Mi piace lavorare (Mobbing) (2004)

Anna is a young, separated woman, the mother of a little girl named Morgana and the daughter of an elderly, sick father, whom she often visits at the nursing home where he lives. Through many sacrifices and deprivations, she manages to make ends meet on a salary of 1,500 euros a month. At the office, she works as a secretary and chief accountant, a job she does with passion, earning a little envy from her female colleagues. At home, her life revolves around her love for her daughter Morgana. The little girl takes care of the grocery shopping every day and, in the evenings, reads her The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry while Anna, exhausted, falls asleep. The company Anna works for has been taken over by a multinational following a corporate merger. At a small company party, the new management informs the employees about the company’s revamped structure, reassuring them that the restructuring will not affect their jobs. Anna and her colleagues celebrate by drinking, eating, and dancing. The mood seems relaxed, although a hint of unease hangs in the air. In fact, the new corporate structure will soon bring unexpected changes to Anna’s working life and, consequently, her family life as well. Anna is removed from her position. She is offered pointless or impossible assignments. From then on, she begins a tragic downward spiral. Her colleagues’ false friendship evaporates: they seem to avoid her and behave like a pack abandoning a sick animal. She is first demoted. The computer assigned to her is broken and is never repaired; nor do her colleagues help her. She is then told to look for two invoices in the archives, one of which has been taken by the head of personnel himself, who has therefore surreptitiously given her an impossible task. The jobs assigned to her become increasingly demoralizing, such as when she is put in charge of monitoring the photocopier. Being shunned and isolated by her colleagues only adds to her anguish. Finally, she is assigned to time the warehouse workers in order to optimize their work, and some of them nearly attack her, violently calling her a “spy.” Anna falls into depression and becomes ill. At home, she can no longer do anything; her daughter takes care of her and brings her back to life. When she returns to work, however, the same dynamics continue. The day of her daughter’s dance recital arrives. Anna gets ready to leave and go to the girl. She is called in by the head of human resources, who proposes that she sign a letter of resignation, saying she has failed to meet expectations despite having good abilities and despite the company having repeatedly shown her trust and patience. He also lectures her about her situation as a single woman and the fact that, as a mother, she should think about her daughter. At that point Anna reacts, tells him never to mention her daughter again, and leaves the office. She tries to reach Morgana, but cannot find her anywhere. Finally, after a great deal of searching, she finds her at the home of the child from the grocery store where Morgana does the shopping. Anna finally goes to the union and recounts what she has endured at work over the preceding months. She will sue and win. Amid many worries about the new job awaiting her when she returns and the trip she is about to take, she sets off with her daughter, reassured by the girl.