Waiting for someone is an act of faith. Anna and Jeanne, isolated in a Sicilian country house in Caltagirone, are waiting for Giuseppe’s arrival. He is the former’s son, the latter’s boyfriend. Their wait turns into a mysterious act of love and will, while in the streets people are celebrating Easter.

Juliette Binoche stars in this dazzling, Sicilian-set meditation on grief and perseverance from first-time feature director Piero Messina (assistant director on Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty).

Messina's film is, true to its title, all about the wait. But it's also a film about watching and listening. Its mood is contemplative, tentative, made up of discreet scenes of quiet power that gradually coil with the expectation of release. With its carefully measured approach, The Wait will bring to mind some of the most impactful and influential first features of Italian cinema.