Ida Dalser was the dictator Mussolini's first wife. She was the mother of his first-born son, also named Benito, after his father. The film ‘Vincere', a historical drama about Ida, reveals two related early examples of the abuse of psychiatry.
Ida Dalser and young Benito
In this account, Ida formed an instant and passionate love for the young man who would later rise to become ‘Il Duce'. She sold her jewels, her house and her successful beautician business to enable him to found
‘Il Popolo d'Italia', the newspaper that became his springboard to power. Mussolini became prime-minister of Italy in 1922.
The couple were married in a church ceremony, and Mussolini formally acknowledged his son. As the relationship began to sour, Ida rebelled at the estrangement. Nevertheless, her existence threatened his security and popularity. On his orders, in 1926, fascist blackshirts took Ida away to a closed asylum run by nuns. Her son was sent to a religious boarding school, never to see his mother again.
The asylum scenes are touchingly played out in this remarkable film, both the ensemble moments when Ida is amongst her fellow inmates, and when she is alone. The most lyrical scene has her climbing the high lattice preventing her escape, silently watching snow fall through the bars. It is
Christmas, and she is pining for her missing son.
Psychiatrists in film are usually portrayed as crazy or evil or both. It is refreshing to meet here someone with genuine compassion. Insisting on her claim to be the true wife of the country's political leader, Ida struggles and rails against her incarceration at every opportunity; until the good doctor takes her aside and counsels a different approach.
Dr. Cappelletti reminds his patient that fascism will not last forever. He advises her to become something of an actress, to put aside her anger at wrongful incarceration and behave as if normal, even pious. That way, he assures her, he will eventually find a way to release her. Unfortunately, before the opportunity arises, she is transferred to another hospital. Later, with the help of a young nun, she does escape; but is soon returned to psychiatric captivity once again.
As the credits roll at the film's end, we are told that Ida Dalser died of a brain haemorrhage in a psychiatric institution on the Venetian island of San Clemente in 1937. She was 57. Suspicions have been voiced that she was in fact murdered, and a similar fate seems to have befallen her son.
In the film, young Benito, apparently aping his father, goes realistically mad during
adolescence. According to published facts, he died in a psychiatric hospital near Milan in 1942 at the age of 27 after receiving excessive amounts of insulin coma
therapy. Could this second abuse of psychiatry have led to another politically motivated murder?
As history, the film is incomplete, fictional in parts, and highly conjectural. As cinema, however, it is blessed by a stunning performance from Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida, and some remarkable cinematography. As an example of film portraying such a kind and insightful psychiatrist, Dr Cappelletti, it may well be unique.
Copyright Larry Culliford
*Based on ‘Psychiatry in the Movies: The Good Psychiatrist in Film: Vincere (Italy/France, 2009. Director. Marco Bellocchio)' in The British Journal of Psychiatry (2011) 198, 489. ‘Vincere' is Italian meaning ‘To Win'.
Larry's books include ‘The Psychology of Spirituality', ‘Love, Healing & Happiness' and (as Patrick Whiteside) ‘The Little Book of Happiness' and ‘Happiness: The 30 Day Guide' (personally endorsed by HH The Dalai Lama).
