Two women facing motherhood, loss, and adoption are connected through one child.
Story Structure — 4 Plot Phases
Two Women, Two Starting Points
Nunzia is introduced as a nineteen-year-old Sicilian student in Rome, while Maddalena is presented as a building engineer. Their separate personal circumstances establish two parallel narrative paths.
Key Events
Nunzia's Sicilian Background — Nunzia is introduced as a nineteen-year-old Sicilian orphan of her father. Characters: NunziaLocation: Sicily
University Life in Rome — Nunzia studies at a university in Rome. Characters: NunziaLocation: University of Rome
Pregnancy Discovery — Nunzia discovers that she is pregnant. Characters: NunziaLocation: Rome
Abortion Is Too Late — Nunzia realizes that it is too late for her to have an abortion. Characters: NunziaLocation: Rome
Carrying the Pregnancy — Nunzia decides to carry the pregnancy to term. Characters: NunziaLocation: Rome
Unwanted Pregnancy and Lasting Loss
Nunzia discovers her pregnancy too late for an abortion and carries it to term. In parallel, Maddalena and Luca continue living with the consequences of three miscarriages.
Key Events
Carrying the Pregnancy — Nunzia decides to carry the pregnancy to term. Characters: NunziaLocation: Rome
The Choice of Parenthood — Nunzia remains uncertain whether to keep the child or place the child for adoption. Characters: NunziaLocation: Rome
Maddalena's Profession — Maddalena is introduced as a building engineer. Characters: MaddalenaLocation: Unspecified
Three Miscarriages — Maddalena's history includes three miscarriages. Characters: MaddalenaLocation: Unspecified
Luca's Musical Career — Luca is established as a renowned pianist. Characters: LucaLocation: Unspecified
The Adoption Decision
Nunzia struggles between keeping the child and choosing adoption. Maddalena and Luca respond to their infertility by beginning the adoption process together.
Key Events
A Couple's Shared Loss — Maddalena and Luca confront their inability to have a child after repeated miscarriages. Characters: Maddalena, LucaLocation: Unspecified
Decision to Adopt — Maddalena and Luca decide to begin the adoption process. Characters: Maddalena, LucaLocation: Unspecified
Parallel Lives — The stories of Nunzia and Maddalena continue separately without the women meeting. Characters: Maddalena, NunziaLocation: Rome and Unspecified
Adoption Procedures — Maddalena and Luca proceed with the formal adoption procedures. Characters: Maddalena, LucaLocation: Unspecified adoption setting
Nunzia Reaches Term — Nunzia carries the pregnancy to term while still facing her decision. Characters: NunziaLocation: Rome
Adoptive Parents Selected — Maddalena and Luca are selected as the child's adoptive parents. Characters: Maddalena, LucaLocation: Unspecified adoption setting
A Child Connects Separate Lives
Maddalena and Luca are selected as adoptive parents, while Nunzia ultimately gives up the child. The two parallel stories become connected through the adoption.
Key Events
Adoptive Parents Selected — Maddalena and Luca are selected as the child's adoptive parents. Characters: Maddalena, LucaLocation: Unspecified adoption setting
Nunzia Gives Up the Child — Nunzia ultimately places her infant for adoption. Characters: NunziaLocation: Unspecified
The Child Changes Hands — Nunzia's decision connects the two otherwise separate storylines. Characters: Nunzia, Maddalena, LucaLocation: Unspecified adoption setting
Maddalena Welcomes the Baby — Maddalena and Luca welcome the baby into their family. Characters: Maddalena, LucaLocation: Maddalena and Luca's home
Parallel Stories Converge — The separate narratives converge through the child at the center of the adoption. Characters: Maddalena, Nunzia, LucaLocation: Unspecified
A New Adoptive Family — Maddalena and Luca begin family life with the child they have adopted. Characters: Maddalena, LucaLocation: Maddalena and Luca's family home
Story Breakdown
Nunzia's Background — Nunzia's age, origins, family loss, and student life establish her isolated position.
Sicilian Orphan — Nunzia is a nineteen-year-old Sicilian who is orphaned of her father.
Roman Student — She studies at a university in Rome.
Pregnancy Discovery — Nunzia's unexpected pregnancy forces her to confront a decision she did not anticipate.
Unexpected Pregnancy — Nunzia discovers that she is pregnant.
Missed Abortion Window — She learns that it is too late to have an abortion.
Nunzia's Difficult Choice — Nunzia carries the pregnancy to term while remaining divided over whether to keep the child.
Carrying to Term — Nunzia continues the pregnancy through to birth.
Choosing Adoption — She ultimately gives up the child for adoption.
Maddalena's Losses — Maddalena's professional life contrasts with the repeated reproductive losses shaping her personal life.
Building Engineer — Maddalena works as a building engineer.
Three Miscarriages — She has already suffered three miscarriages.
Adoption Process — Maddalena and Luca turn toward adoption after their shared experience of infertility and loss.
Couple's Decision — Maddalena and Luca decide to begin the adoption procedures.
Parent Selection — They are selected as adoptive parents.
Shared Resolution — The separate storylines converge when Nunzia's child becomes part of Maddalena and Luca's family.
Child Given Up — Nunzia places the infant for adoption.
New Adoptive Family — Maddalena and Luca welcome the baby into their family.
Amata is about two lives that graze one another without meeting, connected by invisible threads and choices that can change a person’s fate. With its intimate, sensual and deeply human gaze, Amata singles out the bodies and souls of its two lead actresses in order to explore what it means to choose. And love. Nunzia is an out-of-town student with a crushing secret: an unwanted pregnancy. Isolated, she weighs a grueling decision: keep the baby or give it up. In another place, Luca and Maddalena endure the emptiness of a new life that doesn’t arrive. After a long, fruitless trial, a chance presents itself: delicate, luminous, full of anticipation. Amata is the story of two women who intersect, fragile fighters yet strong at the same time, who imagine love, freedom and motherhood in its many forms. And a third woman, Margherita – the child. Torn between different worlds, and silent carrier of a bond that unites them, though no one knows.
