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My son,
I'm only your mother.
But you're my hero,
my only love,
you mean the world to me.
Everything I accomplish
until the day I die
will be for you.
MARIA MONTESSORI
Hey ho roses are preening
Hey ho branches are greening
Hey ho here comes the spring
Hey ho sun shines in the skies
Hey ho all the girls have eyes
Hey ho that shine just as bright
What are you doing?
You shouldn't be sleeping
It's time you woke up
The whole world is new
Hey ho open those doors
Hey ho my heart is all yours
Hey ho we should be in love
- That was beautiful. - Thank you.
Was the harvest good?
Yes, one bouquet after another.
The lilies?
A soldier.
General?
No. Lieutenant-colonel, I believe.
Not enough war to be promoted.
- The orchid? - A young lad.
Cute, with red cheeks,
lives with his mummy
but he'd give up everything to make you happy.
First, he'd fall in love,
then he'd beat me.
Yes.
Him or his mother.
There's a more appealing offer.
The roses?
The Italian prince.
He left a costume for you.
He insists on seeing you tonight.
Again?
What will it be this time?
He wants to conquer me.
He has the means
and we have the needs.
Your crusader has arrived, Lili.
Shall we go?
Good evening, my prince.
What is this?!
Ready for battle?
- The duchess wound up under the table. - Again?
Then we went to the stables
for what I believed to be my farewell gift.
A horse?
He wanted me to taste the milk of his Kirghiz mare.
I claimed his strongest stallion for my trouble.
Not bad.
And he invited me to Rome.
Rome is neither London nor Berlin.
- Hello ma'am. - What is it?
Yvonne Curières?
There's no Yvonne Curières here.
I'll handle it.
Go.
Leave us.
- Here. - Thank you, sir.
It wasn't hard to find you.
I wasn't hiding.
You've changed.
Your cheeks have hollowed out.
Mother passed away.
You came to Paris to tell me that?
You could have sent a letter.
Don't forget your legacy, it's your responsibility now.
Did you really think we'd keep her after mother's death?
I'm sure she'll be a hit with your admirers.
Come back next week. Goodbye.
Lili?
Come in.
It was the tailor.
Everyone will know within days
and the press within a week.
Outside of Paris?
Might give you an extra week.
I'll go pack your suitcases.
For the little one.
My cousin's son went there.
Sorry?
My cousin's son.
Like the little one.
Impaired.
Good day, madam.
How can I help you?
I'm waiting for the doctor.
Tell him to come.
Maria Montessori,
medical doctor.
How can I help you?
It's for the child.
You do take children like that?
Her age?
Nine, I think.
Is she your daughter?
No... She's my niece.
She's surprisingly corpulent.
- Are you the one who looks after her? - No.
What does she eat?
I have no idea.
Come. Let's walk.
Come here.
When did she learn to walk?
I don't know.
She's only been with me a few weeks.
Can she talk?
Can you take her in?
I can pay, just tell me what it costs.
This is a public institute.
No one pays.
We're not taking in new boarders at the moment.
But she could come in the daytime.
We don't accept new children
until we're certain they can benefit from our reeducation methods.
So you'll have to come back
if you want us to test...
You didn't tell me her name.
Tina.
Her name is Tina.
Lovely name. Welcome, Tina.
Can you hear me?
Giuseppe Montesano,
my colleague and co-director of the institute.
How do you do?
Madame Curières, from France, and little Tina.
Maria, they're waiting for us. We have to go.
Bye, Tina.
Goodbye.
But...
Monday, eight o'clock?
Dr Montesano,
you honor us with your presence.
Would you be so kind as to explain to us
how baths can cure idiocy?
You proved the existence of a strong connection
between general sensitivity and moral sentiment.
Criminals and prostitutes tend to have underdeveloped
pain and tactile sensations.
We've found the same to be true of the mentally impaired.
So you support my theory,
criminals, prostitutes and the mentally impaired
belong to the same category of degenerates
undermining our country's race?
Not if we treat them.
Baths develop skin sensitivity
and invigorate muscle tissue.
Alternating hot and cold baths
draws the children's attention to the outside world,
thus preparing them to receive an education.
Aren't these poor children simply ill?
Do they really belong in a pedagogical institute?
It has now been proven that idiot children can learn.
Knowing this, it would be inhuman
to leave them in an asylum.
We need to be reasonable economically.
Caring for idiots in an asylum is costly.
The methods we use at the institute, are among the most modern
in the world.
They enable the children to learn, read, write, count
but also to work
and make a useful contribution to society.
