Cinema - Italian films - Drama

Italian cinema: Drama (Page 1 of 2)

8½ (1963)

Federico Fellini

Guido Anselmi is a film director who is up against the biggest crisis of his career. His last film was a huge success and his producer is expecting its successor to be an even greater hit. Millions have been poured into building sets, actors and actresses have been signed up, the scriptwriter is ready to start work… But Guido hasn’t the remotest idea what his next film is going to be about... [More...]

Accattone (1961)

Pier Paolo Pasolini

In the slums outside Rome, a young man nicknamed Accattone passes the time with his friends, all of whom have no prospect or desire to find an honest job. Having walked out on his wife and young son, Accattone makes a reasonable living by pimping his girlfriend Maddalena. One day, Accatonne’s life suddenly changes when he meets an honest and pure girl, Stella... [More...]

L’Avventura (1960)

Michelangelo Antonioni

A party of wealthy holiday makers from Rome are enjoying a yachting excursion off the coast of Sicily. Soon after they arrive on a deserted volcanic island, one of the group – a young woman named Anna – mysteriously disappears. Her best friend, Claudia, and her boyfriend Sandro make a thorough search of the island and the neighbouring mainland - without any success... [More...]

The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

At the funeral of Maria Vargas, the men who fashioned her into a myth remember their part in her tragic life. Burned out film director Harry Dawes recalls how he went to Spain with his rich but artistically ignorant film producer Kirk Edwards to persuade the unknown Maria, a cabaret dancer, to take up a career in the movie business... [More...]

La Bataille d’Alger (1966)

Gillo Pontecorvo

After a humiliating retreat from Indo-Chino, France has no intention of releasing its grip on Algeria. After some civil unrest, the French authorities clamp down on the native Arab population. This leads to the creation of the FLN, the Algerian National Liberation Front, who decide that terrorist activity is the only way to achieve independence... [More...]

La Caduta degli dei (1969)

Luchino Visconti

Germany, 1933. As the Nazis’ grip on their country increases, a family of wealthy industrialists strive to turn the situation to their advantage. Shortly after he announces his retirement, the head of the von Essenbeck family, Joachim, is killed. His murder is blamed on the Communist sympathiser, Herbert, who flees, leaving behind his wife and two young daughters... [More...]

La Califfa (1970)

Alberto Bevilacqua

The workforce of a factory owned by the patriarchal boss Doberdo are on strike. During a police raid to break the strike, one of the workers is killed. The dead man’s wife, La Califfa, confronts Doberdo several times. On each occasion, the factory owner and the widow feel strangely drawn to one another..... [More...]

Cento giorni a Palermo (1984)

Giuseppe Ferrara

In the early 1980s, Sicily is in the grip of the Mafia. After a series of high profile political assassinations in the Sicilian town of Palermo, General Dalla Chiesa is appointed police chief and he immediately begins to wage a war against the gangsters. But as he soon discovers, the influence of the Mafia extends far and wide, reaching even the highest echelons of the government and judicial system..... [More...]

La Ciociara (1960)

Vittorio De Sica

In the summer of 1943, Rome is under constant combardment. The young widow Cesira flees the capital with her 13-year-old daughter, Rosetta, and returns to her home village in the mountainous Ciociaria region of Italy. In her absence, she asks her neighbour Giovanni to take over her shop. On their arrival, Cesira makes the acquaintance of Michele, an intellectual libertine who is attracted to both the mother and her daughter... [More...]

Copie conforme (2010)

Abbas Kiarostami

James, a fifty-something English writer, travels to Italy to promote his new book and give a lecture on the relationship between an original piece of art and its imitations. Here, he meets a young French gallery owner and they spend a few hours together in San Gimignano, a small village near to Florence... [More...]

Corpo celeste (2011)

Alice Rohrwacher

Having grown up in Switzerland, Marta returns to her home village in Calabria with her mother and sister. Try as she might, she feels like a complete strange in this devastated region of southern Italy. She is thirteen years old, the age at which she is to be confirmed as a Catholic. Perhaps the catechism will provide the means by which she will be accepted into this community..... [More...]

Les Derniers jours de Pompei (1950)

Marcel L’Herbier

In the town of Pompeii, 79AD, a few weeks before the volcanic eruption of Versuvius, a Roman lady Hélène meets and falls in love with a young Greek man Lysias. He is betrothed to another woman who, to win him back, acquires a potion to make him love only her. The potion was prepared by the Egyptian priest, Arbax, who has a grudge against Lysias, and is not what it seems – it is intended to drive whoever takes it insane... [More...]

La Dolce vita (1960)

Federico Fellini

Marcello, a gossip columnist for the rich and famous, lives the life of a playboy in Rome. He neglects his overly possessive girlfriend Emma, preferring transitory liaisons with other women, such as the wealthy Maddalena and the beautiful American filmstar Sylvia. As he drifts from one drunken orgy to the next, he begins to realise how empty and meaningless his life has become..... [More...]

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Nicolas Roeg

John and Laura Baxter are a young couple who are both profoundly traumatised when their five-year-old daughter Christine drowns accidentally at their home. Deciding that a change of scene will do them both good, they head for Venice, where John finds work restoring a dilapidated Byzantine church. With her husband busy, Laura allows herself to be befriended by two elderly English sisters, one of whom is blind and claims to have psychic powers... [More...]

L’Eclisse (1962)

Michelangelo Antonioni

Vittoria walks out on her intellectual lover and starts a relationship with a ruthless young stockbroker, Piero. At first, Vittoria is nervous about getting involved with Piero – she is physically attracted to him, but something holds her back. Gradually, Piero’s materialism begins to repulse Vittoria and she ultimately finds herself alone in a soulless world, unable to commit to anyone... [More...]

Fantasma d’amore (1981)

Dino Risi

Whilst travelling in a bus in his home town of Pavia, Nino Monti, a successful lawyer, encounters an old woman who bears a striking resemblance to Anna Brigatti, a woman he was once madly in love with. That evening, Nino meets the old woman a second time and she reveals that she is indeed Anna and that her love for him has not dwindled... [More...]

Il Gattopardo (1963)

Luchino Visconti

Sicily, in the 1860s. It is a time of social and political upheaval, with a fragmented Italy heading towards unification. The ageing Prince Don Fabrizio of Salina senses that his era is coming to an end, that his aristocratic past will count for little in this new, vulgar present which sees power shifting towards an emerging Bourgeois class... [More...]

Il Gioiellino (2011)

Andrea Molaioli

Leda is the pride of the Italian economy, a vast commercial empire run by the Rastelli family which spans five continents. Under pressure from the laws of global commerce, the Rastellis must resort to all manner of skulduggery so as not to lose their pre-eminent position in the world market - forgery, political influence, corruption..... [More...]

Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976)

Federico Fellini

The debauched life of Giacomo Casanova is legendary, a succession of erotic adventures with women who are no more to him than instruments of pleasure. Casanova’s scandalous exploits result in him being arrested and imprisoned in Venice, but he escapes and takes flight to Paris. Here, he falls under the spell of the Marquise of Urfé, a strange mystic who coerces him into a lovemaking ritual which she believes will transform her into a man... [More...]

Ladri di biciclette (1948)

Vittorio De Sica

In post-war Rome, jobs are scarce and families are starving. When he is offered a job putting up posters for the town council, Antonio Ricci willingly accepts, even though it requires him to provide his own bicycle. Ricci manages to scrape together enough money to reclaim his pawned bicycle and he looks forward to his first paid job in months... [More...]

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