Trama

An unhappily married couple attempts to find direction and insight while vacationing in Naples.

Married for eight years with no children, Brits Katherine and Alex Joyce are driving to Italy, their ultimate destination just outside of Naples to sell the villa they have just inherited from his uncle, the villa where they will be staying during their time there. On the drive, they come to the realization that this trip marks the first time that they have truly been alone together, and as such don't really know one another in the true sense. While in Italy, they end up mainly embarking on pursuits separate from each other - Katherine preferring the cultural, Alex preferring "company" including with some acquaintances they didn't know were in Naples until running into them on their first night in the city - and on the few occasions when they do spend time together, there is a tension and an underlying increasing want on both sides to hurt the other emotionally in their individual beliefs of what the other is thinking or has done in their time apart. As their marriage slowly falls apart, the question becomes if there is any way to salvage it if they truly do want to continue to be Mr. and Mrs. Joyce.—Huggo

Having inherited a sun-kissed villa on the Gulf of Naples, a magnificent property squeezed between the ruins of Pompeii and the restless Mount Vesuvius, Alexander and Katherine Joyce, an alienated English couple, embark on a trip to Italy. But, more and more, against the backdrop of a deteriorating marriage, in Katherine's eyes, this short vacation turns into a romantic pilgrimage, in memory of an old flame who died two years previously. As a result, an irritated, almost jealous Alexander goes to Capri for some drinks and dolce vita; however, something is missing. And, sadly, after eight years of marriage, it seems neither Alexander nor Katherine know anything about each other. As Katherine whiles away the time visiting museums and historical sites, noticing that people take their feelings and relationships very seriously in this country, out of the blue, someone utters a dreadful word: divorce. Is separation the only solution?—Nick Riganas

Catherine and Alexander, wealthy and sophisticated, drive to Naples to dispose of a deceased uncle's villa. There's a coolness in their relationship and aspects of Naples add to the strain. She remembers a poet who loved her and died in the war; although she didn't love him, the memory underscores romance's absence from her life now. She tours the museums of Naples and Pompeii, immersing herself in the Neapolitan fascination with the dead and noticing how many women are pregnant; he idles on Capri, flirting with women but drawing back from adultery. With her, he's sarcastic; with him, she's critical. They talk of divorce. Will this foreign couple find insight and direction in Italy?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>