My Daughter (2025) by Ivano De Matteo: Love Under Siege, Between Forgiveness and Fear
- dailyentertainment95
- Aug 12
- 4 min read
Short Summary – Love Tested by Silence and Betrayal
After losing his wife, Pietro has spent years centering his life entirely around his daughter Sofia, building a relationship that’s both deeply affectionate and emotionally co-dependent. When he finally finds new love with Chiara, Sofia’s hostile reaction escalates into a violent outburst that shatters their fragile balance. What follows is an unflinching journey into grief, parental sacrifice, and the moral weight of unconditional love when it collides with unthinkable actions.
Link IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34767962/
About movie: http://www.01distribution.it/film/una-figlia
Link to watch: https://www.justwatch.com/it/film/una-figlia (Italy)
Detailed Summary – Healing, Loss, and the Fracturing of a Bond
A Life of Devotion: Pietro (Stefano Accorsi) is not just a single father—he’s a man who has rebuilt his identity entirely around his daughter. Every routine, every decision, every breath has been for Sofia since his wife’s death.
A Fragile Step Forward: Meeting Chiara (Thony) is a turning point. She is patient, understanding, and brings a quiet warmth back into Pietro’s life. For the first time in years, he feels he can be more than just a caretaker.
The Daughter’s Storm: Sofia (Ginevra Francesconi), at an age where identity and independence are already under strain, feels betrayed. Her rejection of Chiara is immediate, sharp, and layered—not only is she still grieving, but she fears losing the exclusive bond she shares with her father.
The Breaking Point: An intense confrontation spirals out of control. What begins as an emotional standoff erupts into an act that places Sofia in juvenile detention, forcing both father and daughter into separate emotional prisons.
Life Inside the Walls: The film doesn’t gloss over Sofia’s incarceration—her days are filled with institutional routines, therapy sessions, guarded interactions with other inmates. Her silence toward Pietro cuts deeper than any shouted insult.
Two Parallel Journeys: Pietro grapples with the shame and helplessness of being unable to protect his child from herself, while Sofia’s inner world shifts slowly from rage to reluctant reflection.
The Core Conflict: Is love truly unconditional? And if it is, how do you love someone who has broken something essential between you?
Director’s Vision – Radical Family, Relentless Emotion
Trilogy of Parental Trial: This film follows I nostri ragazzi and Mia, continuing De Matteo’s exploration of family under moral siege. He focuses on moments where ordinary life fractures into the extraordinary.
Cinema Without Comfort: De Matteo has said he avoids “preaching or consoling” in his work—his aim is to disturb, provoke, and force viewers to confront uncomfortable “what ifs” in their own lives.
Two Emotional Climates: The visual storytelling alternates between the open, warm light of Pietro’s home life and the cold, contained palette of Sofia’s prison environment—making the contrast between freedom and confinement visceral.
Justice as Healing: De Matteo suggests that in certain cases, legal reparation and emotional reparation must be pursued together—not for society’s sake alone, but for the emotional survival of both victim and perpetrator within the family.
Themes – Broken Bonds, Flawed Love, and Forgiveness After the Fall
Unconditional Love in Crisis: The story asks if a parent can love without boundaries when faced with acts that cause irreversible harm.
Grief’s Shadow on Love: Both Pietro’s and Sofia’s reactions are rooted in unprocessed loss—grief that has fermented into possessiveness and resentment.
The Prison Within: Sofia’s physical imprisonment is mirrored by Pietro’s emotional captivity—unable to move on, unable to let go.
Reparation as Hope: The possibility of reconciliation exists not in erasing the past, but in finding a way to live with its weight.
Key Success Factors – Performance, Empathy, and Emotional Precision
Stefano Accorsi’s Gravity: Accorsi’s restrained approach makes Pietro’s emotional collapse even more devastating when it surfaces.
Ginevra Francesconi’s Complexity: As Sofia, she avoids clichés of “troubled teen” by showing vulnerability beneath volatility.
Dual Perspective Narrative: Balancing the father’s outside world with the daughter’s confined one allows the audience to empathize with both sides of the fracture.
Tight, Character-Focused Direction: Every frame serves the characters’ emotional states; even silence carries weight.
Awards & Nominations – Emotional Impact Recognized
Premiered at BIF&ST – Bari International Film Festival 2025 in the “Rosso di Sera” section.
Screenplay longlisted for a Nastro d’Argento (Silver Ribbon).
Nominated for excellence in sound design, praised for its ability to reflect emotional distance and claustrophobia.
Critics Reception – Truth Above Comfort
Italian Press: Praised the film’s refusal to soften or moralize the situation, applauding its courage to show love as a site of pain as much as joy.
Festival Reactions: Viewers described it as “emotionally exhausting but necessary,” citing its unflinching look at the bonds we assume are unbreakable.
Reviews – Audience Echoes of Empathy and Unease
Many parents in audience Q&As shared personal stories, noting how the film mirrored their fears and insecurities.
Some viewers found the film’s lack of cathartic resolution unsettling, while others valued its realism and moral ambiguity.
Why to Recommend Movie – When Love Refuses to Quit
Emotionally challenging: For viewers ready to face raw, uncomfortable truths about parenting.
Rich performances: Stefano Accorsi and Ginevra Francesconi carry the film’s emotional weight with authenticity.
Dual narrative strength: Offers equally compelling arcs for both father and daughter.
Socially relevant: Tackles themes of grief, juvenile justice, and emotional rehabilitation with honesty.
Long aftertaste: A film that stays with you, forcing introspection.
Movie Trend – Radical Parental Portraits in Quiet Drama
This film rides the current wave of European intimate dramas that dissect family life when morality, legality, and love collide. Similar to Custody (2017) and System Crasher (2019), it resists tidy endings and instead dwells in the aftermath of crisis. It also taps into a post-pandemic appetite for personal, character-driven stories, where the biggest stakes are emotional rather than spectacle-driven.
Social Trend – Stories That Hold the Tension
Reflects society’s increasing interest in narratives that explore how relationships endure—or fail—under extreme pressure. In a world where public discourse on mental health, youth crime, and parental roles is intensifying, My Daughter offers a deeply personal lens on issues often discussed only in policy or statistics.
Final Verdict – A Brutal Love Story with No Easy Answers
My Daughter is a devastating meditation on the endurance of love in the face of betrayal and loss. It doesn’t promise healing but insists on the possibility of connection, even when the threads are frayed beyond recognition. For those willing to sit with discomfort, it’s a film that both wounds and enlightens.
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