Roberto Rossellini
Encyclopedia
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director
and screenwriter
. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist
cinema
, contributing films such as Roma città aperta
(Rome, Open City 1945) to the movement.
had his first Roman hotel
in 1922 when Fascism
obtained power in Italy.
Rossellini's father built the first cinema in Rome, granting his son an unlimited free pass; the young Rossellini started frequenting the cinema at an early age. When his father died, he worked as a soundmaker for films and for a certain time he experienced all the accessory jobs related to the creation of a film, gaining competence in each field. Rossellini had a brother, Renzo, who later scored
many of his films.
On 26 September 1936, he married Marcella De Marchis (17 January 1916, Rome – 25 February 2009, Sarteano), a costume designer. This was after a quick annulment
from Assia Noris, a Russian actress who worked in Italian films. De Marchis and Rossellini had two sons: Marco Romano (born 3 July 1937 and died of appendicitis in 1946), and Renzo (born 24 August 1941). Rossellini and De Marchis separated in 1950 (and eventually divorced). He was an atheist.
, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. After this essay, he was called to assist Goffredo Alessandrini
in making Luciano Serra pilota, one of the most successful Italian films of the first half of the 20th century. In 1940 he was called to assist Francesco De Robertis on Uomini sul Fondo. His close friendship with Vittorio Mussolini
, son of Il Duce
, has been interpreted as a possible reason for having been preferred to other apprentices.
Some authors describe the first part of his career as a sequence of trilogies
. His first feature film
, La nave bianca (1942) was sponsored by the audiovisual propaganda
centre of Navy Department and is the first work in Rossellini's "Fascist Trilogy", together with Un pilota ritorna (1942) and Uomo dalla Croce (1943). To this period belongs his friendship and cooperation with Federico Fellini
and Aldo Fabrizi
. The Fascist regime collapsed in 1943 and just two months after the liberation of Rome (June 4, 1944), Rossellini was already preparing the anti-fascist Roma città aperta
(Rome, Open City 1945). Fellini assisted on the script and Fabrizi playing the role of the priest, while Rossellini self-produced. Most of the money came from credits and loans, and film had to be found on the black market. This dramatic film was an immediate success. Rossellini had started now his so-called Neorealistic Trilogy, the second title of which was Paisà
(1946), produced with non-professional actors, and the third, Germany, Year Zero (1948), sponsored by a French producer and filmed in Berlin's French sector. In Berlin also, Rossellini preferred non-actors, but he was unable to find a face he found "interesting"; he placed his camera
in the center of a town square, as he did for Paisà, but was surprised when nobody came to watch.
As he declared in an interview
, "in order to really create the character that one has in mind, it is necessary for the director to engage in a battle with his actor which usually ends with submitting to the actor's wish. Since I do not have the desire to waste my energy in a battle like this, I only use professional actors occasionally". One of the reasons of success has been supposed to be the fact that Rossellini rewrote the script
s according to the non-professional actors' feelings and histories. Regional accent, dialect
and costume
s were shown in the film how they were in real life.
After his Neorealist Trilogy, Rossellini produced two films now classified as the 'Transitional films': L'Amore
(1948) (with Anna Magnani
) and La macchina ammazzacattivi (1952), on the capability of cinema to portray reality and truth (with recalls of commedia dell'arte
). In 1948, Rossellini received a letter from a famous foreign actress proposing a collaboration:
With this letter began one of the best known love stories in film history, with Bergman and Rossellini both at the peak of their careers. Their first collaboration was Stromboli terra di Dio
(1950) (in the island of Stromboli
, whose volcano
quite conveniently erupted during filming). This affair caused a great scandal in some countries (Bergman and Rossellini were both married to other people); the scandal intensified when Bergman became pregnant with Roberto Ingmar Rossellini. Rossellini and Bergman had two more children, Isabella Rossellini
(actress & model) and her twin, Ingrid Isotta
. Europa '51
(1952) and Journey to Italy
(1953), La paura
(1954) and Giovanna d'Arco al rogo
(1954) were the other films on which they worked together.
In 1957, Jawaharlal Nehru
, the Indian Prime Minister
at the time, invited him to India to make the documentary India and put some life into the floundering Indian Films Division. Though married to Bergman, he had an affair with Sonali Das Gupta, a screenwriter, who was helping develop vignettes for the film. Given the climate of the 1950s this led to a huge scandal in India as well as Hollywood. Nehru
had to ask Rossellini to leave.