That's why we asked you to run this institute.
But...
When will there be results?
Within a few months, children of the institute will be able
to take the same exam normal children do.
I very much doubt
baths will qualify them for the exam.
But we'll be there
to test
your trained seals,
signora Montessori.
If I, a woman, managed to become a doctor,
there's hope for these little idiots.
Maria.
I thought he was going to burst with rage.
He put me through hell in university, he deserves it.
You have debts?
How did you guess?
I'm often shown off as a sign of wealth.
French women are luxury items to be flaunted.
And Italian women?
Domestic furniture.
Speaking of which, do you like your apartment?
Very much.
Will you have me over?
Not tonight.
You've been here two weeks and your door remains closed.
Are you hiding a corpse in my apartment?
Several.
And don't insist too much
or you'll be the next one.
Lili, my dear friend.
Betsy.
Out of the blue.
You, in Rome?
What a nice surprise to see you here.
You look stunning.
I can't believe it,
- I dreamed about you last night. - Did you?
What brings you here?
A bad cough.
The Paris damp...
Doctors told me to get some sun, so...
What about you?
I've been here a year now.
There's so much to do here.
Hygiene,
illiteracy,
- and poverty... - Fascinating.
Forgive me, my escort is waiting.
I'll be seeing you soon.
Shall we do the exercise?
Come, Matteo.
Look at me.
Can you pass me that, Serena?
Look at it, Matteo. Focus.
Focus on it.
Look, Matteo.
Using both hands,
we open and we close.
Close your hands on it.
Close.
Go ahead.
Good for you!
- Good for you! - Good for you...
You see? The master's will must always prevail,
not the child's.
Doctor?
I'm going to evaluate the French girl.
You'll assist me.
Put your feet back.
Tina?
Keep your head up. That's right.
We're going
to measure you.
Stand up straight. Just like that.
Come with me.
Look at me.
Tina?
Occiput, thirty-seven.
You take the doll, Tina?
Go ahead.
Raise your leg.
Ready?
Almost.
Shall we try again?
Come out.
I know it's hard.
Your piano's out of tune.
We've completed the testing.
And?
It's always hard to determine the cause,
especially at her age.
But...
she's lacked attention,
care,
everything that could've helped with her difficulties.
Idiots remain idiots. There's no cure.
- Take her back, then. - No!
This place will be just fine.
She can come in the daytime.
It will do her good.
Where will she sleep?
I really need to get back to Paris.
You'll find similar facilities in Paris, Dr Bourneville is...
That's impossible.
If a place opens up, I'll let you know.
I beg you...
This is an educational institute,
not a orphanage.
Good morning, Rosa.
Hello.
Mario, look.
Mama and papa are here.
How's he doing?
Fine. He's trying to stand up.
Take him.
A piece of apple?
Not the peel, the apple.
Look.
A friend sent it to me from Paris.
"Lili D'Alengy".
It's madame Curières.
What's she doing in Rome?
Probably hiding the girl.
I had an idea
I wanted to tell you about.
I'm listening.
Couldn't Mario live at your place?
Whatever for?
Mario's fine where he is.
I could come and see him more often.
Carlotta lives too far away.
Maria, you know...
that's impossible.
Why?
I'd lose my job,
my reputation.
You're a man. They wouldn't dare.
Maria, I love you
and I'd do anything for you
but you can't ask me
to dishonor my mother.
- You could say he's your nephew. - Enough, Maria.
Let's solve this problem
the way we should have done ages ago.
Marry me.
- We've been through this. - The situation has changed.
Be realistic, we work together, we have Mario...
What are you afraid of?
My mother didn't get to study.
But you did.
My father wouldn't allow it.
She obeyed because she belonged to him.
Marriage isn't an act of love between two equals.
It's a form of enslavement, bondage.
Stop it.
You speak as if I didn't know all that.
I'm not like your father.
I know.
I'll think it over.
Promise.
It's late now.
Your parents...
They'll worry.
Good night, papa.
You idiot!
Look what you've done!
You wreck my whole life.
Stop it or you'll make me fall!
Hang on.
Again.
Raise your arms, open your hand and get a good grip on the bar.
Go ahead.
Squeeze the bar, like this.
Do it again.
One, two, three, four...
Again.
Yes, that's it.
Hang on to the bar.
Squeeze.
Hang on tight.
Again.
Do it again.
Are you still hungry, my love?
Up the step.
Catch.
Up the step.
Catch.
Come here.
Come.
Very good, Tina.
Circle.
Square.
Jump
and spin.
