Una donna libera (1954)

Liana, a wealthy, intelligent young woman with a degree in architecture, longs for a free and independent life. So, after meeting the handsome Gerardo Villabruna, a mediocre, shallow musician, she calls off her wedding to Fernando, an engineer, and runs away with Gerardo to Amalfi. Gerardo admits that they had some good times together, but says he is devoted to music and has to leave on a long tour. After a fierce argument with her mother, who has resigned herself to a loveless marriage and to women having a subordinate role, Liana leaves for Paris, where she finds a job that does not satisfy her. There she meets Massimo Marchi, a wealthy shipowner, whom she marries, only to regret it after just a year. Again, she feels that marriage is more like a cage, and as soon as she happens to see Gerardo again, she goes to his home. But after realizing that he has had numerous affairs and casual sex with several people at the same time, she finally leaves him—and her husband as well. After her mother dies, she returns to her childhood home to care for her family, who need her. Her younger sister Leonora, also being courted by the womanizer Gerardo, is at risk of making the same mistake Liana did and leaving with him. Liana confronts the couple, but then shoots the man and voluntarily turns herself in to the police, rather than have anything more to do with unfaithful men or men who disrespect women.