Mussolini: Son of the Century

Joe Wright's Mussolini: Son of the Century (M, Il figlio del secolo) premiered Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2024, one of the most anticipated Italian series of the year. The eight-part Sky Italia and Lovely Rita Films production was received as one of the most ambitious pieces of European political and historical television in years, and it showed that Wright, until then known for his theatrical features, could sustain a long-form series. It is adapted from Antonio Scurati's 2018 novel, a Premio Strega winner.

The series follows the rise of Benito Mussolini (Luca Marinelli) from his political activism after the First World War, through the founding of the Fascist movement, to the establishment of the Italian fascist state in the early 1920s. Marinelli's was the most discussed Italian screen performance of 2024. Francesco Russo, Barbara Chichiarelli and Benedetta Cimatti lead the supporting ensemble. Wright's direction is faster and more indebted to newsreel than period drama usually allows, and that choice drew more comment than anything else about the show.

It reconstructs the politics of the period and studies the man, and it also intervenes directly in Italy's continuing argument over how the fascist era should be publicly remembered. Marinelli's performance, physically transformed, accent-driven and sustained across all eight hours, confirmed him as an international leading man. The series arrived at a moment of close attention to the Italian government's relationship with the wider European far right, and it is hard to watch without that context in mind.