Paolo Marra has killed his wife, for no apparent reason. Consumed by guilt, he decides to turn himself in: he wants to pay the price, serve his sentence, and restore dignity to both the woman he killed and himself.
Amidst distracted police officers, zealous lawyers, fortune tellers, and complex bureaucratic red tape, no one takes him seriously. He finds himself the victim of a Kafkaesque paradox: no matter how much he wants to, he cannot get arrested. He is the perfect scapegoat for a grotesque society that ignores those seeking redemption.
"In Roberto De Paolis Maino’s compelling exploration of reality—following Cuori puri and Princess—comes Serpenti. While seemingly detached from the real world, the film uses the grotesque to create a profound inversion that cuts to the heart of the matter. Much of the credit goes to the screenplay, written by the D'Innocenzo brothers alongside the director; it skillfully constructs the absurdity of a man who turns himself in to the police, confessing to his wife's murder, only to become trapped in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic process where he is unable to establish his own guilt." (Pedro Armocida)
