Venice 2026: Gianni Amelio’s ‘Nessun Dolore’ — A Compelling, Semi-Absurdist Look At The Migrant Crisis

Set in Rome, Gianni Amelio’s Nessun Dolore, follows Davide (Alessandro Borghi), a somewhat odd but affable street bookseller who has a slight crush on one of his devoted customers, Elsa (Valeria Golino), a lonely college professor. Both are great lovers of books and believe in the power of storytelling via the lost art of reading.

One fateful day, Davide asks Elsa to look after the stand while he gets some lunch. She happily obliges. On his way, he’s approached by a North African immigrant (Ramzi Lafrindi) and a young boy (Gabriel Bovino) and is asked to take the boy and look after him. He declines but the man insists that the boy follow Davide and stay with him. Davide offers the boy food, but the boy just stares blankly at him.

Out on the street, Davide shoos the lad away and the boy is hit by a motorcycle. Amelio spares us the aftermath, but the look on Davide’s face tells us all we need to know, the boy is badly hurt.

A distraught Davide goes directly to the hospital and finds the boy fighting for his life. When he goes back to the book stand, he is called an “idiot” by Elsa for making her tend to it all day. And she storms off. Davide is a mess.

Later, at the hospital, he encounters Aminah, a pregnant Algerian girl and he brings her home so she has a place to sleep. The next day, when he arrives at his apartment, there are many more immigrants living there. And that number continues to grow each day, but he lets them stay as a way of making up for what he believes is his fatal mistake regarding the boy.

Nessun Dolore is a compelling, sometimes absurd, look at how humans treat and mistreat one another and how people tend to look away from those in need—especially when they are foreigners. But when some people do stop to help and it’s taken advantage of, that can lead to conflicts, and often, can be seen as an inconvenience—most people have limits to what they’re willing to do for others. The film savvily examines the current anti-immigrant climate that is running rampant in the western world. Is there no place for empathy anymore?

The sparse but potent script is by Amelio, Davide Serino with Andrea Quetti.

Borghi, so wonderful in The Eight Mountains, anchors the film with a captivating portrait of a conflicted and guilt-ridden man. Davide’s behavior often frustrates. Borghi always shows us his humanity.

Golino is luminous as always and, in just a few scenes, gives us a complicated woman filled with longing. Her face speaks volumes. And in a brief scene later in the film, we understand so much more about her.

Gianni Amelio has been working in Italian TV and film since the early 1970s and has made a slew of now classic films like, Stolen Children (Il lard di bambini), Lamerica and The Keys to the House (Le chive di casa). He won the Venice Golden Lion for The Way We Laughed (Così ridevano) in 1998. This is one of his best films.

Nessun Dolore properly translated means, “No Pain,” a more proper title than Painless, the current translated title.

The film is world premiering Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival.

In Italian, with English subtitles.