“The Bad Poet,” by director Gianluca Jodice starring Sergio Castellitto as Gabriele D’Annunzio, will be released in theaters May 20th. It is the story of the last year of the poet’s life and his disagreements with Mussolini.

The cast includes Francesco Patanè, Tommaso Ragno, and Clotilde Courau. Produced by Matteo Rovere and Andrea Paris, the film is an Italian-French coproduction from Ascent Film and Bathysphere with Rai Cinema.

The film takes place in 1936, when Giovanni Comini becomes the youngest federal secretary of the Fascist party in Italy, and the regime’s number two man. He is given a delicate job, to supervise Gabriele D’Annunzio. Italy's national poet appears to be upset with Fascist politics, and Mussolini fears that he will damage his imminent alliance with Hitler’s Germany. But the meeting with the poet will lead the young secretary to be divided between his loyalty to the Party and admiration for the Poet.

(Translated by Danielle Maus with Paula Qefaliaj)