Rossellini married Sonali Das Gupta in 1957 and adopted
her young son Arjun, renamed Gil Rossellini (23 October 1956 – 3 October 2008). Rossellini and Sonali had a daughter together, Raffaella Rossellini (born 1958).
In 1971, Rice University
in Houston, Texas
, invited Rossellini to help establish a Media Center. In 1973, he was invited to teach at Yale University
in New Haven, Connecticut, where he taught a one-semester course entitled "The Essential Image." Roberto Rossellini died of a heart attack
aged 71 in 1977.
films — particularly his films with Ingrid Bergman — were commercially unsuccessful, though Journey to Italy
is well regarded in some quarters. He was an acknowledged master for the critics of Cahiers du Cinema in general and André Bazin
, François Truffaut
, Jean-Luc Godard
in particular. Truffaut noted in his 1963 essay, Roberto Rossellini Prefers Real Life (available in The Films In My Life) that Rossellini's influence in France particularly among the directors who would become part of the nouvelle vague
was so great that he was in every sense, "the father of the French New Wave".
Martin Scorsese
has also acknowledged Rossellini's seminal influence in his documentary, My Voyage to Italy
(the title itself a take on Rossellini's Voyage to Italy
). An important point to note is that out of Scorsese's selection of Italian films from a select group of directors (Federico Fellini
, Luchino Visconti
, Vittorio DeSica, Michelangelo Antonioni
) Rossellini's films form at least half of the films discussed and analyzed, highlighting Rossellini's monumental role in Italian and world cinema. The films covered include his Neo-Realist films to his films with Ingrid Bergman as well as The Flowers of St. Francis
, a film about St. Francis of Assisi. Scorsese notes in his documentary that in contrast to directors who often become more restrained and more conservative stylistically as their careers advance, Rossellini became more and more unconventional and was constantly experimenting with new styles and technical challenges. Scorsese particularly highlights the series of biographies Rossellini made in the 60's of historical figures and, although he does not discuss it in detail, singles out La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV for praise. Certain of Rossellini's film related material and personal papers are contained in the Wesleyan University
Cinema Archives to which scholars and media experts from around the world may have full access.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist
Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...
cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, contributing films such as Roma città aperta
Rome, open city
Rome, Open City is a 1945 Italian war drama film, directed by Roberto Rossellini. The picture features Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani and Marcello Pagliero, and is set in Rome during the Nazi occupation in 1944...
(Rome, Open City 1945) to the movement.
Early life
Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito MussoliniBenito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
had his first Roman hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
in 1922 when Fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
obtained power in Italy.
Rossellini's father built the first cinema in Rome, granting his son an unlimited free pass; the young Rossellini started frequenting the cinema at an early age. When his father died, he worked as a soundmaker for films and for a certain time he experienced all the accessory jobs related to the creation of a film, gaining competence in each field. Rossellini had a brother, Renzo, who later scored
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
many of his films.
On 26 September 1936, he married Marcella De Marchis (17 January 1916, Rome – 25 February 2009, Sarteano), a costume designer. This was after a quick annulment
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
from Assia Noris, a Russian actress who worked in Italian films. De Marchis and Rossellini had two sons: Marco Romano (born 3 July 1937 and died of appendicitis in 1946), and Renzo (born 24 August 1941). Rossellini and De Marchis separated in 1950 (and eventually divorced). He was an atheist.
Career
In 1937, Rossellini made his first documentaryDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. After this essay, he was called to assist Goffredo Alessandrini
Goffredo Alessandrini
Goffredo Alessandrini was an Italian script writer and film director. He also acted, edited, and produced some films.-Biography:...
in making Luciano Serra pilota, one of the most successful Italian films of the first half of the 20th century. In 1940 he was called to assist Francesco De Robertis on Uomini sul Fondo. His close friendship with Vittorio Mussolini
Vittorio Mussolini
Vittorio Mussolini was an Italian film critic and producer. He was also the second son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. However, he was the first son of Mussolini with his second wife Rachele.-Biography:...
, son of Il Duce
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
, has been interpreted as a possible reason for having been preferred to other apprentices.
Some authors describe the first part of his career as a sequence of trilogies
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
. His first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, La nave bianca (1942) was sponsored by the audiovisual propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
centre of Navy Department and is the first work in Rossellini's "Fascist Trilogy", together with Un pilota ritorna (1942) and Uomo dalla Croce (1943). To this period belongs his friendship and cooperation with Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
and Aldo Fabrizi
Aldo Fabrizi
Aldo Fabrizi was an Italian actor and cinema and theatre director.-Actor Filmography:* Avanti, c'è posto... by Mario Bonnard...
