Pasolini is increasingly opposed by the people, critics and politicians, both for his homosexuality, and because he is considered impulsive and scandalous in showing his reality to the public.

While Pasolini is working on the film, his mother (Adriana Asti) and his cousin try to dissuade him from the project, because it would be too wild and visionary for the Italian public to accept.

He begins a relationship with a boy from the suburbs of Rome, Pino Pelosi, and takes him to a restaurant in the seaside village of Ostia.

In the days following, the press says Pasolini's murder was politically motivated by the police and those whom the poet had always loved and immortalized in his works.

The website's consensus reads, "Pasolini may frustrate viewers seeking a straightforward biopic, but director Abel Ferrara's unconventional approach is well-matched by Willem Dafoe's performance.