Mr. Benigni, essentially the same character in all his movies, here plays Attilio, a lovesick poetry professor whose teaching relies heavily on capering hysteria and nonsensical aphorisms. (“To convey pain, you must be happy!”) When not deflecting the improbable attentions of a gorgeous colleague — Mr. Benigni’s movies, like those of Woody Allen, hum with lust for women way out of his league — Attilio is stalking Vittoria (Nicoletta Braschi), a researcher whose tolerance for matchstick legs and manic narcissism apparently knows no bounds.
