In the final months of 2023, gender-based violence, domestic abuse, and femicides were brought to the forefront of Italian discourse in an unprecedented capacity following the murder of Giulia Cecchettin. Coincidentally, alongside this discursive resurgence, these themes featured at the core of two films that were released in the same period: C’è ancora domani (2023) by Paola Cortellesi and Misericordia (2023) by Emma Dante. The article analyses how both films portray gender-based violence and the patriarchal oppression that the characters have to endure. Furthermore, it examines silencing acts as manifestations of patriarchal control within the films specifically, and more broadly as indicative of a lack of education about gender-based violence in Italy. At the same time, the article argues that both C’è ancora domani and Misericordia break this silence, promoting a counter-education for the women in the films and for their audiences. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .
Alice Parrinello (2026) studied this question.