It depicts the concept of metempsychosis taking place in the remote mountain town of Caulonia, in southern Italy.

A famous anecdote is that Pythagoras heard the cry of his dead friend in the bark of a dog.

The smoke becomes dust, falling out from the chimneys at the end of the movie and down into the houses, street and back into the church.

This is where the goatherd is seen trading milk for blessed dust for his nightly drinks, right at the beginning of the movie.

The site's the consensus states "Birth, death, and transformation are examined in Le quattro volte, a profound and often funny meditation on the cycles of life on earth.