''Roma'' (also known as ''Fellini's Roma'' or ''Federico Fellini's Roma'') is a 1972

semi-autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film depicting director

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

's move from his native

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

as a youth. The film was directed by Fellini from a screenplay by himself and Bernardino Zapponi. It is a homage to the city, shown in a series of loosely connected episodes set during both Rome's past and present. The plot is minimal, and the only "character" to develop significantly is Rome herself. Peter Gonzales plays the young Fellini, and the film features mainly newcomers in the cast.

Plot

Federico Fellini recounts his youth in Rome. The film opens up with a long traffic jam to the city. Once there, scenes are shown depicting Rome during the Fascist regime in the 1930s as well as in the 1970s. A young Fellini moves into a vivacious guesthouse inhabited by unusual people (including a

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

lookalike) and run by a sick obese woman. He visits two

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

s—one being dilapitated and overcrowded and the other one more stylish and luxurious—and seemingly falls in love with a prostitute working in the latter one. Other attractions in Rome are shown, including a cheap

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

theatre, streets, tunnels, and an ancient catacomb with

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s that get ruined by fresh air soon after the excavators discover it. One memorable scene in the vaudeville theatre captures an irate patron swinging a dead cat up onto the stage, in protest. The most famous scene depicts an elderly solitary noblewoman holding an extravagant liturgical fashion show for a Cardinal and other guests with priests and nuns parading in all kinds of bizarre costumes. The film eventually concludes with a group of young motorcyclists riding into the city and a melancholic shot of actress

Anna Magnani Anna Maria Magnani (; 7 March 1908 – 26 September 1973) was an Academy Award-winning Italian actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 3 October 1973, pg. 47 She was known for her explosive acting and earthy, realistic portrayals of ...

, whom the film crew met in the street during shooting and who would die some months afterwards.

Cast

* Peter Gonzales as

(age 18) ** Stefano Mayore as Federico Fellini (child) * as Dolores, a young prostitute * Britta Barnes * Pia De Doses as Princess Domitilla *

Marne Maitland James Marne Kumar Maitland (18 December 1914 – March 1992) was an Anglo-Indian actor and voice artist. He worked extensively in Britain, mainly in character roles, but also appeared in many Italian productions, after moving there in the 1 ...

as guide in the catacombs * Renato Giovannoli as Cardinal Ottaviani * Elisa Mainardi as pharmacist's wife / cinema spectator * Raout Paule * as music hall '' compère'' * Paola Natale * Ginette Marcelle Bron * Mario Del Vago as widowers' member at ''teatrino'' * as widowers' member at ''teatrino'' Uncredited * Dennis Christopher as hippie *

as herself *

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...

as himself * Feodor Chaliapin Jr. as actor playing

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

* Alberto Sordi as himself *

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

as himself * John Francis Lane as himself * Elliott Murphy as extra *

as himself * Cassandra Peterson

Historical contrasts and modern alienation

Fellini repeatedly contrasts Roman life during wartime

Fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

with life in the early 1970s. The wartime scenes emphasize the congregation of neighbors in Rome's

public place A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads, pavements, public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to the public, su ...

s, such as street restaurants, a

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

, and a bomb shelter. With the exception of hippies and a conversational scene with Fellini bemoaning the loss of Roman life with radical students, the analogous congregations of the 1970s are between automobiles and motorcycles. Fellini makes a comparison between the parade of prostitutes at wartime brothels and a fantasy runway fashion show featuring

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

al garb and a

papal The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of sta ...

audience.

Narrative devices

The plot (such as it is) centers on two journeys to

by the director. The first is as a young man in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The second is as the director of a film crew creating a film about Rome. The film alternates between these two narratives.

Deleted scene

During editing, a scene with Alberto Sordi was cut because it was considered too immoral and cruel. Sordi played a rich man sitting at a bar watching some poor children playing ball. A poor man, blind, sick and lame, comes to cross the street, preventing the rich man from viewing the scene. Alberto Sordi, annoyed, begins shouting insults at the blind man: "Get out of the way, you ugly old man! Get out!".

Release

The film was screened at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival but was not entered into the main competition. The film was also selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 45th Academy Awards but was not accepted as a nominee. The film is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray through

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

Reception

Critical response

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Roma'' holds an approval rating of 67% based on 19 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film four stars out of four; praising Fellini's direction in the film he wrote, "Fellini isn't just giving us a lot of flashy scenes, he's building a narrative that has a city for its protagonist instead of a single character." Ebert ranked the film 9th in his ''10 Best Films of 1972'' list.

Accolades

* 1972 Cannes Film Festival, Technical Grand Prize (Grand Prix de la Commission Supérieure Technique), won (ex-aequo) *

27th British Academy Film Awards The 27th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on 6 March 1974 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 1973. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Televisi ...

(BAFTA), Best Production Design for Danilo Donati, nominated * 30th Golden Globe Awards, Best Foreign Language Film, nominated

References

External links

* *
''Roma: Rome, Fellini's City''
– an essay by David Forgacs at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roma 1972 films 1972 comedy-drama films 1972 multilingual films 1970s English-language films 1970s French films 1970s French-language films 1970s German-language films 1970s Italian films 1970s Italian-language films 1970s satirical films 1970s Spanish-language films English-language French films English-language Italian films Films about film directors and producers Films directed by Federico Fellini Films scored by Nino Rota Films set in Rome Films shot in Rome Films with screenplays by Federico Fellini French comedy-drama films French multilingual films French satirical films French-language Italian films Italian comedy-drama films Italian multilingual films Italian satirical films Italian-language French films Latin-language films Religious satire films Spanish-language French films United Artists films Semi-autobiographical films English-language comedy-drama films