Nuovo Olimpo

Nuovo Olimpo is a 2023 Italian romantic drama film written and directed by Ferzan Özpetek. It tells the story of two men who meet and fall in love in late-1970s Rome, only to be separated unexpectedly. It premiered at the Rome Film Festival on 22 October 2023 and was released on Netflix on 1 November 2023.

Plot

In 1978, during the Years of Lead in Italy, Pietro, a shy medical student, sees a film at the Nuovo Olimpo theater, which is run by the exuberant Titti and used by gay men for cruising. There, he meets Enea, a film student, and there is an immediate attraction between them. Enea invites Pietro to have a sexual encounter in the bathroom, but Pietro is hesitant. Later, Enea tells his friend and lover Alice about the encounter, and she gives him a key to her grandmother's unoccupied apartment. The next day, Pietro and Enea meet at the theater and have sex at the apartment. They spend the night together and develop feelings for one another, arranging to meet up at the Nuovo Olimpo the next day. Pietro tells Enea that he booked a reservation for them at a trattoria, but he needs to visit his mother at the hospital first. While Pietro is gone, an anti-fascist protest outside becomes unruly and havoc breaks out in the theater. Titti helps Enea escape the theater and he goes searching for Pietro, but to no avail. As they hadn't exchanged phone numbers or addresses, they lose all contact.