After 20 years of separation, Countess Carlotta and Baron Edoardo meet accidently, and decide to marry. They move to the heart of the Tuscan countryside and are joined there by Edoardo’s close friend, the architect Ottone, as well as by Ottilia, Carlotta’s goddaughter. During the course of an evening, the group’s reading of an essay on the laws of “elective affinity” stimulates discussion - are human passions governed by similar chemical affinities that uphold the institution of marriage? The group’s hitherto harmonious relationships are ruined! This masterpiece by the Taviani brothers, geniuses of contemporary Italian cinema, was selected by Cannes Festival in 1996.