Do as I do.
Good for you, Tina.
Like this.
No.
You do it, Tina.
Careful.
Square, triangle, circle...
Yes. Very good, Tina.
You look lovely.
Hello Tina.
Come on.
Madame D'Alengy?
Tina has a strong will.
She's made a lot of progress.
Just take the time to look at her.
I'm busy.
You should stay.
Tina needs you.
She doesn't understand Italian.
I'm not sure she understands French.
And I don't need her.
Really?
Like a butterfly.
If you can read this, give me a kiss.
So...
Who knows about feathers?
What's a feather?
Feathers...
are soft
and white.
"Feather".
Repeat after me.
See how I pronounce it.
Good for you.
Go ahead, Ciro.
Let's try to write the word "feather".
So...
Anna,
write it by hand.
Tina, I'll give you the letters.
In French, it's la plume.
Tina, I'm coming to see you.
Show me how you do it.
We're going to spell the word plume.
Let me help you.
This is la.
Good.
Plume.
Look at me when I say it.
"U".
Yes.
Very good.
Well done, Tina.
In no way interrupted.
What's going on?
I'm sorry.
But...
They're so happy.
The music has a very...
strange effect on them.
What if an hour of dance and music followed every hour of study?
Look at me.
Carlotta, come.
Signora Rosa?
Just a minute.
Well done!
Thank you. Maria, bring Mario.
Excuse me.
Of course.
He'd stopped doing that.
He's just imitating the little one.
That's enough, Mario.
How the little one has grown!
Look,
how healthy she is.
Very healthy.
She adores Mario. She follows him everywhere.
They're so cute.
I went to see Mario yesterday.
I want him to come and live here
with me, with us.
You know that's impossible.
What's impossible is not being able to recognize my son.
We could hide him.
If you can read this, give me a kiss.
One,
two,
and...
three.
Who is it?
There'll be an important test next month.
I think we can present Tina along with the other children.
She's ready.
One,
two...
and go.
Who is it?
Mummy?
Yes.
Come.
Do you like it?
Hello.
Hello signora.
Signorina.
What can I do for you?
Erm... the red cape?
For...
I'll get it for you.
Lili? Is that you?
It's Betsy.
Is that you, Lili?
Move.
Just a second.
Let me through, please.
Out!
I wasn't sure it was you.
We haven't seen you in ages.
- I thought you'd gone back to Paris. - Soon I hope.
Here you are.
It was for the little girl.
Madam?
How nice to run into you like this.
I'm always glad to see you.
See you soon.
- Goodbye, my friend. - Goodbye.
Let's go
Let's go on with your exercise.
Pick up your pencil.
Here you go.
Tina?
You wanted to see me?
Yes.
A bed will be available in a few days.
We lost a child.
We can take Tina on as a boarder.
Come.
I need you to sign here.
The mother's name.
It's all for the best.
She was a year old when the doctor told us she was an idiot.
Is that when you left?
You can't imagine my joy the first time I held her.
She was so tiny,
so lovely.
But she didn't move enough,
or eat enough,
or cry enough.
At 12 months, she still couldn't sit up.
My husband looked at her differently.
And then?
With my father's support, his parents had our marriage annulled.
She was the result of all my sins.
It wasn't your fault.
Little is expected of women
but I failed at that...
Making a beautiful baby.
Good night, Tina.
Sleep well.
What have you done?
You mustn't touch the food on the table.
Go outside, Mario. Out!
Alas, I can't carry them both...
Not to mention the older ones.
You know what we can do?
Look what I have for you.
Come here.
See this egg...?
You know what we can do with it?
Yes, the egg.
We just break it like this.
Good, now grab the ladle.
Open it like this.
And the shell is yours to keep.
You can't eat it.
Beat it.
Yes, Mario.
There you go.
They don't want to bother you.
They want to imitate you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Professors,
Ministers,
here, we train teachers and instructors
and we work with a group of impaired children
to develop a new, scientific teaching method.
After a year of experimentation, we're proud to share
the results of our work.
Thank you.
Let's start with mathematics.
What is 2 times 3?
They asked you what 2 times 3 is.
It's like when you go to the store.
You bought two cent's worth of beans.
Beans are three for a cent.
How many beans do you have?
Six.
Do this subtraction,
10 - 3.
One,
two,
three...
seven.
"Alessandro eats a pear."
Underline the verb.
"Yesterday..."
"Yesterday,
Alessandro
ate
a pear."
Do the mental math,
3 + 3 x 3.
Twelve.
She doesn't speak Italian.
