Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa

L'histoire nous fait entrer sur une scène de théâtre. Derrière le rideau se cache une forêt embrumée. Une troupe de comédiens s'y est arrêtée, l'un des leurs est blessé. Le valet du mourant raconte à un voyageur de passage les évènements qui, depuis un an, les ont menés à ce jour. Le baron de Sigognac, aristocrate désargenté, consommait une jeunesse triste dans son château en ruine. Il héberge un soir la troupe de théâtre Melpomène et Thalie surprise par la pluie sur leur route vers Paris. En échange de cette hospitalité les comédiens l'accueillent à leur tour dans leur voyage vers la capitale afin qu'il y puisse restaurer son titre et sa fortune auprès du roi Louis XIII. Commence alors un voyage initiatique teinté de romanesque et de mélancolie.

Francia, XVII secolo: per raggiungere la corte di Parigi, lo spiantato barone di Sigognac si unisce a una compagnia di teatranti. È l'iniziazione totale alla vita, all'amore, al teatro, che lo trasforma nella maschera spavalda di Capitan Fracassa. I guitti intraprendono un viaggio avventuroso tra le contee di quel mondo antico, e il nobile barone rinuncia al casato per dedicarsi esclusivamente all'arte.

The story takes place in France during 1600. A ramshackle theater company of Commedia dell'arte (Comedy of Art) is to roam vast and boundless territories to reach the court of Louis XIII of France. However, it remains stationary for days on a single place. In fact, a member of the company is seriously ill and so the actor who plays Punch and Judy (Troisi) tells how it all took place in a traveler who sees the bandwagon. The theater company recently was already going to visit the King of France that he might have better luck presenting their games and shows, but they ran into a storm. There, the members have seen a ruined castle and entered it, as we are in a servant (Ciccio Ingrassia) and his young master fallen: Baron Sigognac. The servant understands well that the young man would spend a useless life if he continued to live with him, and throws him out the next day with the company so that it can find the fortune. The young man struggles to acclimate to the new conditions imposed on him, but gradually get used to and make friends with almost all the funny members of the company who all have an interesting story to tell about their past.