Adua and Her Friends 1960

In 1958, the Merlin law made brothels illegal in Italy. The four prostitutes—Adua [Simone Signoret], Lolita [Sandra Milo], Marilina [Emmanuelle Riva], and Milly [Gina Rovere]—whose Rome brothel has just been shut down, pool their savings, two million lire apiece, to open a restaurant on the outskirts as a cover for an illegal brothel. They rent a run-down building and hire workers to fix it up, hoping that a legitimate front will shield them from suspicion. When they apply for a permit to open the restaurant, their request is rejected because of their history of prostitution, a setback that tests their resolve and plans.

One of Adua’s former customers, Ercoli [Claudio Gora], agrees to buy the building and use his connections to obtain the permit in his name, in exchange for a rent of one million lire a month. This arrangement gives the venture a shaky legal footing, but it also cements a power dynamic that will echo through the lives of the women.

The restaurant turns out to be unexpectedly successful, and the women gradually begin to move away from selling sex, choosing instead to pursue more respectable lives. Marilina brings her young son to live with her, and Milly falls in love and plans to marry. The glow of their new status feels real, and there is a sense of possibility as they build a routine that feels stable and legitimate, a sharp contrast to their previous perilous livelihoods.

Yet the financial math remains grim. The restaurant doesn’t earn as much as a brothel would, and they struggle to pay Ercoli his rent. He issues a stark ultimatum: restart prostitution and pay him, or face eviction within 24 hours. When Ercoli returns, Adua refuses to pay and humiliates him, and he leaves in a heavy, unsympathetic silence.

In revenge, Ercoli has them arrested for prostitution. Their pictures appear in the newspapers, and their previously respectable lives are suddenly torn apart. The social stigma and public shaming shatter the sense of security they had begun to build. Adua, who had sworn never to endure the fate of a worn-out old prostitute, finds herself pulled back toward the streets she once fled. The film closes on a bleak, rainy night, with Adua standing in the cold, malevolent gaze of a world that favors youth, and she is ultimately rejected in favor of a younger woman.