In this effective though still slightly uneven drama about mental illness, the worsening condition of a highly disturbed son wreaks havoc on the rest of the family. Dario (Thomas Milian) has episodes when he becomes violently insane yet his mother (Madeleine Robinson) refuses to put him in an institution where he can be professionally helped. Her desperate clinging to the belief that Dario will get better starts to wear away the equilibrium of the two other members of the family, the father (Tino Carraro) and Dario's brother, Gabriele (Nino Castelnuovo). In the end, the continued presence of Dario and his mother's near-fanatical insistence that he will recover create tragic consequences for everyone. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi