Gli indifferenti (2020)

Rome, the Parioli district. Following her husband's death, the Ardengo family, consisting of his widow Maria Grazia and her two children, Michele and Carla, is in a precarious financial situation. For the past three years, Leo Merumeci, Maria Grazia's lover, has lent her money to pay off debts and maintain their accustomed comfortable lifestyle. Leo's real aim, however, is the Ardengos' last remaining asset: their luxurious penthouse. Michele, the older child, makes no effort to hide his contempt for Leo. The family's sense of instability is heightened by the story's setting during a sequence of aftershocks. While celebrating Carla's eighteenth birthday, the young woman has a brief argument with her mother, who disapproves of her work as a video-game streamer and would rather she study economics, and then walks away. Leo catches up with Carla, gives her more to drink, and kisses her; shortly afterward, Carla feels ill and vomits. The birthday party moves to a club, where Maria Grazia gradually begins to realize that Leo does not really love her. She confides in her friend Lisa that she thinks he has a mistress. One evening, Leo's obsessive attentions toward Carla culminate in sexual abuse, which the young woman passively endures after an initial attempt to get away. Maria Grazia believes Leo is cheating on her with Lisa, who is actually Michele's lover and had been involved with Leo years earlier, and decides to end their friendship. Maria Grazia tries to arouse Leo's desire, but, realizing it is pointless, lets herself be overcome by sadness. After Michele leaves Lisa, believing, like his mother, that she is Leo's lover, Lisa tells him that Leo has set his sights on Carla. Michele goes to Leo's apartment and threatens him with a gun, which turns out to be unloaded. Leo starts beating Michele, but Carla stops him, and she leaves with her brother. On the drive home, Michele is forced to admit that if it had not been for Leo, they would have led a miserable life. Maria Grazia is about to attend a masked ball with Lisa, with whom she has reconciled, and Michele. Carla decides to stay in the penthouse and tells her mother that Leo abused her and that she reported him. Maria Grazia, however, seems to ignore her daughter's words and leaves for the party with Lisa and Michele.