A portrait of Italian society from 1945 to 1983, viewed through the lens of its relationship with cinema: if and how Italian society considered cinema as something it could recognize itself in, to discover and interpret its own characteristics, if and how Italian society was (in the past) the very subject matter of the cinema in which it was represented. Did Italian society fit, or was it out of synch, ahead of or behind, early or late, with the image offered by our cinema? Did it ever choose cinema to reflect what it was, or intended to be? This is the play of mirrors, between cinema and the life of the nation.