Serpenti (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

Roberto De Paolis’s Serpenti follows Paolo Marra, a man consumed by guilt after killing his wife who seeks arrest and punishment, but encounters a bizarre institutional maze instead. Blending drama with comedy, the Italian film turns his attempted confession into a portrait of redemption obstructed by indifference and bureaucracy.

Serpenti centers on a man who wants to accept responsibility for a terrible crime, yet cannot persuade anyone to let him face its consequences. Paolo Marra’s attempt to surrender becomes increasingly absurd as the systems around him fail to respond in any meaningful way.

Directed by Roberto De Paolis, the Italian drama-comedy brings together a cast led by Leonardo Lidi, with Alessandro Borghi, Pietro Castellitto and Valeria Golino also appearing. Its premise places guilt, accountability and institutional indifference at the heart of the story.

Serpenti movie details

Story without spoilers

Paolo Marra has killed his wife and is overwhelmed by remorse. Determined to turn himself in, serve his sentence and restore dignity to the woman he killed—as well as to himself—he expects the legal system to provide a path toward accountability.

Instead, Paolo is brushed aside by distracted police officers, zealous lawyers, fortune-tellers and layers of bureaucracy. The more urgently he seeks arrest, the more elusive it becomes. What begins as a confession and an attempt at redemption develops into a Kafkaesque predicament in which Paolo is treated as a problem no one wants to acknowledge.

What to expect

Serpenti is framed as both a drama and a comedy, so its central situation combines serious moral stakes with an absurd social and bureaucratic contradiction. The story is built around guilt, punishment, redemption and the failure of institutions to recognize someone actively seeking responsibility.

The supplied premise points to a grotesque portrait of society rather than a conventional crime procedural. Viewers can expect the film’s tension to come from Paolo’s struggle to be heard and processed, with the surrounding confusion shaping the film’s satirical edge.

Cast and creative team

Leonardo Lidi plays Paolo Marra, the central character. The cast also includes Alessandro Borghi, Pietro Castellitto and Valeria Golino. Roberto De Paolis directs Serpenti and shares writing credit with Fabio D'Innocenzo and Damiano D'Innocenzo.

• Leonardo Lidi as Paolo Marra
• Alessandro Borghi
• Pietro Castellitto
• Valeria Golino

Release and production context

Serpenti is an Italian production from PACO Cinematografica. It is in Italian, runs under the Drama and Comedy genres, and is scheduled for release on September 10, 2026. Roberto De Paolis directs, while the film’s supplied status is listed as Released.

Production companies: PACO Cinematografica

Movies Dock view

With its unusual premise, Serpenti places a guilty man’s desire for accountability at odds with a society that refuses to take him seriously. Its mixture of drama and comedy gives the story room to examine a grave moral question through an intentionally absurd institutional dilemma.

Film data:
TMDB · IMDb