Each of our lives moves toward the same destination, but what distinguishes us is the path we take to get there. This journey defines us, and if there’s one mode of travel that stirs our imagination about where life might lead, it’s the train. With a steam train, in particular, we connect to a more human pace, reflecting the slow and steady rhythm of life, even as it speeds up around us.

The Forgotten Pirandello, released in Italian cinemas on the 7th of this month, opens with this very image—a steam train, a symbol of life’s journey. It carries none other than the esteemed writer and playwright Luigi Pirandello, en route to Stockholm to accept the Nobel Prize in Literature. It’s 1934, and Pirandello’s speech to the King would become a moment remembered in time.