La balia (1999)
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Directors
Cast
Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Maya Sansa, Jacqueline Lustig
A psychiatrist hires a young wet nurse for his newborn, intensifying the emotional strain within his family.
The story
In Umbertine Rome, amid social unrest and police repression, a son is born into an upper-middle-class family. His father, Professor Mori, is a psychiatrist, while his mother, Vittoria, fulfills her duties as a parent but cannot feel affection for her newborn. The baby will not nurse at his mother’s breast, so Mori decides to hire a wet nurse. He selects Annetta, a young woman he once glimpsed on a train among a group of subversives. Annetta devotes herself affectionately to the child, but her attentiveness deepens Vittoria’s anguish.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In Umbertine Rome, a city swept by social unrest and police repression, a son is born into an upper-middle-class family. The lives of his parents, Professor Mori, a psychiatrist, and his wife Vittoria, are transformed: although Vittoria fulfills her duties as a mother, she cannot feel any affection for the child she has given birth to, and the baby will not nurse at his mother’s breast. Mori decides to hire a wet nurse; he chooses Annetta, a young woman he glimpsed on a train with a group of subversives. Annetta devotes herself to the baby with great affection, but her attentiveness to the child only heightens Vittoria’s anguish.
Genres
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