11 best films about Rome

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Thanks to Fellini, Allen and other directors, you can feel the atmosphere of the Eternal City.

1. Rome, open city

• Italy, 1945.
• War film, drama.
• Duration: 101 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

Events unfold in Rome at the end of World War II. The city has only a few months left to spend under German occupation. The Gestapo is on the hunt for the head of the anti-fascist resistance, Giorgio Manfredi, who is assisted by friends - comrade Francesco with his fiancée Pina and priest Don Pietro.

The film by the legendary director Roberto Rossellini laid the foundations for one of the most important directions in the history of cinema - Italian neorealism. Representatives of this genre believed that their main task was to depict the authentic Italian texture. Therefore, in their paintings, viewers see Italy as it is, without embellishment. In such films, people from different social strata are shown, and the difficult military and post-war realities.

2. Bicycle thieves

• Italy, 1948.
• Drama.
• Duration: 93 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

The main character, Antonio Ritchie, has been looking for a job for a long time and to no avail, but in impoverished post-war Italy it is not so easy. Finally, luck smiles at him - they take him up as a posters. For work, you need a bicycle, which Richie had recently handed over to the pawnshop. The hero buys it back with the last money, but the bike is stolen almost immediately. Together with his little son, Antonio goes in search of the robbers.

The film of another prominent representative of Italian neorealism, Vittorio de Sica, was also filmed in Rome. Nowadays, at the intersection of Scarpanto and Gran Paradiso streets, you can even see a memorial plaque dedicated to the filming of the tape.

3. Rome at 11 o'clock

• Italy, 1952.
• Drama.
• Duration: 107 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

The film is based on a real case that took place in Rome in 1951. In post-war Italy, unemployment reigns. About two hundred women, each with their own sad story, came to the interview. They all really need a job as a typist. Waiting in line at the steps of a small house turns into a tragedy: the staircase collapses along with the women standing on it.

Like Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thieves, the drama by director Giuseppe de Santis follows the unfortunate and disadvantaged people who fell victim to the social and political system of the time.

4. Roman holidays

• USA, 1953.
• Comedy, melodrama.
• Duration: 118 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

The young princess Anne gets tired of the tedious royal duties on a diplomatic tour and runs off to walk around Rome. The soundly sleeping heroine is found by local reporter Joe Bradley. At first, he is not at all happy about the unfamiliar girl who has fallen on his head. But as soon as Bradley sees a photo of Anna in the newspaper, he immediately understands who is in front of him. Now he has a real sensation in his hands.

"Roman Holidays" glorified the small city street Via Margutta. After the release of the film, celebrities settled in her: director Federico Fellini, actresses Juliet Mazina and Anna Magnani, writer Gianni Rodari and many others.

5. Sweet life

• France, Italy, 1960.
• Satirical tragicomedy.
• Duration: 174 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

Journalist Marcello is a welcome guest at all fashion parties. He lives carefree and luxurious, but sometimes he feels like he is missing something.

In the iconic painting by Federico Fellini, Rome appears as a kind of city of sins. It is inhabited by the rich and famous, but spiritually empty and lonely people who spend their lives meaninglessly.

6. Accattone

• Italy, 1961.
• Drama.
• Duration: 120 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

In the center of the plot is the faulty life of the slacker and pimp Vittorio Accatone. After the only girl working for him is imprisoned, Vittorio slides into poverty. The main character does not want and does not know how to earn honestly, so he finds a new victim - a young trusting Stella.

Pier Paolo Pasolini's directorial debut is set in the slums of Rome. This is a pessimistic reflection on the life of a desperate post-war generation that has forever lost its old guidelines and has not yet found a replacement for them.

7. Eclipse

L'eclisse

• Italy, France, 1962.
• Drama.
• Duration: 126 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

The young attractive woman Vittoria leaves her fiance Riccardo, who convinces her to stay. Despite this, they still break up. The main character has a new love interest - the stockbroker Pierrot.

The main plot motive of the drama by Michelangelo Antonioni is the alienation of the characters from the world and from each other. The keen sense of loneliness that permeates the entire film is further emphasized by the shots of the beautiful, but half-empty Rome.

8. Rome

• Italy, France, 1972.
• Comedy, drama, parable.
• Duration: 128 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

This half-documentary by Fellini has a more optimistic outlook on Rome than La Dolce Vita. A deeply personal picture tells about the director's love for the capital of Italy.

The action takes place even before the Second World War. As such, there is no plot in the picture. The young man, in whom you can recognize Fellini himself, gets acquainted with the Eternal City through a colorful kaleidoscope of images, people and events.

9. The best years of youth

• Italy, 2003.
• Melodrama, drama.
• Duration: 400 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

The touching drama of the Italian director Marco Tullio Giordana unfolds against the backdrop of the historical panorama of Italy, sung with love and warmth.

The plot centers around the lives of two brothers, Nikola and Matteo Karati, from 1966 to 2003. The main characters are completely different people with opposite personalities. And yet they are united not only by family, but also by spiritual kinship.

10. Roman adventures

• USA, Italy, Spain, 2012.
• Comedy, melodrama.
• Duration: 112 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 3.

In the romantic comedy of Woody Allen, four script lines are intertwined: about the famous American architect nostalgic for his youth, about a simple clerk who suddenly woke up as a celebrity, about the funny adventures of newlyweds and about a vociferous funeral parlor whose talent as an opera singer is manifested exclusively in his soul.

In Allen's view, Rome is not a simple city, but a magical place where any amazing event or even the most real miracle can happen.

11. Great beauty

• Italy, France, 2013.
• Satirical tragicomedy.
• Duration: 142 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

The satirical film directed by Paolo Sorrentino tells about the talented middle-aged writer Jepe Gambardella. The life of the protagonist takes place in parties and entertainment. But one day he finds out that his first and only love has died. It turns out that the woman loved and waited only for Dzhepa all her life. After that, the hero thinks about the meaning of his existence and the irrevocably past years.

Rome in this picture is majestic and mysterious. Many popular tourist attractions can be seen in the film. All of them are shown by the director from an unusual angle or at an unexpected time of day.