Director: Pietro Marcello
A period drama built around one of the Italian stage's most celebrated figures, Duse follows the actress Eleonora Duse as she steps back into public performance late in life. Directed by Pietro Marcello, the 2025 film runs about 122 minutes and unfolds across the uncertain years that followed the First World War.
What is Duse about?
The story opens in an Italy still absorbing the losses of the First World War, a country moving toward the political upheavals of the early 1920s. Well past the age of sixty, Duse chooses to return to the theatre after years away from it. The decision surprises those around her, both because of her age and because of the physical toll that touring and performing demand. As she rebuilds a working life on the stage, she navigates fragile health, financial pressure, and the shifting mood of the nation around her. The film treats her renewed commitment to acting as central to who she is, following her through rehearsals, performances, and quieter private moments with the people closest to her. Rather than surveying her whole career, the narrative concentrates on this final chapter, tracing the choices she makes as her circumstances gradually narrow.
Cast & crew
The film is anchored by its central portrayal of Eleonora Duse, supported by an ensemble drawn largely from Italian and French cinema. The company around her plays the theatre colleagues, family members, and associates who move through the aging performer's life during this period.
Context & significance
Duse arrived in 2025 as an Italian-French co-production. Pietro Marcello, a director known for pairing historical settings with a distinctive visual approach, is behind the camera. The film sits within the drama and historical genres and is set during a specific, turbulent stretch of early twentieth-century Italian history, between the end of the First World War and the political changes of the following decade. Eleonora Duse herself was a real and internationally known stage performer, which places the film within the long tradition of screen biographies of theatrical figures.
Where & how to watch
Duse is available to stream on K-Time, and the page you are reading is free to browse without signing in. Watching the film requires a K-Time account, and once you are logged in you can start playback directly. K-Time is a Persian-language service built for the Iranian diaspora, with a Farsi interface throughout. This title includes both a Persian dub and Persian subtitles, so you can watch it dubbed into Farsi or in the original audio with Farsi subtitles.