Head Of The Family 1970
In the chaos of post-World War II Rome, architecture students Paola and Marco meet, fall in love, and marry. Despite their separate convictions–he’s a Communist, she’s a Catholic–they plan an egalitarian marriage, in which each will pursue a career. Although they agree to wait to have children, the babies arrive. Burdened with four children, each parent blames the other. Abandoning her career after the birth of her first child, Paola redirects her energy toward caring for others, and the couple’s home becomes a haven for both relatives and friends. This, plus the permissive rearing of the children, soon takes its toll on Paola, who neglects her appearance and her husband. Marco suffers from frustrated ideals; his pragmatic friends grow rich designing buildings he despises, while he barely can pay bills from the meager salary he makes as a civil servant. In the tenth year of marriage, Marco takes a young emancipated woman, Adriana, for a mistress. Threatened, Paola resorts to womanly wiles to win back Marco. He returns to his family, attacks his career with renewed enthusiasm, and becomes a success. Paola, however, now released from the strain of 20 years of childbearing and family devotion, suffers a nervous breakdown. When Paola is sent to a nursing home, Marco, alone in the large house, realizes his wife’s indispensible role in his life and that of his family.