She's a French girl.
What's your name?
Tell us your name.
She doesn't seem to understand.
Can you write your name on the blackboard?
My name's Tina.
Write this,
"The rabbit
is running in the field."
Do the division,
6 / 3.
Excuse me!
Having worked alongside my esteemed colleague
Giuseppe Montesano for a year,
I'd like to share with you
my personal conclusions.
Naturally, we've used the scientific methods
developed by Doctor Seguin,
inspired by the great Itard
and imitated in France by Doctor Bourneville.
But these methods are useless without a secret ingredient.
The new pedagogy
must acknowledge the sublime art of motherhood
in order to protect
the normal and the abnormal part of society.
It's an education based on love
and symbolized by women,
that enabled us
to present these children
for the primary school exam.
To educate them,
the first thing we did was love them.
What's this all about?
Why did you bring the institute's materials?
There was nothing here.
I have to see to my child's needs.
Why did you leave? We all looked for you!
- It was a circus! - It was a huge success!
We've clinched our subsidies for years to come.
Don't you understand?
What?
What use is success at so high a cost?
He barely recognizes me.
He calls another woman "mama".
- Children with nannies do that. - I can't go on like this.
I want to be with my son.
He's a journalist.
A journalist?
Yes.
Children, silence please. Look straight ahead.
One, two and three!
Signora Montessori, can you explain something to me?
I look at you and I see a beautiful, feminine, charming woman.
Where does that virile energy of yours come from?
If only we could go back to the days when men wore wigs
and makeup to improve their appearance.
They were less ugly back then.
More feminine, perhaps.
Many women, including my wife, are happy to stay home and not work.
They don't want to take over men's roles.
If women chose their partners
after achieving economic independence,
men would be forced to improve
compelled by the laws of market.
And the others, unable to reproduce, would remain single.
Hello, I'm Giuseppe Montesano, director of the institute.
Come with me. I'll show you around.
Maria, can you get back to the children?
No, I'll let you take care of it. Excuse me.
His name is Mario.
Where is he?
With a nanny
in the country.
And his father?
Is it...?
Giuseppe, yes.
Why don't you all live together?
We'd have to get married.
I don't want to be anyone's property.
But Giuseppe loves you.
Can we put our fates
in the hands of a feeling as fickle as love?
Why have a child, then?
At first, I didn't realize I was pregnant.
I was working non-stop.
It was my mother who noticed
my dresses were getting tight on me.
Giuseppe and I
saw ourselves as a modern couple.
We often went to visit Mario in the country
but our lives were still in Rome.
But when the institute opened,
our work load got too heavy.
I had no time for our visits.
Bring him to Rome.
Find an apartment,
- a maid to look after him. - With what money?
Your salary.
I don't get paid for my work here.
You must be joking.
No.
Only Giuseppe gets paid.
You're an idiot.
You spent long years studying,
you work from dawn to dusk
and yet, you're poor?
You're an idiot.
You already said that.
You're the smartest woman I've ever met
and you can't afford things I get in a snap.
Wealth means freedom,
entitlement,
even consideration.
Everything is for sale.
In Paris,
I'm acclaimed by crowds,
imitated by married women,
and worshiped by men I ruin.
To be free,
women have to be rich.
They can play like this for hours.
They're not playing.
They're working.
Look how serious they are.
Your oldest son will be reading soon.
Is it the same with your little idiots?
No, it's very different.
Children at the institute need guidance.
Whereas these children
pick things up all by themselves.
It's as if they had an innate sense of how to use them.
It's astonishing.
It suits you beautifully.
- You're making fun of me. - Not at all.
It sets off your features.
You'll turn me into a coquette.
I certainly hope so.
You must learn to be attractive,
seduce,
sell yourself.
You're gorgeous, Maria.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thanks to you, I finally got to meet Tina.
It's so strange...
Her absence weighs on me
but...
I can't stand her presence.
When I look at her...
I think about the girl she should have been.
Don't be so prideful.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the unique,
genuine,
one and only...
Montessori!
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
In the orthophrenic institute,
along with my colleague Giuseppe Montesano
who co-directs the institute,
we followed scientific methods
invented by Itard
and Seguin...
No, no. Stop.
Stop dropping names no one gives a hoot about.
All that scientific jargon is a bore.
Say "I".
- No. - Yes.
"I invented a method."
Tell us a story.
Tell us a story in which you're the heroine.
That's what people expect.
We want to target the wives of powerful men.
Good evening.
Most of them are clever,
bored from not working,
they pour their energy into noble causes.
