Missing Italy
Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 10:00PM by Eric Blume
We’re not far from crowning a new Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, and part of the fun and excitement for international film lovers is seeing which country takes the top prize. The last ten years has marked three winners from France (The Class, Blue is the Warmest Color, and Dheepan), and in fact France has won ten times since 1955 when the prize has been named the Palme d’Or (there was a ten year gap in 1964-74 where the top prize had a different name, for those into these technicalities).
Winning just under that number, with nine trophies, remains Italy. Once a mighty force on the international film scene, Italy seems to have fewer major filmmakers emerging. The last Italian film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes was Nanni Moretti’s film The Son’s Room in 2001...
ITALIAN PALME WINNERS
La Dolce Vita (1960)
- La Dolce Vita (1960)
- The Leopard (1963)
- The Birds, the Bees, and the Italians (1966)
- Blowup (1968)
- The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1972)
- The Mattei Affair (1972)
- Padre Padrone (1977)
- The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
- The Son's Room (2001)
From 1960-1978, Italy won the big prize at Cannes on eight occasions, which is almost 50% of that stretch of time! The directors of those films are among the titans of cinema: Fellinni, Visconti, Germi, Antonioni, Olmi, the Taviani brothers. And the films include some of the world’s greats: La Dolce Vita, The Leopard, Blowup. (This trend is somewhat mirrored by the Oscar for Best Foreign Film as well. We did have a recent win from Paolo Sorrentino in 2013 for The Great Beauty, and there were wins in the 80s and 90s by Cinema Paradiso, Mediterraneo, and Life is Beautiful.)
At this point, Sorrentino is Italy’s most successful export in the cinema. After The Great Beauty he gave us Youth two years ago with Harvey Keitel, Michael Caine, and Jane Fonda, and that film contained bold, ravishing images that scream “this guy is a filmmaker”. Sorrentino has that big, open-hearted style that we often associate with Italian filmmakers, and in fact he has often been compared to Fellini in style, theme, and extravagance.
But who else is leading Team Italy? Gabriele Muccino made a near-perfect comedy named The Last Kiss back in 2001 and then came to Hollywood to make several mediocre movies. Moretti still makes films, and Matteo Garrone made a splash with Gomorrah a few years back. There isn’t a film from Italy in the main competition at Cannes this year; Sergio Castellitto’s film Fortunata (Lucky) is running in Un Certain Regard instead.
This is all to say that a lot of us international cinema lovers miss Italian films. Italy is one of the most naturally photogenic countries in the world. Their directors have in the past advanced the entire medium, and have pursued intellectual and emotional terrain with truth and ruthless passion. It’s time for a new Italian Renaissance! What are some of your favorite films from the great, great country of Italy?
Reader Comments (13)
Cinema Paradiso
Dear Diary
Baaria
Sapturn in Oposition
The Bicycle Thieves
Roma
Three Brothers
I swear that's what I thought while I was reading the French Actress Heaven post. Where's Italy?!!
Recent movies? The most interesting that I've seen lately is Anime nere, very dark and dry. Il capitale humano was quite enjoyable thanks to the marvelous Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Mia madre, with the equally talented Margherita Buy, irritated me and moved me at the same time.
I've heard La pazza gioia is good, but I haven't seen it yet.
I think the leader of team Italy should be Luca Guadagnino! I Am Love and A Bigger Splash were both great, and buzz makes it sound like Call Me By Your Name is even better!
Fellini's La Strada belongs to my holy trinity of cinema (the three films I consider to be the three untouchable greatest films of all time, the other two being 2001 and Rashomon). This film is touching and heart-breaking, and Giulietta Masina's innocent face is impossible to forget. I could go on and on about this film forever.
De Sica's Bicycle Thieves is a film that keeps fluctuating into and just out of my all time Top 10 films whenever I feel compelled to compile such a list, but it is in the Top 10 more often than outside it. It's just magnificent.
Other much admired films (in chronological order):
Paisà (Rosselini)
Umberto D. (de Sica)
Mamma Roma (Pasolini)
8 1/2 (Fellini)
Blowup (Antonioni) - that one admittedly doesn't feel Italian, though
Also, I feel compelled to mention Pasolini's Saló. Whatever you could say about the film, you will have to agree that this film leaves a lasting impression if you manage to sit through it. Certainly one of a kind (although, admittedly, I'm not mad there aren't more films that elegantly well-done of that particular kind).
Coco -- i think people would probably think Italy was having more of a moment if Guadagnino worked in Italian more often but it looks like he's gone strictly English language. But he's awesome, you're right.
