MIA MADRE

Margherita is directing a new social drama, set against the backdrop of an industrial dispute. Try as she may to remain professional, the emotional turmoil of her private life is taking a toll: an a air with one of her actors has come to an end, her adolescent daughter is failing Latin, but most troubling is the recent hospitalisation of her formidable, beloved mother Ada. Whilst her brother Giovanni gradually allows himself to be engulfed by his mother’s last days, taking extended leave to prolong his bedside vigil.

Margherita’s tough schedule makes more than a daily visit tricky. Meanwhile, the famous American actor Barry Huggins has arrived, a needy and capricious personality whose brash presence on set sees things go from bad to worse, and whose general ineptitude might finally push Margherita over the edge...