Directed by Roberto Rossellini • 1950 • Italy, United States
Starring Ingrid Bergman, Mario Vitale
The first collaboration between Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman is a devastating portrait of a woman’s existential crisis, set against the beautiful and forbidding backdrop of a volcanic island. After World War II, a Lithuanian refugee (Bergman) marries a simple Italian fisherman (Mario Vitale) she meets in a prisoner of war camp and accompanies him back to his isolated village on an island off the coast of Sicily. Cut off from the world, she finds herself crumbling emotionally, but she is destined for a dramatic epiphany. Balancing the director’s trademark neorealism—exemplified here in a remarkable depiction of the fishermen’s lives and work—with deeply felt melodrama, STROMBOLI is a revelation.
Up Next in Italian Neorealism
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Variety Lights
Directed by Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada • 1950 • Italy
Starring Peppino De Filippo, Carla Del Poggio, Giulietta MasinaMade in collaboration with Alberto Lattuada, Federico Fellini’s directorial debut unfolds amid the colorful backdrop of a traveling vaudeville troupe whose quixotic im...
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Europa ’51
Directed by Roberto Rossellini • 1952 • Italy
Starring Ingrid Bergman, Alexander KnoxIn the Italian-language version of this film, Ingrid Bergman plays a wealthy, self-absorbed Rome socialite racked by guilt over the shocking death of her young son. As a way of dealing with her grief and findin...
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Umberto D.
Directed by Vittorio De Sica • 1952 • Italy
Starring Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia CasilioThis neorealist masterpiece by Vittorio De Sica follows an elderly pensioner as he strives to make ends meet during Italy’s postwar economic recovery. Alone except for his dog, Flike, Umberto struggles to main...
