Roberto Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian
film directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
. Rossellini was one of the directors of the
Italian neorealistItalian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...
cinemaFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
, contributing films such as
Roma città apertaRome, 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 Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE 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. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
had his first Roman
hotelA 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in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...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
FascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
obtained power in Italy.
Rossellini's father built the first cinema in Rome (a theatre in which films could be shown), 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,
RenzoRenzo Rossellini was an Italian composer, best known for his film scores.Born in Rome, he was brother of director Roberto Rossellini and father of producer Franco Rossellini...
, who later
scoredA film score is an alternative word used for the background music of a film . The term soundtrack is often confused with film score, though a soundtrack may also include songs featured in the film as well as previously released music by other artists, while the score does not...
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
annulmentAnnulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is retroactive: an annulled marriage is considered never to have existed....
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 prematurely in 1946), and Renzo (born 24 August 1941). Rossellini and De Marchis separated in 1950 (and eventually divorced).
Career
In 1937 Rossellini made his first
documentaryDocumentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can...
,
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. After this essay, he was called to assist
Goffredo AlessandriniGoffredo 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 MussoliniVittorio 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 and his second wife Rachele.-Biography:...
, son of
Il DuceBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE 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. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
, 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
trilogiesA trilogy is a set of three works of art - usually literature, film, or video games, less commonly visual art like paintings or musical works - that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works....
. His first
feature filmIn the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial distribution in theaters and being the "main attraction" of the screening...
,
La nave bianca (1942) was sponsored by the audiovisual
propagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
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 FelliniFederico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian film director. 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.- Rimini :Federico Fellini was born on January 20, 1920 to...
and
Aldo FabriziAldo Fabrizi was an Italian actor and cinema and theatre director.-Actor Filmography:* Avanti, c'è posto... by Mario Bonnard...
. When the Fascist regime ended in 1943, just two months after the liberation of Rome, Rossellini was already preparing
Roma città apertaRome, 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
PaisàPaisà is a 1946 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini. It is divided into six episodes. They depict the Italian Campaign during World War II when Germany was losing the Second World War against the Allies, using themes such as the difficulty of communication between people who do not speak...
(1946), produced with non-professional actors, and the third,
Germania anno zero (
Germany Year ZeroGermany Year Zero is the final film in Roberto Rossellini's famed war movie trilogy . Germany Year Zero takes place in post-war Germany, unlike the others, which took place in post-war Italy. As in many neorealist films, Rossellini used mainly local, non-professional actors...
, 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
camerathumb |right|Cameras from Large to Small, Film to Digital A camera is a device that records images, either as a still photograph or as moving images known as videos or movies...
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
interviewAn interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Employment-related :* Job interview* Case 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
scriptA 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. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
s according to the non-professional actors' feelings and histories. Regional accent,
dialectThe term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by scholars of language. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is 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...
and
costumeThe 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'AmoreL'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 MagnaniAnna Magnani was an Italian stage and film actress. Magnani won the Oscar for her lusty portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo.-Biography:...
) and
La macchina ammazzacattivi (1952), on the capability of cinema to portray reality and truth (with recalls of Commedia del Arte). 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 Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress in the first Tony Award ceremony in 1947. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
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 DioStromboli is an Italian and American film directed by Roberto Rossellini and featuring Ingrid Bergman...
(1950) (in the island of
StromboliStromboli 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
volcano3. Conduit
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Dike
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14. Crater
15...
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. Rossellini and Bergman had three children,
Isabella RosselliniIsabella 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:Rossellini is the daughter of Swedish...
(actress & model) and her twin,
Ingrid IsottaIsotta Ingrid Frieda Giuliana Rossellini, is the daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini. In addition, she is the twin sister of actress Isabella Rossellini...
, as well as a son Roberto Ingmar Rossellini.
Europa '51Europa '51 is a 1952 Italian neorealist film directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and Alexander Knox.-Background:...
(1952) and
Journey to ItalyJourney to Italy is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders. The film has English dialogue; the Italian version was originally cut.-Plot:...
(1953),
La pauraLa Paura is a 1954 German and Italian 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 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) were the other films on which they worked together.
