough to bring Fausto into his orbit. As Craxi contemplates his past, he allows Fausto to stay close, inviting the young man to document his life as a way to project his own perspective into the memoir Craxi is recording.

Anita, Craxi’s daughter, is also introduced into this intimate surveillance of a fallen statesman. Craxi begins to narrate his memoirs aloud on camera, a process that Fausto helps to capture. The dynamic between Craxi and his son shifts into a dangerous triangle, with Fausto secretly arming himself, harboring the intention to shoot Craxi, while the President’s wife Silvia Cohen and others around him react to the fragile balance of power and affection in a life that has become a public spectacle.

Craxi’s personal life grows even more intricate with the arrival of a former lover, the amante Claudia Gerini. She reappears in Hammamet, seeking a final moment with Craxi. Anita, initially resistant, grows to understand that her father still holds deep feelings for the woman, and she grants a private meeting in a hotel, reflecting the complex, sometimes chivalrous code of public figures who want to preserve dignity even as their reputations crumble. In parallel, a longtime Italian politician friend—an adversary yet a respectful comrade—visits, underscoring a landscape where personal honor and political rivalry coexist in a way that once felt possible but now seems almost foreign.

As his illness progresses, Craxi is diagnosed with a kidney tumor. The hospital infrastructure in Hammamet is outdated, making medical treatment challenging, and a return to Italy for surgery would risk immediate arrest. Anita mobilizes a private operation, and for a moment the former Prime Minister appears to be turning a corner, frail but mobilized, still capable of guiding and influencing those around him. Yet the frailty of his body becomes the most unforgiving narrator of his life’s arc. Shortly after resuming some level of autonomy, Craxi suffers a cardiac arrest. In his final moments, he experiences two visions: a childhood memory from boarding school and a second, surreal encounter with his father that leads him from the Milan Cathedral’s rooftop to a theater where a crude satirical show mercilessly mocks Craxi’s own corpse. By morning, Anita discovers him dead in the garden, the end of a political era written into his flesh.

Months pass, and Anita is summoned to a Milan psychiatric hospital, not as a patient herself but as someone meant to meet a visitor—the investigation continues in a new, more intimate framework. The visitor is Fausto, who has descended into severe mental distress and comes to the hospital convinced that Craxi’s memory belongs to a different order of reality. Fausto reveals the shocking claim that his father Vincenzo did not kill himself; rather, Fausto killed his father in a moment of furious indignation at his father’s support for Craxi. He hands Anita a tape containing the President’s most guarded confessions, asking her to protect it with her life. The film closes on a stark, morally fraught note: Anita leaves the hospital with the tape in her possession, and when asked by the director if she recognized the man she just met, she answers that she has never seen him before, leaving the truth of the past suspended in memory and doubt.

This sweeping portrait blends political history, family dynamics, and the psychological toll of power. It traces the arc from idealistic ambition to public downfall, while probing the cost of loyalty, the fragility of trust, and the way personal relationships can both shield and destroy those who live in the glare of the public eye. The film is anchored by a tense, understated performance that emphasizes the humanity behind a constellation of larger-than-life figures, inviting viewers to reflect on how a nation’s story is inseparable from the private stories of its leaders, their allies, and their families.