According to the theory of hegemonic masculinity, as a boy grows up, parents, teachers, mass media, and all social institutions promote an image of masculinity with five characteristics. He must meet them, or he will be a failure, not a "real man." However, no one ever meets all of them, so men always feel like they are failures, not good enough. The five characteristics are:
Prologue: At the workshop, they are asked what makes them "real men," and then criticized for their answers. Then the moderator asks "So, how did you end up here?"
Big Wheel Massimo (Matteo Martari, top photo): A woman in a Renaissance costume shows her boobs and tells us that we must protect works of art, while the Boss yells at Big Wheel: "We can't broadcast this! It's sexist!"
Big Wheel: "No, it's a beautiful girl with big breasts! Every man on Earth likes big breasts, right? Our product is sure to sell!"
Too many sexist commercials, like the MILF Italy Contest, plus harassing the women in the office: he's fired.
Later, at the pickleball game, Big Wheel tells the guys. "I was replaced by a WOMAN, can you believe it? They think I'm not as good as a woman! How humiliating!"
Cut to his big house with a heated pool, where he lies, telling the Wife that he quit. She is irate. "No way I'm going back to retail!"
In the morning, he finds dog poop on the bedroom carpet, and the maid won't clean it up. The Wife is doing a yoga podcast to make money. How humiliating!
Playboy Riccardo (Francesco Montanari): He is schtupping his lady. She moans; he congratulates himself on doing a good job using sports terminology: "I scored two amazing goals!" They smooch; she asks for a repeat, but he has to go: his Other Girlfriend is taking him out to dinner.
This dude is amazingly femme. I hadn't just seen him scoring two goals with a lady, I'd identify him as gay.
The side piece thinks that Other Girlfriend going to break up with him. "Why would she do that?" Playboy asks. "We're a perfect couple." The schtuping? It's a biological need; all men have to have side pieces, or they'll explode." Butt shot.
At the pickleball game, Playboy tells the guys about his dinner with the Other Girlfriend tonight; they think that she's pregnant, a good thing for him. He's a Real Man, so it will certainly be a boy, and when women see how masculine he is, they'll want to get with him. A baby boy is a chick magnet!
Cut to the dinner, where the Other Girlfriend is too embarrassed to say it, so she draws something that looks like a pregnant woman. Playboy jumps up and yells that he's a father. No, that's not what she meant: she's bored, and wants an open relationship.
Playboy is irate: he has a side piece because he's a man with needs, but women shouldn't want anyone else!
Sturdy Oak Mattia (Maurizio Lastrico): He's a tour guide, taking a group through a Roman building and yelling at the costumed actors, when the ex-wife tells him that their 17-year old daughter has disappeared! She turned off her trackers and won't answer her phone. He calls: she wants nothing to do with Mom. She's moved into Sturdy Oak's house.
He hands over the guide job to his coworker (Angelo Faraci) and rushes off.
At home, Daughter explains why she wants to live with Dad: "Mom, you're a control freak! You're smothering me!" Plus Sturdy Oak can help her with "how I feel about men." Why, do you not like men? Do you think Mattia can heterosexualize you?
Later, as she moves her stuff in, Sturdy Oak asks if she wants to watch tv tonight. No, she's going out to dinner, which in Italy means 11:00 pm.
She suggests that Sturdy Oak go out too, since he's divorced now, and ready to "slide into DMs" (heterosexual hookups). "You have to get with at least ten women to get over Mom." "Nope, I'm not interested in a new relationship. I don't experience emotion." But she signed him up for Tinder anyway, and arranged a date for tomorrow night.
More after the break