First film in Stromboli our 1950, Italy, B&W Drama, Running time: 96 mins.

Season Directed by Robert Rossellini.

th Tuesday 11 Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Mario Vitale, Renzo Cesana July at 7.15 pm

After seeing and being overwhelmed by Rome, Open City and

Film essay by , Ingrid Bergman approached its director Roberto Tony Janssens Rossellini with a candid telegram, stating: "If you need a (InFiFa ) Swedish actress who speaks English very well, and who, in Film Notes Italian only knows ti amo, I am ready to come and make a compiled by film with you." Baffled by such frankness Rossellini asked: Mark "Who is this Ingrid Bergman?" Soon enough he found out, MacLennan and sent a proposal for a film set on the small Italian island of (InFiFa) Stromboli. "With you near me, I could give life to a human

creature..." The director had already promised the story to Anna Magnani, his then lover and extremely jealous and

contemptuous of any rival, who threw a plate of gazpacho in

his face and broke off their relationship.

cinematic portrait ever made by a man of He took the first plane to Los the woman he loved. Angeles, went to Bergman's house where he found her so nervous she could hardly talk. A few days later, after a cocktail party, they became lovers. "Maybe, in my kitchen, we conceived Robertino, our son," Bergman wrote in her memoirs. Rossellini left and Bergman followed him to Italy two weeks later, leaving her husband Petter and daughter Pia Stromboli is, according to Rossellini, a fight behind. When the news reached between three elements. Firstly a selfish, America that she wanted a divorce to mordacious protagonist; secondly the marry Roberto, who at that time was island's inhabitants with their hostile still married too, the scandal was as misapprehension paired with the barren contrived as her arrival in Hollywood wildness of nature; finally, the most ten years earlier was absurdly ferocious of the three, God itself. overblown. After filming on Stromboli Karin, a woman with an unknown was finished, and both got divorced, past, living in a displaced persons' camp just they married, by proxy, in Mexico. In after WWII, manipulates a Sicilian soldier the US senate a debate on Hollywood named Antonio and marries him out of pure morals culminated in the remark by a convenience in order to find the freedom senator that Rossellini was "a swine she craves for. He takes her to his home, inspired by the devil." The views on the volcanic island of Stromboli, north of Bergman were equally vile. Sicily. She soon realizes her error, because the geographical situation she now finds herself in, offers even less of an escape. Her reasoning starts falling apart, externalized by the volcano's fury. At the moment of her greatest despair, she rediscovers her faith and acquaints herself with God again. This is a film, made in 1950, about the Stromboli was certainly made at a rediscovery of faith. For Rossellini this was crucial point in both their careers. Divinity itself, but it most surely can be They would collaborate on five more interpreted as a rebuilding of a world torn films, all commentaries on their asunder by the most barbaric of wars. And relationship, full of embarrassment, so often in the director's work a confession, anxiety and an exposure of relationship with the world finds its mirror the most intimate feelings and image in a relationship with animals. The thoughts. They parted at the end of it. spiritual voyage Karin makes is emphasized What remains is the most honest with the creatures she encounters: a cinematic portrait ever made by a man of the nnuumber of fish (a clear biblical reference) number of fish (a clear biblical Through his restriction of incident

Rossellini allows his audience to reference) her husband brings her that she refuses, a ferret that bites a rabbit, participate in his films, to become an octopus caught by another man she companions of the main characters manipulates (again with the purpose and find involvement in their spiritual in aiding her escape), and in one truly development, since sympathy is not unforgettable scene, the mattanza mainly based upon the physical (tuna fishing Sicilian style). This final actions of a plot. What little action jolt awakens something long buried there is, has relatively little inside her... importance. Most of the characters' unfolding is an outgrowth of spiritual After finishing Stromboli , Roberto aspirations rather than a reaction to Rossellini related the existence of a events, no matter how extreme they person to the stare of a camera. He appear to be. His films require from observed the whole world through the spectator a commitment that is film: "I need a depth which perhaps impetuous. No wonder Ingrid, only the cinema can provide, both to seemingly cool, controlled Ingrid, see characters and objects from any approached Rossellini with such angle and to provide the opportunity candour. to adapt and omit, to make use of dissolves and internal monologue, to take or leave, putting in what is inherent in the action, and what is its distant origin. I will combine my talent with the camera to haunt and pursue the character: the pain of our times will emerge just through the inability to escape the unblinking eye of the lens."

Our next screening.……… Journey To Italy

The second film in our…….. Ingrid Bergman Season

Among the most influential

Eden films of the postwar era, Roberto

Court Rossellini's Journey to Italy (Viaggio in Italia) charts the Cinema declining marriage of a couple www.facebook.com/infifa from England. (Ingrid Bergman 25 th Ju ly 2017 and George Sanders) on a trip in at 7.15 pm the countryside near . Inverness Film Fans (InFiFa) More than just the anatomy of a meet fortnightly at Eden Court relationship, Rossellini's Cinema for screenings and post masterpiece is a heartrending film discussions. To join us for free and for more info go to: work of emotion and spirituality. www.invernessfilmfans.org