Impossible Maladies

At the somwhat pale dawn of the Enlightenment, when reason was meant to banish superstition but seldom succeeded, Doctor Rabarbaro and his long-suffering assistant Tosse wander from doorstep to doorstep, offering cures for ailments that may - or may not - exist. Their remedies are elaborate, earnest, and faintly ridiculous, delivered with the grave authority of men who believe utterly in their own methods, even as the world around them quietly suggests otherwise.

Loosely inspired by 18th-century satirical engravings that revelled in the public’s mistrust of medicine, the film delights in the body’s unknowability, treating illness as both mystery and farce. It is exquisitely animated, darkly playful, and infused with a nonsense logic that feels period-authentic and eerily modern. Beneath the humour lingers an unsettling question, as old as medicine itself: when those who claim to heal others are themselves afflicted, who, if anyone, holds the cure?

The film is written and directed by Stefano Tambellini and Alice Tambellini, who also share animation duties, crafting a meticulous visual world that feels at once archival and alive - beautifully done, and quietly unsettling.