Maternal
Maura Delpero, Italy, Argentina, 2019o
The Hogar, an Italian-Argentine religious centre for young mothers, is a paradoxical place: teenage mothers are helped by nuns who have taken a vow of chastity. Strict rules coexist with Christian love. Sister Paola is a young nun who has just come to Buenos Aires from Italy to complete her novitiate and take her eternal vows. Lu and Fati, both seventeen years old, were almost children who have suddenly become mothers. Three different women who influence each other's lives and their relationship to motherhood.
In a country where abortion is not yet legal, Delpero’s first fiction film deals with a significant social issue by starting from an emblematic setting where pregnant and often underage girls cohabit with women who will never be mothers. The director subtly plays on this underlying tension, building a narrative brought to life by the protagonists’ glances and silences.
Daniela Persico