"Sweet dreams" are the two exact words that little Massimo’s mother whispered into his ear while he was sleeping, before she took her last breath. Indeed, on the morning of 31 December 1969 in Turin, the nine-year-old wakes up to discover that his mother has died from a massive heart attack. His life changes overnight. The explanations offered by his stern father will forever be ambiguous and evasive. And this shy little boy, who had found a radiant playmate and friend in his mother, is forced to grow up under that dark cloud. Becoming ever more introverted, he seeks refuge in his own imagination.

Marco Bellocchio is the current president of the Cineteca di Bologna.
In 2005, Emilia-Romagna Region published a monograph on the director born in Bobbio (Piacenza), in the series “A Region full of Cinema”.