Adrien,  a  young  film  student,  embarks  on  a  journey  to  central  France  with  the  intention  of  making  a  film  work  in  progress,  without  a  script  or  actors.  He  is determined to make a masterpiece, a film that will leave a mark. On his journey he finds  himself  in  Torino  (Museo  Nazionale  del  Cinema,  in  the  Mole  Antonelliana),  Garessio (Cuneo), Copenaghen, Courtempierre, Courtempierre, the town where, in 1932, the great Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer made his most personal film, “Vampyr.” Here, Adrien's mind and life are mixed with Dreyer's. The boy finds his quest for a perfect artistic essence appended to that of the Danish master and must confront the results he achieved. Do these leave any hope alive, or do they show that  the  quest  is  and  always  has  been  only  illusory?  Animation,  fiction,  staging,  interviews,  archive  materials  will  mix  in  a  documentary  work  that  seeks penetrate the profound Dreyer psychological imagination.

Dreyer, like few directors in the history of cinema, perhaps like no other, was constantly  engaged  in  a  spasmodic,  meticulous  and  desperate  search:  the  search  for  an  essence.  Be  it  the  human  essence,  the  essence  of  life  or  the essence of cinema itself.  This  film  deals  specifically  with  the  identity  of  that  essence,  asking  a  series  of  questions:  what  drives  an  author  to  think,  write  and  direct  a  film,  a  narrative work? Where does the artistic impulse come from and what does it relate to? Is it just a form of communication to generate moral alignment or is it something more?  Is  there  an  individual  and  social  narcissism?  Is  there  a  desire  to  show  greater  depth  of  thought?  What  made  Dreyer  want  so  badly  to  make  a definitive  film,  the  one  about  Jesus,  fighting  so  hard  against  compromise  that  he never succeeded in making it? 

Director
Marco Belli
Story
Adriano Aprà, Marco Belli
Screenplay
Marco Belli, Adriano Aprà
Director of photography
Renato Berta
Film Editor
Jacopo Quadri
Production Director
Roberto Gambacorta
Organizzatore generale
Rean Duilio Mazzone
Executive production
Producer
Giancarlo Grande, Duilio Mazzone
Production
Dream Film, Cineparallax
Last update: 28 April 2025