A descriptive exploration of a middle-aged teacher's daily life, family responsibilities, and literary-driven emotional world.
Story Structure — 4 Plot Phases
The Turin Educator
Gioia is introduced as a middle-aged French teacher at Regina Margherita high school. Her professional life in Turin establishes her grounded, everyday existence.
Key Events
Introduction to Gioia — Establishes Gioia as a middle-aged French teacher with a kind and naive nature. Characters: GioiaLocation: Turin, Italy
Teaching at Regina Margherita — Gioia conducts her daily classes as a French educator in Turin. Characters: GioiaLocation: Regina Margherita High School
Living with Elderly Parents — Shows Gioia's domestic life sharing a small villa with her aging parents. Characters: GioiaLocation: Residential Villa
Family Dynamics and Care
The narrative shifts to her home life with elderly parents. Her mother's religious nature and her father's Alzheimer's diagnosis create a backdrop of quiet responsibility.
Key Events
Living with Elderly Parents — Shows Gioia's domestic life sharing a small villa with her aging parents. Characters: GioiaLocation: Residential Villa
Mother's Religious Devotion — Highlights the mother's strong faith and somewhat difficult personality. Characters: GioiaLocation: Residential Villa
Father's Alzheimer's Condition — Reveals the father's Alzheimer's diagnosis, adding emotional weight to family life. Characters: GioiaLocation: Residential Villa
Domestic Rhythms and Hobbies
Gioia's daily routine revolves around raising Angora rabbits and watching Juventus matches. These hobbies provide structure and comfort in her residential villa.
Key Events
Daily Domestic Routine — Depicts the quiet, structured rhythm of Gioia's home life. Characters: GioiaLocation: Residential Villa
Raising Angora Rabbits — Gioia tends to her Angora rabbits, finding solace in animal care. Characters: GioiaLocation: Residential Villa Garden
Watching Juventus Matches — Shows her passionate support for Juventus during televised games. Characters: GioiaLocation: Living Room
Literary Inner World
Her emotional life remains unexperienced in reality, shaped entirely by Flaubert's novels. The story closes on her kind-hearted, naive perspective on love and life.
Key Events
Watching Juventus Matches — Shows her passionate support for Juventus during televised games. Characters: GioiaLocation: Living Room
Flaubert's Literary World — Explores how Flaubert's books serve as her only reference for love. Characters: GioiaLocation: Bedroom
Naive Emotional Landscape — Concludes with her unexperienced romantic life and gentle disposition. Characters: GioiaLocation: Turin Streets
Story Breakdown
Professional Identity — Gioia's role as an educator shapes her daily structure and social interactions.
French Teaching — Delivers lessons at Regina Margherita high school in Turin.
Student Guidance — Maintains a respectful and structured classroom environment.
Family Environment — Her home life is defined by caregiving and navigating parental dynamics.
Parental Care — Manages household responsibilities for her aging parents.
Domestic Routine — Quiet, repetitive activities provide stability and personal comfort.
Animal Husbandry — Raises and tends to Angora rabbits in her villa.
Residential Life — Lives in a modest Turin neighborhood with structured daily habits.
Personal Hobbies — Leisure activities reflect her passions and provide emotional release.
Football Fandom — Watches and supports Juventus matches on television.
Television Viewing — Uses sports broadcasts as a regular evening ritual.
Literary Influence — Books serve as her primary framework for understanding human emotions.
Flaubert's Novels — Reads extensively to comprehend romantic and emotional themes.
Imagined Love — Experiences love vicariously through literary narratives.
Emotional Landscape — Her internal state is characterized by gentleness and untested experiences.
Naive Disposition — Approaches life with inherent kindness and simplicity.
Unexperienced Romance — Lacks real-world romantic history, relying on fiction for guidance.
Gioia is a high school teacher who has never known any other love than the oppressive bond with her own parents, with whom she still lives. One of the students at her school, Alessio, is cashing in on his own body to make a couple of hundred euros to help his mother, a cashier in a supermarket. The relationship that dawns between Gioia and Alessio is forbidden fruit, fragile yet, inexplicably, one they can’t do without. Still, Alessio’s desire to improve his social standing is a silent killer that prevents him from ultimately accepting Gioia’s surprising affection for him. He goes and destroys it all, cancelling the only person who has ever loved him.
