Eduardo De Filippo

Mario Pisu

Carlo Lima

Antonio Casagrande

In Naples, where the modest clerk Michele Crispucci lives with his daughter Assuntina, his ex-wife arrives with her circus. The young Concettino confides to a friend that he wants to give up his marriage to Assuntina, because twenty years earlier the girl's mother had abandoned the family and become rich by giving herself to wealthy lovers.

Luca Cupiello, like every Christmas, prepares the crib, amid the disinterest of his wife Concetta and his son Tommasino. Ninuccia, the other daughter, writes a letter to her husband in which she communicates that she leaves him for her lover. The letter happens in the hands of Luca who hands it over to his son-in-law, who thus learns of his wife's betrayal. During lunch on Christmas Eve, the two rivals, who were confronted by Luca's carelessness, clash violently.

A battle over a family inheritance breaks out among the main characters of the comedy. Their ideas about what to do with it vary. A quirky widow full of life sees it one way, while her repeatedly divorced daughter, unemployed son, and his ex-wife see it another.

Prosecutor Maillard can rejoice: he has just obtained the death sentence of an accused accused of murder. It is the third head he gets at the assizes. There followed an evening of rejoicing with his wife and friends, including the prosecutor Bertolier. The latter's wife is Maillard's mistress. The lovers left alone, the condemned man, Valorin, burst into the room. He managed to escape during his transfer to the remand center. Valorin immediately recognized Bertolier's wife. And for good reason: at the time of the crime, they were together in a brothel. Stunned by the miscarriage of justice he has just committed, Maillard then tries to rehabilitate Vallorin while trying to avoid a scandal in the judiciary. He then calls Bertolier to the rescue. Valorin is opportunely killed "accidentally" and ... everything will go back to "order".

It's midnight. The hour of truth. The hour that "He" and "She" have chosen to settle their differences. While this showdown is explosive for the couple, it is irresistibly funny for the audience. In his first play, Philippe Claudel paints a jubilant picture of our society and reviews all our excesses: from the education of children to the contempt of the mother-in-law, from hypochondria in men to cosmetic surgery in women, from fake intellectuals to political hypocrisy, from sexual freedom to junk food...!