Cinema - Italian films

Italian cinema: Romance

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 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...]

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...]

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...]

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...]

Maddalena, zero in condotta (1940)

Vittorio De Sica

Elisa Malgari is a newly recruited teacher in a business school for young women. Teased by her pupils, Elisa begins to dislike her job and finds solace in the letters she writes to a fictitious Alfredo Hartman. One of her letters finds its way into the hands of one of her pupils, Maddalena Lenci, who decides to post it, believing it to be a genuine love letter... [More...]

Il Postino (1994)

Michael Radford

On a small Italian island, a middle-aged man Mario lives with his ageing father. Reluctant to follow in his father’s shoes and remain a fisherman for the rest of his life, Mario takes a low-paid job as a postman. His main preoccupation is to deliver masses of fan mail to a famous poet, Pablo Neruda, who has just arrived on the island after having been exiled from his native Chile... [More...]

La Ragazza in vetrina (1961)

Luciano Emmer

Vincenzo, a young Italian, arrives in Holland to work in the mines. He gets to know another Italian man, Federico, who has worked in the mines for some time. Unlike his new friend, Vincenzo doubts whether he will ever get used to this kind of work and the miserable Dutch weather. One Friday evening, Federico invites Vincenzo to accompany him to Amsterdam, where he meets his girlfriend, Cori... [More...]

Un été brûlant (2011)

Philippe Garrel

Paul met Frédéric, an artist, through a mutual friend. He lives with Angèle, an actress who makes films in Italy. Whilst waiting for his big break as an actor, Paul works as an extra. This is how he comes to meet Elisabeth, another aspiring actress. In no time at all, the two are deeply in love... [More...]

War and Peace (1956)

King Vidor

Moscow, 1805. Pierre Bezukhov, a pacifist wastrel, is in love with Natasha, the daughter of the wealthy Count Rostov, but knows he cannot marry her since he is of illegitimate birth. Having inherited his father’s title and vast estate, Pierre decides to marry the beautiful Helene Kuragina, but soon realises he has made a mistake... [More...]

The Whip and the Body (1963)

Mario Bava

It has been many years since Kurt Menliff has been disowned by his father, Count Vladimir, after driving a servant girl to suicide. Now, he has returned to the old family home, uninvited and unwelcome, ostensibly to attend his brother’s wedding to the beautiful Nevenka. But, as his father suspects, Kurt has a darker motive... [More...]

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