Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1962 • Italy
Anna Magnani is Mamma Roma, a middle-aged prostitute who attempts to extricate herself from her sordid past for the sake of her son. Filmed in the great tradition of Italian neorealism, MAMMA ROMA offers an unflinching look at the struggle for survival in postwar Italy, and highlights director Pier Paolo Pasolini's lifelong fascination with the marginalized and dispossessed. Though banned upon its release in Italy for obscenity, today MAMMA ROMA remains a classic, featuring a powerhouse performance by one of cinema's greatest actresses and offering a glimpse at a country's most controversial director in the process of finding his style.
Up Next in Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
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Love Meetings
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1964 • Italy
Starring Pier Paolo Pasolini, Lello BersaniIn 1964, Pier Paolo Pasolini took to the streets of Italy, armed with a camera and microphone, to interview a cross section of ordinary Italians about their attitudes towards sex and sexuality. Interrogati...
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The Gospel According to St. Matthew
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1964 • Italy, France
Starring Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna PasoliniA biblical film that only the Marxist, atheist Pier Paolo Pasolini could make, this starkly beautiful cinematic Passion play takes its dialogue directly from the titular holy tex...
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Teorema
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1968 • Italy
Starring Terence Stamp, Silvana Mangano, Massimo GirottiOne of the iconoclastic Pier Paolo Pasolini’s most radical provocations finds the auteur moving beyond the poetic, proletarian earthiness that first won him renown and notoriety with a coolly ...
