A Difficult Life

During 1944, Silvio is almost shot by a German soldier near Lake Como. Elena saves his life and guides him to safety. They hide for three months in her grandparents' mill, growing closer while the war rages on. He eventually slips away to rejoin the partisans.

After the liberation, Silvio returns to Rome and becomes a journalist for The Worker, a modest communist newspaper. He endures poverty while pursuing his political ideals and reporting on postwar Italy.

Seven months after the war ends, Silvio travels to Lombardy on assignment with Franco. He reunites with Elena there, and she agrees to live with him in Rome despite their precarious finances.

On the day of the 1946 referendum, Elena and Silvio are refused meals on credit at several places. They attend dinner at the home of an elderly princess with aristocrats debating the vote. The republic is proclaimed, and the couple are excluded from the celebratory mood.

Silvio and Elena marry and have a son named Paolo. They struggle to make ends meet, and Silvio refuses to take higher paying jobs because of his political ideals.

Silvio's journalism career ends when he is arrested for libel after publishing an unverified story about wealthy industrialists. The scandal tarnishes his career and he leaves the newspaper world.

In 1948 Silvio is sentenced to two and a half years in prison after rioting following an assassination attempt on Togliatti. While incarcerated, he keeps writing and begins work on a novel called A Difficult Life.

After his release, Elena urges Silvio to finish his degree and move to Cantù-Cermenate, where her mother can help him secure a steadier job. Silvio tries to return to journalism but ultimately takes the architecture exam instead; he fails and drinks, telling Elena that she is not capable of understanding him. Elena leaves.

Two years later, Silvio pursues the publication of his novel. Directors at Cinecittà refuse him because his writing is too critical of the government. He travels to Viareggio to find Elena and win her back, but she says money matters more than love. He vents his bitterness by mocking luxury cars and tourists.

In 1961, Elena's mother Amalia dies in Lombardy. Silvio arrives in a luxury car for the funeral and is surprised by the mill that once held their happiness. He begs Elena to take him back, and she is moved by the memory, deciding to give him another chance.

The film ends with a party organized by the businessman Bracci, who has hired Silvio as a secretary. Silvio enjoys some luxuries but is publicly humiliated, including being sprayed with seltzer. He then slaps Bracci and leaves with Elena.