Plot

Five stories by Luigi Pirandello set in turn-of-the-century Italy.

The film consists of four stories plus epilogue, set in 19th-century Sicily. THE OTHER SON - A mother spends her life waiting for news from her two sons (emigrated to America) while ignoring her third, because he is the reincarnation of the bandit who raped her. MOON SICKNESS - a newly-wed peasant girl discovers that her husband goes mad every full moon. She arranges for a male friend to protect her, but they end up in bed together just as the moon emerges from behind a cloud. THE JAR - a rich landowner hires a master craftsman to repair a giant olive jar, but the craftsman gets trapped inside. REQUIEM - villagers band together in an attempt to force their landlord to let them bury their dead. CONVERSATIONS WITH MOTHER - the writer Luigi Pirandello talks with his aged mother about a story he always wanted to write, but which he never managed to capture in words.—Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk>

From the loose adaptation of Luigi Pirandello's "Novelle per un anno", "Kaos" unfolds four distinct short fables of the diverse 19th-century Sicilian life. Starting off with "The Other Son", a desperate mother still seeks her two sons after fourteen years, while in "Moon Sickness", a lonely young bride unearths a terrible secret about her husband during their the first full moon together. Next, in the comedic segment named "The Jar", a wealthy landlord who sees his prized possession--an enormous terracotta jug--split in half, enlists the help of a famous artisan, only to see him fall victim of his talent. Following, in "Requiem", in contempt of danger and the Baron's wrath, the elderly founder of a village yearns to be buried locally. Lastly, in the grand epilogue entitled "Conversing With Mother", Pirandello himself converses with his late mother's vivid apparition, recounting a story of her own childhood.—Nick Riganas