Italian Cinema Today

A scene from "C'eravamo tanti amati" Mixing both tragedy and humor, Ettore Scola ’s 1974 film “C’eravamo tanto amati” (“We All Loved Each Other So Much”) follows 30 years in the lives of three men and the woman they each adore. By examining how his generation changed after the war, Scola makes a film that reflects its era. Scola explores the moral, political and emotional evolution of Italy’s postwar generation and, in doing so, creates a film that is a chronicle of its time and a love letter to cinema. The story begins in the aftermath of World War II. Three friends — Antonio ( Nino Manfredi ), Gianni (Vittorio Gassman) and Nicola (Stefano Satta Flores) — emerge from the Italian Resistance with a shared dream of justice, equality and social renewal. They are united by their hope that the sacrifices of war will lead to a better world. But the decades that follow prove to be challenging as Italy undergoes massive social changes, from the postwar economic boom to the politi...

Claudia Cardinale in a scene from   “Il magnifico cornuto” The world said goodbye to one of the last greats of Italy’s Golden Age of cinema and the commedia all’italiana genre when legendary actress Claudia Cardinale passed away in September at 87. She appeared in dozens of films throughout her career, which spanned six decades, and she worked with the likes of Federico Fellini , Luchino Visconti and Sergio Leone on iconic projects that have stood the test of time.  One of her greatest talents was comedy, and one of her best comedic performances was in Antonio Pietrangeli’s 1964 film “Il magnifico cornuto” (“The Magnificent Cuckold”), in which she plays a beautiful young wife married to a wildly jealous older man. The story centers on Andrea (played by Ugo Tognazzi ), a charming but often foolish man who unwittingly becomes tangled in a web of romantic and social misunderstandings created by his own deceit.   The couple is happily married until one evening, when And...

He gained renown during the commedia all’italiana years but his captivating performances kept him working through five decades until his untimely death in 1990. Born in 1922 in Cremona, Ugo Tognazzi’s first acting experiences go back to his childhood when he participated in local theater productions. In 1945, he won a competition for amateurs and was then officially hired by a theater company which led to a nationwide tour.  A few years later, he landed his first film roles and in the next decade, made a whopping 28 films. However, for all the films he made in the ‘50s, it was the ‘60s and ‘70s when his films were hits also outside Italy, giving him much-deserved international recognition for his lead roles.    Tognazzi had a uniquely self-effacing and multidimensional style. There’s no such thing as a typical Tognazzi character because they were all so completely different. Losing himself in each role, he gifted them with their own identities. Perhaps there’s a cons...

Born Saturnino Manfredi on March 22, 1921, in Frosinone, Nino Manfredi was one of Italy’s most prolific actors from the 1950s to right before his death in 2004. Manfredi graduated with a law degree but famously declared while delivering his thesis, “Ladies and gentlemen, I swear to you, I will never be a lawyer.” Shortly thereafter, he began his acting career in the theater, working on numerous productions with the likes of Eduardo De Filippo and Vittorio Gassman. In 1949, he made his big-screen debut in Mario Sequi’s World War II drama, “Monastero di Santa Chiara.” He spent the 1950s honing his skills, often playing a friend and confidant of the protagonist. Among his most popular supporting roles during that decade are Peppino in Antonio Pietrangeli’s 1956 “Lo scapolo” (The Bachelor) and Raffaele in Camillo Mastrocinque’s 1956 “Totò, Peppino e la … malafemmina” (Totò, Peppino and the Hussy). The following decade brought more substantial roles that revealed his talent for comedy, whic...