Champagne?
Madam?
For instance,
take our hostess, Betsy.
A remarkable woman.
A theosophist. Powerful.
What does your future look like, Maria?
I'm going to revolutionize education.
Really?
Yes.
My intuition is that the methods developed at the institute
aren't specific to the education of idiots.
Their key principles are more rational
than those currently in use.
Go on.
The principle of slavery
has dominated schooling up until now.
However,
all forms of slavery are disappearing little by little,
even the sexual slavery of women.
The history of civilization
is a history of conquest
but also of liberation.
I think the time has come to liberate childhood
thanks to scientific pedagogy.
In the meantime, Maria needs a paying job.
Maybe you could do something.
There is no religion...
higher...
than truth.
A greater joy is meaningless...
if that joy...
is a selfish one...
if we don't sacrifice ourselves...
generously...
for the common good.
Follow the color.
Red.
Betsy has asked me to teach at the university,
in the women's magisterium.
- Betsy? - Yes.
A friend. A powerful woman.
Follow the light.
What will you teach?
Anthropology.
Are you doing it for the pay?
If you needed money, you should have asked me.
I asked you to take in Mario. You refused.
Is that why you need money?
Yes.
Green!
What about me?
What will people say about me
if you live alone with our child?
No one will know he's your son.
Blue.
When I began my studies,
it was unthinkable for a woman to do medicine.
Knowledge of the human body had to remain a male prerogative.
The course that scared me the most
and raised the most objections from my academic superiors
was anatomy.
It was inconceivable for a woman
to find herself,
especially if there were men around,
in presence of a corpse.
I remember my first class.
I felt tortured
as if my body were fading away...
dying.
In the distance,
I could see hope glowing.
It was clear,
the path that led there
would be rough,
terrible.
But deep within me
I had faith,
the sense of a calling.
And so...
I drank the bitter cup
to its dregs.
Ever since Eve's original sin,
women have been taught
that knowledge is a sin.
It's not.
Women need to free themselves from apathy...
and the shadows of ignorance.
They need to appropriate science for their emancipation.
Women need to get out of their homes
and bring to the world values they developed in the private sphere.
Motherhood will then become a social model
structuring the whole of society.
Women must be in command of motherhood rather than enslaved to it.
Motherhood is the fundamental principle of creation.
It's the source to everything.
And Eve...
Eve is the symbolic mother of humanity
for she knows the secrets of life,
sex,
and death.
Come closer.
Excuse me.
My mother,
Teresa Montesano,
who came all the way from Calabria to visit.
How do you do, signora Montesano?
Giuseppe's told me so much about you.
I was just leaving.
How charming.
You have to get to know her.
Did you see the uproar my lecture caused at the university?
Yes, I did.
You're going too far, Maria.
I can't let you crush me
with your selfish ambition.
The principal called me in after your little number.
He asked if we used corpses at the institute
to subvert the youth.
How grotesque.
This isn't the right time.
I've got paperwork to do for the wedding.
What?
I'm getting married.
To another woman.
Are you joking?
She's been in Rome for a week now.
She needs an answer.
I don't understand.
You need to make up your mind about Mario.
Mario?
Yes.
The wedding is in one week.
Either you take him with you
or I declare him as my son but you won't see him anymore.
It's time to start practicing what you preach.
A modern woman?
Liberated?
Show them what you really are,
an unwed mother with a two-year-old son.
Mario!
He's drowning!
You're delirious.
He was so heavy.
You've been lying here unconscious for three days.
He needs me.
No, lie down.
You need to rest.
Have something to eat.
Thank you.
Can I tell her?
Of course.
Betsy found a house.
A house?
To start a school where children will learn using the "Montessori method".
I came up with the name.
It has a nice ring.
The Montessori method.
Papa...
That's your name.
It's your name too
and you'll make it famous.
My son,
I live only for you,
everything that's happening is for you.
That's the way it should be.
I have to leave you.
For your future,
for your happiness,
I'm willing to endure anything.
It's my cross to bear,
my war to fight
to conquer the rights of children.
It's fate,
the sacred call.
One day, I'll come back
and give you everything,
my son.
To you the joy,
to me the hardship.
Maria Montessori went for 12 years without seeing her son
who was eventually recognized by his father.
In 1907, she founded the first Casa dei Bambini.
The "Montessori method" became an instant success.
Mario was 15 when he reunited with Maria. She introduced him as her nephew.
They became inseparable. He took his mother's surname.
Sofia... this is for you, thanks to you.
In memory of Shana DENIS PIRAINO