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There's a date that Italian-speaking cinephiles in Zurich, Basel and Bern should mark: September 17, 2026. It's the day when «Cinque secondi», Paolo Virzì's new film with Valerio Mastandrea, will arrive in German-speaking Switzerland's cinemas, distributed by Filmcoopi Zürich. News that expands the reach of a film already released in Ticino a few months earlier, and confirms how quality Italian cinema continues to find space, albeit with different timing, in all linguistic regions of the Confederation.
The protagonist is Adriano Sereni, a gruff and solitary man who lives in the renovated stables of Villa Guelfi, an ancient ruined mansion in Tuscany. As the synopsis released by Filmcoopi describes, «Adriano is a gruff loner who lives secluded in the stables of Villa Guelfi, an abandoned estate in Tuscany. He spends his days smoking cigars and trying to avoid contact with everyone». He once worked as a lawyer, a successful man, but a family trauma pushed him to shut himself in a self-imposed solitude.
His monotonous existence is disrupted when a community of young people settles in the nearby villa to care for the abandoned fields and vineyards. «When a community of young women and men settles in the villa and dedicates themselves to caring for the abandoned fields and vineyards, he rebels and wants to drive them away», the film's description continues. But the recent graduates in agriculture, climatology and oenology are intrigued by this hermit with a mysterious past, and wonder why he lives completely alone, wanting nothing to do with anyone. The seasons pass, the grapes ripen, and the initial conflict between the community and the grumpy loner gradually transforms into coexistence.
The film's trailer is available on the Filmcoopi Zürich website and on YouTube, where one can already grasp the tones suspended between melancholy and lightness that characterize the film.
As Filmcoopi emphasizes, «Italian director Paolo Virzì once again demonstrates his ability to weave serious themes with joie de vivre and moments of warmth and lightness», composing «a touching story about solitude, care and friendship, masterfully performed by Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Galatéa Bellugi». The film made its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, before also being presented in competition in the Grand Public section at the Rome Film Festival.
The cast, according to the official listing, includes Valerio Mastandrea, Galatéa Bellugi, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Ilaria Spada, Anna Ferraioli Ravel and Francesco Maria Dominedò. It's an Italian drama production from 2025, with a running time of 106 minutes, shot in color DCP in Scope format with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Behind the camera works one of Virzì's trusted teams: cinematography by Luca Bigazzi, editing by Jacopo Quadri, music composed by the director's brother, Carlo Virzì, while the screenplay is written with Francesco Bruni.
A detail that once again links Italian cinema to our territory: the set design bears the signature of Ticino's Sonia Peng, who has been working alongside Virzì for years in designing the places that, in his films, become characters in their own right. Those familiar with the Livorno-born director's cinema, from «La prima cosa bella» to «La pazza gioia», will find in «Cinque secondi» the same themes dear to him: the pain of loss, the fragility of the self, the stifled desire for redemption, here told through the relationship between a wounded man and a group of young people who, unknowingly, give him back a reason to stay in the world.
German-speaking Switzerland: from September 17, 2026, distributed by Filmcoopi Zürich, in cinemas in Zurich, Basel, Bern and in the main German-speaking cities.
Italian-speaking Switzerland (Ticino): from November 6, 2025, distributed by Filmcoopi Zürich, at Cinema Lux in Massagno, Cinema Rialto in Locarno, Cinema Multisala Teatro in Mendrisio and Cinema Forum in Bellinzona.
French-speaking Switzerland: release scheduled for May 6, 2026, with screenings in the main cinemas in Geneva and Lausanne.
For updated showtimes of individual screenings we recommend consulting the Filmcoopi Zürich (filmcoopi.ch) and Kinocameo (kinocameo.ch) websites, which update their programming week by week.
