Before Us

1917. Maurizio Sartori, a deserter on the run, takes refuge at the Tassan farmhouse and falls in love with Nadia, who decides to keep his secret. However, after the end of World War I, Nadia discovers she is pregnant, and he chooses to fle…

1919. Nadia is reunited with Maurizio, and after forgiving him, she marries him. Maurizio starts working at the factory, where he befriends Leone, but a clash with the fascists leads to both of their arrests. Sartori avoids arrest by denyi…

1930. Maurizio is blackmailed by the fascists, the Becchiarutti family, who have discovered his past desertion: he tries to resist, but faced with the threat to his children, he is forced to betray Leone and the other communists, who are s…

1938. The children are now grown, and Nadia senses that war is coming, while Maurizio—tormented by guilt over his past betrayal—runs into Leone, who has just returned from exile. One evening, while his wife and children are at the movie th…

1943. Maurizio has been dead for some time, and his sons Renzo and Gabriele have doubts about him because they’re beginning to realize that he was a deserter, despite their mother’s reassurances. Renzo wants to join the Resistance and Leon…

May 1945. Gabriele can no longer bear to stay in hiding; he emerges from his hiding place, is reunited with his Margherita, and—to be forgiven for desertion—enlists in the German army. Renzo, on the other hand, is hiding in the mountains w…

1955. The war has been over for ten years now. Gabriele is a schoolteacher and still lives in the small village with his mother, Margherita, and his daughter, Eloisa, while Renzo lives on the streets of Turin as a homeless man until he fin…

1961. Gabriele runs into Luigi on the street—Renzo’s illegitimate son, who was raised by Flaviut (Leone’s son, now in prison) and Federica—and takes him under his wing. At Eloisa’s First Communion, Grandma Nadia gets to meet her daughter-i…

1975. Eloisa studies law and frequents anarchist circles, where she meets Luigi, a newly graduated doctor whose father, Flaviut, remains in prison. Davide focuses on bodybuilding, while Libero and Diana navigate adolescence. Renzo wakes up…

1978. Nadia dies after suddenly falling ill at her farmhouse, and the whole family rushes to her side in despair, with Renzo feeling the most anger. Luigi comforts Eloisa as she has a panic attack and tells her that he is Renzo’s son—and t…