The Dark Heart of Motherhood in Italy : Maternal Ambivalence in Contemporary Italian Film

Abstract

In a country where the maternal instinct is still considered a conditio sine qua non of being a woman, maternal ambivalence is one of the ultimate taboos. But Italian filmmakers are trying to change that. Four recent Italian films—Lo spazio bianco by Francesca Comencini (2009), Maternity Blues by Fabrizio Cattani (2011), Quando la notte by Cristina Comencini (2011), and Tutto parla di te by Alina Marazzi (2012)—use everything from single motherhood and postpartum depression to infanticide as a lens through which to approach this “unspeakable” topic. This article demonstrates how the archetype of the loving, self-sacrificing mother that lies at the heart of the Italian identity is also the source of its twenty-first-century motherhood crisis and that Italian women’s ambivalence about motherhood is paralleled by a national one: a deeply rooted contradiction between private worship and public lack of support.