. The Fascist regime collapsed in 1943 and just two months after the liberation of Rome (June 4, 1944), Rossellini was already preparing the anti-fascist Roma città aperta
Rome, open city
Rome, Open City is a 1945 Italian war drama film, directed by Roberto Rossellini. The picture features Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani and Marcello Pagliero, and is set in Rome during the Nazi occupation in 1944...
(Rome, Open City 1945). Fellini assisted on the script and Fabrizi playing the role of the priest, while Rossellini self-produced. Most of the money came from credits and loans, and film had to be found on the black market. This dramatic film was an immediate success. Rossellini had started now his so-called Neorealistic Trilogy, the second title of which was Paisà
Paisà
Paisà is a 1946 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini, the second of a trilogy by Rossellini. It is divided into six episodes. They are set in the Italian Campaign during World War II when Nazi Germany was losing the war against the Allies, using themes such as the difficulty of communication...
(1946), produced with non-professional actors, and the third, Germany, Year Zero (1948), sponsored by a French producer and filmed in Berlin's French sector. In Berlin also, Rossellini preferred non-actors, but he was unable to find a face he found "interesting"; he placed his camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
in the center of a town square, as he did for Paisà, but was surprised when nobody came to watch.
As he declared in an interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
, "in order to really create the character that one has in mind, it is necessary for the director to engage in a battle with his actor which usually ends with submitting to the actor's wish. Since I do not have the desire to waste my energy in a battle like this, I only use professional actors occasionally". One of the reasons of success has been supposed to be the fact that Rossellini rewrote the script
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
s according to the non-professional actors' feelings and histories. Regional accent, dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
and costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
s were shown in the film how they were in real life.
After his Neorealist Trilogy, Rossellini produced two films now classified as the 'Transitional films': L'Amore
L'Amore (film)
L'Amore is an anthology film directed by Roberto Rossellini starring Anna Magnani and Federico Fellini. The two segments are "Il Miracolo" and "Una Voce Umana", the latter based on the play The Human Voice by Jean Cocteau...
(1948) (with Anna Magnani
Anna Magnani
Anna Magnani was an Italian stage and film actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, along with four other international awards, for her portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo....
) and La macchina ammazzacattivi (1952), on the capability of cinema to portray reality and truth (with recalls of commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The closest translation of the name is "comedy of craft"; it is shortened...
). In 1948, Rossellini received a letter from a famous foreign actress proposing a collaboration:
-
- Dear Mr. Rossellini,
- I saw your films Open City and Paisan, and enjoyed them very much. If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in Italian knows only "ti amo", I am ready to come and make a film with you.
-
- Ingrid BergmanIngrid BergmanIngrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
- Ingrid Bergman
-
With this letter began one of the best known love stories in film history, with Bergman and Rossellini both at the peak of their careers. Their first collaboration was Stromboli terra di Dio
Stromboli (film)
Stromboli is a 1950 Italian-American film directed by Roberto Rossellini and featuring Ingrid Bergman...
(1950) (in the island of Stromboli
Stromboli
Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is a corruption of the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it...
, whose volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
quite conveniently erupted during filming). This affair caused a great scandal in some countries (Bergman and Rossellini were both married to other people); the scandal intensified when Bergman became pregnant with Roberto Ingmar Rossellini. Rossellini and Bergman had two more children, Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and model. Rossellini is noted for her 14-year tenure as a Lancôme model, and for her roles in films such as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her.-Background and early life:Rossellini is a...
(actress & model) and her twin, Ingrid Isotta
Ingrid Rossellini
Ingrid Rossellini is a daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini.Rossellini received a BS, MA and Ph.D in Italian Literature from Columbia University in New York City, New York...
. Europa '51
Europa '51
Europa '51 is a 1952 Italian neorealist film directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and Alexander Knox.-Background:...
(1952) and Journey to Italy
Journey to Italy
Journey to Italy is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders. The film has English dialogue; the Italian version was originally cut...
(1953), La paura
La Paura
La Paura is a 1954 drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring his wife Ingrid Bergman. It is based on the Stefan Zweig novel Angst. It was filmed in Munich and was shot simultaneously in German and English...
(1954) and Giovanna d'Arco al rogo
Giovanna d'Arco al rogo
Giovanna d'Arco al rogo is a 1954 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring his wife Ingrid Bergman, which shows a live performance on December 1953 at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples. It is based on the oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher by Paul Claudel and Arthur Honegger...
(1954) were the other films on which they worked together.
