Omaha, Nebraska, 1920. Edward Montgomery Clift is born into an upper-middle-class family. His mother, obsessed with aristocratic origins, steers him toward acting at a very young age. At twelve he debuts on Broadway. At thirty he is the most sought-after star in America. But behind the perfect face hides a restless anguish.

“The Prince”—that’s what they called him in Hollywood. Beautiful as a Greek god, with the purest talent, Clift embodies a new idea of masculinity: sensitive, vulnerable, tormented. With Marlon Brando and James Dean he forms the trinity of Method Acting that revolutionizes film acting.

The masterpieces follow one another: Fred Zinnemann’s “The Search” (1948), “A Place in the Sun” (1951) with Elizabeth Taylor—who would become his best friend and protector—, “From Here to Eternity” (1953), “Suddenly, Last Summer” (1959). Four Oscar nominations, never a win.

In 1956, tragedy strikes: a terrible car accident paralyzes the left side of his face. Elizabeth Taylor rushes to the scene of the accident and saves his life by extracting his teeth from his throat. But Clift will never be the same again. What biographer Patricia Bosworth would call “the longest suicide in Hollywood history” begins: alcohol, pills, depression.

Jane Fonda, one of the many actresses, actors, screenwriters, and directors interviewed by Donatella Baglivo, says: “The cultural importance of Clift lies in the fact that you can be a man and still cry, be gentle and vulnerable.” A reflection that anticipates the debate on toxic masculinity by decades.

The documentary gathers exclusive testimonies from his brother Brooks Clift, from Lee Remick, Maureen Stapleton, Kevin McCarthy, Robert Lewis (co-founder of the Actors Studio), and rare filmed documents that reveal the man behind the legend.

Montgomery Clift dies in 1966, at only 45 years old, struck down by a heart attack in his New York apartment. A life burned out too quickly, a talent that continues to illuminate cinema.