‘7 Women and a Murder’ or ‘7 donne e un mistero’ is an Italian mystery-comedy film based on seven women who find themselves as prime suspects in the murder of the patriarch. It is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Susanna returns home and is greeted by Maria, the new maid of the house, who replaced the recently deceased Adele.
She also meets Rachele, her miserly grandmother, as well as her mother, Margherita. One by one, more members of the family are introduced.
Susanna’s sister, Caterina, and Margherita’s sister, Agostina, also live in the house. Six women in total. Marcello, the patriarch of the house, is Margherita’s husband and Susanna and Caterina’s father.
When Maria enters Marcello’s room, he is found dead with a knife in his back. The six women quickly become prime suspects in the murder. A seventh suspect emerges when Veronica, Marcello’s old flame, arrives at the house after receiving an anonymous call.
Each of them has their own motive. Marcello had been struggling financially but Rachele had refused to give him his stocks.
Susanna, Caterina and Margherita would be candidates for an inheritance, while Maria arrived at the house through Marcello’s new associate, Sir Giannutri.
Veronica reveals she had still been sleeping with Marcello and had a chance of claiming part of the inheritance. Agostina, on the other hand, had always been in love with Marcello, and despite her advances, he never reciprocated.
In a twist, Maria is also revealed to have been sleeping with Marcello, and now that he is dead, she decides to leave. However, when she tries to exit the house in a snowstorm, she finds the house gate chained. Someone wants to cage them in.
That same person has also been planting evidence to frame the suspects. Rachel’s stocks are missing, and everybody suspects Margherita of selling them.
When Agostina suffers due to a medical condition, the pills are found to be hidden in Margherita’s room. The women also find a gun in Veronica’s bag that she claims to know nothing about.
7 Women and a Murder ending explained in detail:
Why did Susanna come to the house a day before?
During a conversation, the fact that Susanna came to the house one day before is revealed. She faked arriving on that day.
When questioned, she confesses that something had been bothering her. And she wanted to talk to her father about it before anybody else.
She gives them a gift box with tiny shoes, disclosing her secret; she is having a baby. Everyone is left shocked. But this makes her case as a suspect stronger as the child would need financial support and there is no mention of a father.
Who is Susanna’s real father?
After Margherita criticises Susanna for getting pregnant carelessly, Rachele hints that she did the exact same thing.
Marcello is not Susanna’s father. When Margherita met him, she was already pregnant with Susanna. He married her because he needed the dowry.
The name of her real father, and Margherita’s first love, is Umberto. He passed away after an accident.
Who was Margherita having an affair with?
Upon realising that Margherita was having an affair as well, Veronica confronts her, confessing that she, herself, had not just been sleeping with Marcello.
The two argue over who reveals their secret admirer first and decide to do it together, but end up taking the name of the same man: Sir Giannutri.
This infuriates Margherita, who is fed up with Veronica stealing every man in her life, while the latter argues that she was the one who met Marcello first.
Who killed Marcello?
After all the back and forth, Maria finally decides to come out with the truth. She asks Caterina to paint the whole picture as she had been hiding behind the curtain and listening to all conversations that Marcello had the night before he was killed; coincidentally, Christmas Day.
At ten o’ clock, Rachele refused to give him his stocks. At half past ten, Agostina tried to apologise for a love letter she had written to him, but he sent her away.
At 11, Marguerita told him she was leaving him after New Year’s. At midnight, Maria brought him tea and presumably slept with him. At 1, Agostina tried to talk to him again but he didn’t let her enter the room. At half past one, Veronica asked him for money to leave for Paris.
Finally, at 3, Susanna confessed that she is having a baby. Caterina talked to Marcello about everything she heard and they concocted a plan.
With the help of Maria, they staged Marcello’s murder to ascertain who deserves a part of his inheritance based on their reaction. They planted the gun, and the pills and stole Rachele’s stocks.
When all the women attempt to confront Marcello about this, they find that he has actually committed suicide by jumping from the balcony. Ultimately, it was Marcello who killed himself.
When the inspector arrives, they all feign innocence, while Agostina hits on him. After he leaves, they advise Caterina to support other women and not do men’s bidding.
Sir Giannutri is hinted to be the father of Susanna’s baby. They all wonder what to do next. With the inheritance and Rachel’s stocks, they decide that continuing to live together in the house isn’t such a bad idea.
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