After rescuing an aristocrat’s son from an unsavory dockyard altercation, an uncouth yet earnest mariner finds himself suddenly acquainted with a more genteel side of society. Espousing a code of self-reliance, the strapping Martin Eden (Luca Marinelli) resolves to escape his working-class doldrums and seek out success as an aspiring writer. Inspired by his love for the high-cultured Elena (Jessica Cressy), he devotes the nights to his implacable self-education. Further spurred on by his curmudgeonly mentor, Eden ultimately attains hard-won literary celebrity, but at great cost to his moral principles and personal relationships. Transposing Jack London’s great novel of artistic maturation and social mobility from Oakland to Naples, Italian filmmaker Pietro Marcello sets his film in an ambiguous, ideologically fraught period in the early to mid-20th century. A politically resonant work, the protagonist’s dogged individualism and staunch opposition to collectivist ideals lead him ever more sharply toward a life of narcissism and ambivalence.

Winner: Best Actor, Venice