The Law According to Lidia Poet –Taking the Law Into Her Own Hands
In each episode of the three-season series, The Law According to Lidia Poët (Italian: La legge di Lidia Poët), a riveting hook showcases a new murder. Inspired by the true story of the first Italian female lawyer admitted into the bar in 1920 in her late sixties, The Law According to Lidia Poët highlights the brilliance of a very young legal mind–beginning in 1883–who is not allowed to practice law.
Lidia (Matilda De Angelis) becomes the legal assistant to her brother, Enrico (Pier Luigi Pasino), enhancing his reputation as a renowned lawyer and soon-to-be statesman. Even serving in a secondary role, Lidia is often forced into silence in the courtroom by bigoted judges who believe that no woman is qualified to be an attorney.
But Lidia is undeterred in her commitment to drafting a new law for women’s rights. Her brother, at first, is conflicted but reluctantly supports her mission as she solves murder cases that no one else in Turin is capable of. Law enforcement is often blindsided by obvious suspects rather than the true perpetrator. Lidia also becomes the role model for her niece Marianna, and for Enrico’s wife, Teresa. Both Marianna and Teresa slowly comprehend how their lives have been severely constrained by a theft of opportunity.
Reflection can be healing, even when it’s painful and bittersweet. Enrico’s brother-in-law, the communist journalist Jacopo Barberis (Eduardo Scarpetta), is one of the first to see that a law for women’s rights is a natural progression for all, and that obeying the current rules will eventually cause societal collapse. In addition, he is irrevocably in love with the beautiful Lidia, who refuses to compromise her dreams with marriage.
Lidia is always exceptionally clear-eyed. To everyone else in the room, the murderer is obvious and easily identified. Only Lidia shrewdly investigates, knowing the crime is always too complex and mysterious for conventional investigators The leaders of these institutions, which have failed women, also cowardly keep their eyes shut even when the truth is exposed.
However, Lidia confidently eviscerates others’ assumptions. “People generally see what they look for and hear what they want”, she asserts. And she holds them accountable for their stubborn refusal in the face of incontrovertible evidence. Her steadfast mission is to defend the wrongly accused.
The Law According to Lidia Poët is first-rate. Wonderfully entertaining, with surprising, tightly structured plot points, this is a cleverly constructed whodunit. The viewer is forced to remember what appears irrelevant or innocuous, in much the same way that the opposing institutions in the drama don’t register the evidence that “speaks” truth to power. Lidia will break the stubbornly persistent grasp on illusion for all of us.
Availability: Netflix