In 1957, Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
, the Indian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
at the time, invited him to India to make the documentary India and put some life into the floundering Indian Films Division. Though married to Bergman, he had an affair with Sonali Das Gupta, a screenwriter, who was helping develop vignettes for the film. Given the climate of the 1950s this led to a huge scandal in India as well as Hollywood. Nehru
had to ask Rossellini to leave.
Rossellini married Sonali Das Gupta in 1957 and adopted
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
her young son Arjun, renamed Gil Rossellini (23 October 1956 – 3 October 2008). Rossellini and Sonali had a daughter together, Raffaella Rossellini (born 1958).
In 1971, Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, invited Rossellini to help establish a Media Center. In 1973, he was invited to teach at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in New Haven, Connecticut, where he taught a one-semester course entitled "The Essential Image." Roberto Rossellini died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
aged 71 in 1977.
Legacy
Rossellini's films after his early Neo-RealistNeorealism (art)
In art, neorealism was established by the ex-Camden Town Group painters Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman at the beginning of World War I. They set out to explore the spirit of their age through the shapes and colours of daily life...
films — particularly his films with Ingrid Bergman — were commercially unsuccessful, though Journey to Italy
Journey to Italy
Journey to Italy is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders. The film has English dialogue; the Italian version was originally cut...
is well regarded in some quarters. He was an acknowledged master for the critics of Cahiers du Cinema in general and André Bazin
André Bazin
André Bazin was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist.-Life:Bazin was born in Angers, France, in 1918...
, François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
, Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
in particular. Truffaut noted in his 1963 essay, Roberto Rossellini Prefers Real Life (available in The Films In My Life) that Rossellini's influence in France particularly among the directors who would become part of the nouvelle vague
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
was so great that he was in every sense, "the father of the French New Wave".
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
has also acknowledged Rossellini's seminal influence in his documentary, My Voyage to Italy
My Voyage to Italy
My Voyage to Italy is a personal documentary by acclaimed Italian-American director Martin Scorsese. The film is a voyage through Italian cinema history, marking influential films for Scorsese and particularly covering the Italian neorealism period....
(the title itself a take on Rossellini's Voyage to Italy
Viaggio In Italia
Viaggio in Italia is the sixteenth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in 2003 by NUN Entertainment.Viaggio in Italia originally started as a tour project in 2001 called Le parole del giorno prima , an hommage to some of Italy's foremost cantautori, singer-songwriters and...
). An important point to note is that out of Scorsese's selection of Italian films from a select group of directors (Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
, Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...
, Vittorio DeSica, Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
) Rossellini's films form at least half of the films discussed and analyzed, highlighting Rossellini's monumental role in Italian and world cinema. The films covered include his Neo-Realist films to his films with Ingrid Bergman as well as The Flowers of St. Francis
The Flowers of St. Francis
The Flowers of St. Francis is a 1950 film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Federico Fellini. The film is based on two books, 14th century book I Fioretti Di San Francesco Little Flowers of St...
, a film about St. Francis of Assisi. Scorsese notes in his documentary that in contrast to directors who often become more restrained and more conservative stylistically as their careers advance, Rossellini became more and more unconventional and was constantly experimenting with new styles and technical challenges. Scorsese particularly highlights the series of biographies Rossellini made in the 60's of historical figures and, although he does not discuss it in detail, singles out La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV for praise. Certain of Rossellini's film related material and personal papers are contained in the Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
Cinema Archives to which scholars and media experts from around the world may have full access.
Filmography
- Dafne (1936)
- Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faune (1937)
- La Fossa degli angeli
- Luciano Serra pilota (1938)
- La Vispa TeresaLa Vispa TeresaLa Vispa Teresa is a 1939 Italian, black and white short film directed by Roberto Rossellini....
(1939) - Il Tacchino prepotente (1939)
- Fantasia sottomarina (1940)
- Il Ruscello di Ripasottile
- Un Pilota ritorna (1942)
- La nave bianca (1942)
- L'Uomo dalla Croce (1943)
- Rome, Open CityRome, open cityRome, Open City is a 1945 Italian war drama film, directed by Roberto Rossellini. The picture features Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani and Marcello Pagliero, and is set in Rome during the Nazi occupation in 1944...
(1945) - Desiderio (1946)
- PaisàPaisàPaisà is a 1946 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini, the second of a trilogy by Rossellini. It is divided into six episodes. They are set in the Italian Campaign during World War II when Nazi Germany was losing the war against the Allies, using themes such as the difficulty of communication...
(1946) - L'AmoreL'Amore (film)L'Amore is an anthology film directed by Roberto Rossellini starring Anna Magnani and Federico Fellini. The two segments are "Il Miracolo" and "Una Voce Umana", the latter based on the play The Human Voice by Jean Cocteau...
