Free Women

Endemol Shine Italy for Rai Uno

1942. Mario Tobino is a brilliant psychiatrist who has recently returned from the war. At Christmas, he starts working in the female ward of the Magliano mental Institution. The same night, young Margherita makes a spectacle of herself on the Duomo’s parvis, and her husband Filippo decides to have her committed into the same mental hospital.

Is Margherita truly crazy, or was her breakdown a consequence of the ongoing vexations she suffered at the hands of her influential husband, her mother-in-law and her sisters-in-law?

Months go by. Mario attempts to heal his war-torn mind, while also winning over Margherita, who was assigned to him as a patient. Slowly, he enters her world, as she struggles to overcome her mistrust of others and her fear of the other patients she shares a room with.

The brilliant psychiatrist introduces a new, kinder method of dealing with patients, thus gaining their affection. His enthusiasm isn’t shared by the institute’s director, and is openly opposed by his colleague, Doctor Parisi, a fervid fascist fond of harsher methods such as lobotomy and electroshock. Instead, he finds an ally in Doctor Anselmi, with whom he strikes up a sincere friendship, and slowly earns the respect of Head Nurse Zonin and young Doctor Olivieri.

While war threatens to shut down the institute, Filippo tries to have Margherita interdicted to steal her possessions. Meanwhile, Margherita has fallen for Mario and is jealous of Paola, the woman Mario has always loved who has recently made a comeback from his past.

Mario will have to save Margherita from herself, as she faces growing threats.