Mathias Pascal suffers at the hands of his evil mother-in-law and her daughter who is becoming ever more like her. When fate in one fell swoop deprives him of his own mother and daughter, he takes the opportunity of being erroneously pronounced dead himself to disappear and start afresh. The freedom to create a new identity turns into a search for his true identity. Long before being hailed as the founder of modern drama with Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore in the 1920s, Luigi Pirandello had his literary breakthrough with Il fu Mattia Pascal in 1904.

The success on the international stages led to offers to turn his novels, novellas and plays into films. But it wasn’t until Marcel Herbier that someone managed to get the Sicilian author and his critical view of the new medium and its commercial constraints excited about a joint project. With Il feu Mathias Pascal the French director created a charming masterpiece that still today manages to hold its viewers enthralled for almost three hours.