this are my favorite movies of the golden area of italian movies:
"Ossession" (1943) Visconti
"Roma, Città Aperta" (1945) Rossellini
"Sciuscià" (1946) De Sica
"Ladri di Biciclette" (1948) De Sica
"La Terra Trema" (1948) Visconti
"Riso Amaro" (1949) De Santis
"Cronaca di un amore" (1950) Antonioni
"Bellisima" (1951) Visconti
"Francesco, giullare di Dio" (1951) Rossellini
"Europa 51" (1952) Rossellini
"Umberto D." (1952) De Sica
"I Vitelloni" (1953) Fellini
"Viaggio in Italia" (1953) Rossellini
"Senso" (1954) Visconti
"La Strada" (1954) Fellini
"Le Amiche" (1955) Antonioni
"Il bidone" (1955) Fellini
"Il grido" (1957) Antonioni
"Le notti di Cabiria" (1957) Fellini
"Estate Violenta" (1959) Zurlini
"L'avventura" (1960) Antonioni
"Rocco e i suoi fratelli" (1960) Visconti
"Il bell’Antonio" (1960) Bolognini
"La dolce vita" (1960) Fellini
"La notte" (1961) Antonioni
"India, matri bhumi" (1961) Rossellini
"La Ragazza con la Valigia" (1961) Zurlini
"Il Posto" (1961) Olmi
"Divorzio all'Italiana" (1961) Germi
"La viaccia" (1961) Bolognini
"Accattone" (1961) Pasolini
"L'eclisse" (1962) Antoinioni
"Il Mare" (1962) Patroni Griffi
"Il Sorpasso" (1962) Risi
"Mamma Roma" (1962) Pasolini
"Il Gattopardo" (1963) Visconti
"I compagni" (1963) Monicelli
"8½" (1963) Fellini
"La Fidanzate" (1963) Olmi
"Il deserto rosso" (1964) Antonioni
"Il vangelo secondo Matteo" (1964) Pasolini
"Sedotta e Abbbandonata" (1964) Germi
"Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa" (1965) Visconti
"Giulietta degli spiriti" (1965) Fellini
"La Battaglia di Algeri" (1966) Pontecorvo
"Blow Up" (1966) Antonioni
"Uccellacci e uccellini" (1966) Pasolini
"Edipo Re" (1967) Pasolini
"A Ciascuno il Suo" (1967) Petri
"Teorema" (1968) Pasolini
"C'era una Volta il West" (1968) Leone
"Romeo e Giulietta" (1968) Zeffirelli
"Il Giorno della Civettá" (1969) Damiani
"La caduta degli dei" (1969) Visconti
"Fellinis Satyricon" (1969) Fellini
"Il Conformista" (1970) Bertolucci
"Drama della Gelosia" (1970) Scola
"Indagine su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto" (1970) Petri
"Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini" (1970) De Sica
"Morte a Venezia" (1971) Visconti
"Ludwig" (1972) Visconti
"Amarcord" (1973) Fellini
"Gruppo di famiglia in un interno" (1974) Visconti
"Professione: Reporter" (1975) Antonioni
"Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma" (1975) Antonioni
"Pasqualino Settebellezze" (1975) Wertmuller
"L’Innocente" (1976) Visconti
"Una Giornata Particolare" (1977) Scola
"Padre Padrone" (1977) Taviani
"L'Albergo degli Zoccoli" (1978) Olmi
"Dementicare Venezia" (1979) Brusati
"Tre Fratelli" (1981) Rosi
"La Notte di San Lorenzo" (1982) Taviani
"Le Bal" (1983) Scola
.... then in a way the Golden Cinema of Italy stops ...
That is the sad thing not only with its cinema but with its culture as a whole. For me, the italian tragedy is they stopped being relevant so many years ago. I would also say without trying to stir up any controversy that a society whose most radical figure is the Pope needs some kind of wake up call. And I still believe most of the 60s and 70s italian directors and their works are basically unsurpassed in terms of beauty and relevance.
Thanks for this post! I always like to see Italy in the running - partly because I'm half Italian and mostly because I crave a new Golden Age of Italian cinema. But I think that Italy's doing OK at present. Since their last Palme d'Or, they have won the Grand Prix three times (Gomorrah, Reality and The Wonders). Also, Gianfranco Rosi's two most recent films won the Golden Lion at Venice (Sacro GRA) and the Golden Bear at Berlin (Fire at Sea). As well as The Great Beauty's Oscar, Fire at Sea was nominated for Documentary Feature. And both The Great Beauty and Youth won the European Film Award for Best Film.
So, I'd say things are looking good. Tornatore and Moretti, Sorrentino and Garrone, Alice Rohrwacher and Gianfranco Rosi, Paolo Virzì, Sergio Castellito, Fernan Ozpetek...
Favourite Italian films? How long have you got? I'll keep it brief and restrict myself to nine (as ten feels too neat on this occasion): in chronological order, Umberto D., L'avventura, La dolce vita, Divorce Italian-Style, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Conformist, Death in Venice, The Tree of Wooden Clogs, Cinema Paradiso... Is that nine already?!
In order to get funds and a worldwide release Guadagnino or Lanthimos need to work in English and with Hollywood stars.
The only European country that protects its culture from that is France and it pays off. Let's call it La Résistance.
Favorite italian films - non "best", of course, just favorite...
Amarcord, Federico Fellini
Suspiria, Dario Argento
Cinema Paradiso, Giuseppe Tornatore
Mediterraneo, Gabriele Salvatore
Caro Diario, Nani Moretti
Habemus Papam, Nani Moretti
Il Divo, Paolo Sorrentino
@Thomas: I love so much that you included 'Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa' among your favorites!
@Tyler. Thanks. It seems that no one ever talks about this wonderful and strange movie. I love it :)