Mamma Roma

Mamma Roma is a 1962 Italian drama film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, starring Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo and Franco Citti.[1][2]

Mamma Roma
Theatrical poster
Directed byPier Paolo Pasolini
Written byPier Paolo Pasolini
Produced byAlfredo Bini
Starring
CinematographyTonino Delli Colli
Edited byNino Baragli
Music byAntonio Vivaldi
Production
company
Arco Film
Distributed byCineriz
Release date
  • 31 August 1962 (1962-08-31) (Italy)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

Synopsis

After her pimp Carmine has gotten married, prostitute Mamma Roma starts a new life as a marketer in Rome to enable her 16-year-old son Ettore a better life. She finds him a job as a waiter by blackmailing a trattoria owner and tries to draw him away from his thieving friends and occasional streetwalker Bruna. When Mamma Roma is forced back into prostitution by Carmine and Ettore finds out about it, he returns to his previous habits. Caught during a theft in a hospital, Ettore dies in jail from a fever, leaving behind his grieving, desperate mother.

Cast
  • Anna Magnani as Mamma Roma
  • Ettore Garofolo as Ettore
  • Franco Citti as Carmine
  • Silvana Corsini as Bruna
  • Luisa Loiano as Biancofiore
  • Paolo Volponi as Priest
  • Luciano Gonini as Zacaria

Production and release

Pasolini based his screenplay for Mamma Roma on the true case of Marcello Elisei, who had died in prison.[1] Shooting began on 9 April 1962,[2] with a cast that largely consisted of non-professionals.[3] Pasolini, unhappy with Magnani's interpretation of the title role, expanded Citti's role of Carmine, but the production was temporarily halted when Citti was arrested for a petty crime.[2]

On 31 August 1962, Mamma Roma premiered at the Venice Film Festival.[2] On the same day, a police complaint was filed, claiming that the film was "offensive to good morals" and "contrary to public decency" for the language used, but the complaint was turned down by a magistrate five days later.[2] On the night of the film's release in the Quattro Fontane Cinema in Rome on 22 September 1962, Pasolini was confronted with protesting neo-fascists and got involved in a scuffle.[1][2] Mamma Roma also met with criticism from the left,[4] and its domestic box office was a humble 168 million lira.[2]

References
  1. Siciliano, Enzo (1985). Pasolini: Leben und Werk (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag.
  2. Schwarz, Barth David (2017). Pasolini Requiem (2 ed.). New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 9780226335025.
  3. Bondanella, Peter, ed. (2014). The Italian Cinema Book. British Film Institute. ISBN 9781844574049.
  4. Indiana, Gary. "Pasolini, Mamma Roma, and La Ricotta". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
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