In 1957,
Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman who was the first, and has been the longest-serving prime minister of India to date, having served from 1947 until 1964...
, the
Indian Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of India is the head of government of the Republic of India, and head of the Council of Ministers, appointed by the President to assist the latter in the administration of the affairs of the executive in India...
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
adoptedAdoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another who is not kin and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
her young son, renamed Gil Rossellini (23 October 1956 – 3 October 2008). Rossellini and Sonali had a daughter together, Raffaella Rossellini (born 1958).
In 1971,
Rice UniversityWilliam Marsh Rice University is a private coeducational research university located in Houston, Texas, United States...
in
Houston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2008 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of...
, invited Rossellini to help establish a Media Center.
Legacy
Rossellini's films after his early Neo-Realist films — particularly his films with Ingrid Bergman — were commercially unsuccessful, though
Journey to ItalyJourney to Italy is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders. The film has English dialogue; the Italian version was originally cut.-Plot:...
is well regarded in some quarters. He was an acknowledged master for the critics of
Cahiers du Cinema in general and
André BazinAndré Bazin was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist.- Biography :Bazin was born in Angers, France, in 1918...
,
François TruffautFrançois Roland Truffaut was an influential 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...
,
Jean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard is a French and Swiss filmmaker and one of the founding members of the Nouvelle Vague, or "French 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 vagueThe 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...
was so great that he was in every sense, "the father of the French New Wave".
Martin ScorseseMartin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation, a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Oscars, Golden Globe,...
has also acknowledged Rossellini's seminal influence in his documentary,
My Voyage to ItalyMy Voyage to Italy is a personal documentary by acclaimed Italian-American director Martin Scorsese...
(the title itself a take on Rossellini's
Voyage to ItalyViaggio 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 FelliniFederico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian film director. 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.- Rimini :Federico Fellini was born on January 20, 1920 to...
,
Luchino ViscontiLuchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director and writer, best known for films such as The Leopard and Death in Venice . He died in Rome of a stroke at the age of 69...
, Vittorio DeSica,
Michelangelo AntonioniMichelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director.-Life:Michelangelo Antonioni was born into a well-to-do family of landowners in Ferrara, Emilia Romagna, in northern Italy. The director explained to Italian film critic Aldo Tassone:While still a child,...
) 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. FrancisThe Flowers of St. Francis is a 1950 film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Federico Fellini. The film consists of a series of modest vignettes, based on the 14th century book Little Flowers of St. Francis, which relate the life and work 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.
Filmography
- Dafne (1936)
- Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faune (1937)
- La Fossa degli angeli
- Luciano Serra pilota (1938)
- La Vispa Teresa
La 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)
- Roma città aperta (1945)
- Desiderio (1946)
- Paisà
Paisà is a 1946 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini. It is divided into six episodes. They depict the Italian Campaign during World War II when Germany was losing the Second World War against the Allies, using themes such as the difficulty of communication between people who do not speak...
(1946)
- L'Amore
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)
- Germania anno zero
Germany Year Zero is the final film in Roberto Rossellini's famed war movie trilogy . Germany Year Zero takes place in post-war Germany, unlike the others, which took place in post-war Italy. As in many neorealist films, Rossellini used mainly local, non-professional actors...
(1948)
- L'Invasore (1949)
- Stromboli terra di Dio
Stromboli is an Italian and 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 ammazzacattivi
Machine to Kill Bad People is a 1952 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini....
(1952)
- Europa '51
Europa '51 is a 1952 Italian neorealist film directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and Alexander Knox.-Background:...
(1952)
- Siamo donne
We, 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 Italia
Journey to Italy is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders. The film has English dialogue; the Italian version was originally cut.-Plot:...
(1954)
- La Paura
La Paura is a 1954 German and Italian 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 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)
- India: Matri Bhumi (1959)
- Il generale Della Rovere
General 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 Vanini
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. 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)
- 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 sopravvenza" (series) (1970)
- Socrate (1971)
- Blaise Pascal (1972)
- L'Età di Cosimo de Medici (1973)
- Cartesius (1974)
- Concerto per Michelangelo (1977)
External links