Three Goodbyes

In Rome, Marta, a high school teacher, and Antonio, a chef, have been together for years. As his career rises she drifts; she has no appetite for food and seems to have lost interest. After a trivial argument they separate. Soon after, Marta learns that her lack of appetite has to do with her health rather than the break-up. The subject is not separation but a diagnosis forcing you to reread your own past. Marta was certain she had ended the relationship; once the diagnosis arrives she cannot tell which decisions were hers and which belonged to her body. The form is calm and domestic: a kitchen, a classroom, a hospital corridor. Food here is not pleasure but an instrument of measurement, and how much anyone can eat is the film's quiet counter. The source is Michela Murgia's book Tre ciotole. Murgia wrote it during her own illness and died in 2023, so the experience described comes directly from a lived one. Isabel Coixet directs, co-writing with Enrico Audenino. The film premiered in Toronto in 2025 and opened in Italy that October. Alba Rohrwacher plays Marta and Elio Germano plays Antonio. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet European drama and narratives of illness. Who it is not for: anyone wanting to avoid the weight of the subject; the film softens nothing towards the end.