(segments: "Il Miracolo" and "Una voce umana") (1948) - Germany, Year Zero (1948)
- L'Invasore (1949)
- Stromboli terra di DioStromboli (film)Stromboli is a 1950 Italian-American film directed by Roberto Rossellini and featuring Ingrid Bergman...
(1950) - Francesco, giullare di Dio (1950)
- Medico condotto (1952)
- Les Sept péchés capitaux (segment: "Envie, L'Envy") (1952)
- La macchina ammazzacattiviMachine to Kill Bad PeopleThe Machine That Kills Bad People , or La Macchina ammazzacattivi is a 1952 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini....
(1952) - Europa '51Europa '51Europa '51 is a 1952 Italian neorealist film directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and Alexander Knox.-Background:...
(1952) - Siamo donneSiamo donneWe, the Women is a 1953 Italian pormanteau film divided into five segments and directed by five different directors. Four of these segments focus upon alleged events in the private lives of the film actresses Alida Valli, Ingrid Bergman, Isa Miranda, and Anna Magnani...
(segment: "Ingrid Bergman") (1953) - Amori di mezzo secolo (segment: "Napoli 1943") (1954)
- Dov'è la libertà ... ? (1954)
- Viaggio in ItaliaJourney to ItalyJourney to Italy is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders. The film has English dialogue; the Italian version was originally cut...
(1954) - La PauraLa PauraLa Paura is a 1954 drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring his wife Ingrid Bergman. It is based on the Stefan Zweig novel Angst. It was filmed in Munich and was shot simultaneously in German and English...
(1954) - Giovanna d'Arco al rogoGiovanna d'Arco al rogoGiovanna d'Arco al rogo is a 1954 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring his wife Ingrid Bergman, which shows a live performance on December 1953 at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples. It is based on the oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher by Paul Claudel and Arthur Honegger...
(1954) - India: Matri Bhumi (1959)
- Il generale Della RovereGeneral della RovereGeneral della Rovere is a 1959 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini. The film is based on a novel by Indro Montanelli which was in turn based on a true story.-Plot:...
(1959) - Era Notte a Roma (1960)
- Viva l'Italia! (1961)
- Vanina VaniniVanina Vanini (film)Vanina Vanini also known as The Betrayer is a 1961 Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini.-Plot summary:Vanina Vanini, a bored, spoiled Roman countess, falls in love with a dedicated young patriot who is in Rome to assassinate a traitor to the brotherhood of the Free Masons.-Cast:*Sandra...
(1961) - Uno sguardo dal ponte (1961)
- Anima nera (1962)
- Benito Mussolini (1962)
- Ro.Go.Pa.G.Ro.Go.Pa.G.Ro.Go.Pa.G. is a 1963 film, which consists of four segments, each written and directed by one of the four film directors - French Jean-Luc Godard , and three Italian: Ugo Gregoretti , Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini .The movie title is an...
(segment: "Illibatezza") (1963) - Les Carabiniers (1963)
- The Taking of Power by Louis XIVThe Taking of Power by Louis XIVThe Taking of Power by Louis XIV is a French television film by Italian film director Roberto Rossellini. The film revolves around the French king Louis XIV's rise to power after the death of his powerful advisor, Cardinal Mazarin...
(1966) - Da Gerusalemme a Damasco (1970)
- Rice University (1971)
- Intervista a Salvador Allende: La forza e la ragione (1971)
- Agostino d'Ippona (1972)
- Concerto per Michelangelo (1974)
- The World Population (1974)
- Anno uno (1974)
- Il messia (1976)
- Beaubourg, centre d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou (1977)
Television credits
- L'India vista da Rossellini (miniseries) (1959)
- Torino nei cent'anni (1961)
- L'Età del ferro (1964)
- La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV (1966)
- Idea di un'isola (1967)
- Atti degli apostoli (miniseries) (1969)
- La lotta dell'uomo per la sua sopravvivenza (series) (1970)
- SocratesSocrates (1971 film)Socrates is a 1971 Spanish, Italian, French film directed by Roberto Rossellini.-Cast:*Jean Sylvère as Socrate*Anne Caprile as Santippe*Giuseppe Mannajuolo as Apollodoro*Ricardo Palacios as Critone*Antonio Medina as Platone*Julio Morales as Antistene...
(1971) - Blaise Pascal (1972)
- L'Età di Cosimo de Medici (1973)
- Cartesius (1974)
- Concerto per Michelangelo (1977)