La profezia dell'armadillo

Plot

Zero is a 27-year-old aspiring cartoonist living in Rebibbia, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Rome. He spends his days in the company of his mother and his childhood friend Secco, as well as conversing with his own critical conscience in the form of an anthropomorphic armadillo. To support himself, Zero works surveying passengers at an airport and tutoring a wealthy middle-schooler. One night, he is devastated to learn by email that Camille, a childhood crush from Toulouse to whom he never confessed his love, has died as a result of anorexia. After telling the news to his mother and Secco, Zero has recurrent flashbacks of their time together.

Years earlier, as children, Zero meets Camille at a party. Though their first encounter is brief, they meet again while traveling by bus to an exhibit about Japanese culture and soon become close. Camille is introduced to Secco and Greta, the latter another friend of theirs at the time who is now estranged. They bond through shared experiences, such as spending time together and camping, and at one point, the four vow to always live in the present. Camille returns to Toulouse after turning 15. When she returns to Rome to visit Zero, she confesses to missing her former life. Just as Zero tries to console her, the Armadillo appears, offering his guidance. Zero rejects the Armadillo, leaving him in the corridor, next to a sinister mental entity that personifies Camille's declining mental health.

In the present, Zero and Secco attempt to learn about Greta's whereabouts. They eventually locate her, but after more than ten years, Greta is virtually unrecognizable, having become a wealthy, superficial woman and married a lawyer. Greta reveals that she and Camille also became estranged and shows little interest in attending Camille's funeral.

The film also follows situations in which Zero fails to uphold or outright violates his own values, often being reprimanded by the Armadillo as a result. These include him reporting a coworker he liked at the airport in an unsuccessful attempt to extend his own contract, leading to her being fired, lying about his skills in a job interview to become a graphic designer, and breaking the vow by robbing a sweater he believes to have been his from a street performer. In addition, the student he tutored is sent to a monastery after experiencing a religious calling, ultimately inspired by Zero's talks about politics and ethics, thus leaving him unemployed. At that point, the Armadillo explains that his "prophecy" essentially refers to any overtly optimistic and rationalized hope one might hold, despite all reason.

Zero and Secco arrange to meet Camille's family in Toulouse for the ceremony. After acting as a translator for Secco, Zero plays one of Camille's favorite songs and expresses his overwhelming frustration and powerlessness at her death. Back in Rome, Zero wanders the streets, reminiscing about Camille. He falls asleep on a bench, only to be woken up by the Armadillo, who immediately resumes berating him as usual and demands radical changes in his behavior. Initially irritated, Zero becomes enraged and assaults the Armadillo after he claims that Camille was romantically interested in Secco rather than him.

After reconciling, Zero apologizes to the Armadillo and begins his new job as a graphic designer. While the Armadillo expresses pride in Zero for taking steps toward becoming a respectable adult, he also cautions him against compromising his values for the job's sake, right before vanishing. The film concludes with a flashback to the moment when Zero, Secco, Greta, and Camille take their vow, accompanied by a voiceover from the adult Zero reflecting on their lives.

Cast

Simone Liberati as Zero

Valerio Ardovino as young Zero

Valerio Aprea as the Armadillo

Pietro Castellitto as Secco

Matteo Giordani as young Secco

Laura Morante as Zero's mother

Sofia Staderini as Camille

Diana Del Bufalo as Greta

Bianca Di Veroli as young Greta

Gianluca Gobbi as the hippie

Samuele Biscossi as Blanka

Claudia Pandolfi as Blanka's mother

Marianna Di Martino as Danieli

Teco Celio and Marcella Nardini as Mr. and Mrs. Panatta

Stefano Scherini as the airport manager

Vincent Candela as Camille's father

Gianmarco Vettori as Camille's cousin

Ugo De Cesare as Max

Guglielmo Poggi as Piergiorgio

Federica Zacchia as Ludovica

Kasia Smutniak and Marco Giuliani as the street cleaners

Adriano Panatta as himself

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was released in 2020. In both the graphic novel and the film, one of Camille's favorite songs is "Motivés, le chant des partisans" by the French group Motivé-e-s.

Themes

Both the film and the graphic novel are fictionalized autobiographies that depict various aspects of everyday life through Rech's own experiences. The story's main focus is how close friendships might come to an end, either by death or by simply growing distant. Another major theme is the financial vulnerability and lack of career prospects of Rech's generation. The film's director stated, "It is the places where ordinary people live [Rebibbia] that interest me. An unusual part of the city, not the picture-postcard centre – where Zero and Secco refuse to go – but a metropolis of the world where the social classes are mixed up."