Fear (1954) La paura (original title)

Director:

Roberto Rossellini

Writers:

Stefan Zweig (novel) and
Sergio Amidei
(more)

Release Date:

1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

She was cornered and she knew it...but she couldn't do anything about it...except one thing which could only lead to F-E-A-R!

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Based On Book | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Ingrid Bergman	...	Irene Wagner
Mathias Wieman	...	Professor Albert Wagner
Renate Mannhardt	...	Luisa Vidor, alias Johann Schultze
Kurt Kreuger	...	Erich Baumann
Elise Aulinger	...	Haushaelterin
Edith Schultze-Westrum
Steffi Stroux		(as Steffie Struck)
Annelore Wied
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rolf Deininger	...	(uncredited)
Albert Herz	...	(uncredited)
Klaus Kinski	...	Cabaret Performer (uncredited)
Klara Kraft	...	(uncredited)
Jürgen Micksch	...	(uncredited)
Gabriele Seitz	...	Bubi Wagner (uncredited)
Elisabeth Wischert	...	Mady (uncredited)

Directed by
Roberto Rossellini

Writing credits
Stefan Zweig		(novel "Angst")
Sergio Amidei
Roberto Rossellini		uncredited
Franz von Treuberg		(as Franz Treuberg)

Produced by
Herman Millakowsky	....	producer

Original Music by
Renzo Rossellini

Cinematography by
Carlo Carlini
Heinz Schnackertz

Film Editing by
Jolanda Benvenuti		(italian version)
Walter Boos		(german version)

Production Management
Mario Del Papa	....	production manager
Jochen Genzow	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pietro Servedio	....	assistant director
Franz von Treuberg	....	assistant director (as Franz Treuberg)

Sound Department
Carl Becker	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Luigi Filippo Carta	....	camera operator
Lars Looschen	....	still photographer
Heinz Schnackertz	....	camera operator

Music Department
Franco Ferrara	....	conductor

Production Companies

• Aniene Film
• Ariston Film GmbH

Distributors

• Gloria Filmverleih AG (1954) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Minerva Film (1954) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Astor Pictures Corporation (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (English dubbed)
• Gloria Filmverleih (1954) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Atlantic Television Corp. (196?) (USA) (VHS) (Astor Pictures source print)
• Henwood Video (199?) (USA) (VHS) (Atlantic Television source print)

Other Companies

• Cooperativa Doppiaggio Cinematografico (CDC) (I) (II)  dubbing sound
• Jacques Griff, Paris, France  ingrid bergman's costumes

Also Known As:

"La paura" - West Germany (original title)

Runtime:

Italy:75 min | USA:84 min | West Germany:82 min

Country:

West Germany | Italy

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Aniene Film

Movie Connections:

Version of Oviedo Express (2007)

Tales of fear and marriage

Whenever I see La Paura I think of it as a companion piece to Eyes Wide Shut, or maybe it is the other way around. Adultery makes both films tick but in different ways. I think Phillip French was right on the money when he pointed out a Wizard of Oz thing in Kubrick's last work. Like Dorothy, Tom and Nicole go through fantasies and nightmares and at the end Dorothy's reassuring childish motto "there's no place like home" is ironically updated to the adult circumstantial adage "there's no sex like marital sex". Kubrick's take is intellectual, he never leaves the world of ideas to touch the ground. He taunts the audience first with an erotic movie and then with a thriller and refuses to deliver either of them. He was married to his third wife for 40 years, until he died. Rossellini was still married to Ingrid Bergman when he directed La Paura; they had been adulterous lovers and their infidelity widely criticized La Paura is a tale, a noirish one. The noir intrigue is solved and the tale has a happy ending. The city is noir; the country is tale, the territory where childhood is possible. The transition is operated in the most regular way: by car, a long-held shot taken from the front of the car as it rides into the road, as if we were entering a different dimension. Irene (Bergman) starts the movie: we just see a dark city landscape but her voice-over narration tells us of her angst and informs us that the story is a flashback, hers. Bergman's been cheating on her husband. At first guilt is just psychological torture but soon expands into economic blackmail and then grows into something else. From beginning to end the movie focuses on what Bergman feels, every other character is there to make her feel something. Only when the director gives away the plot before the main character can find out does he want us to feel something Bergman still can't. When she finds out, we have already experienced the warped mechanics of the situation and we may focus once again on the emotional impact it has on Bergman's Irene. In La Paura treasons are not imagined but real, nightmares are deliberate and the couple's venom suppurates in bitter ways. Needless to say, Ingrid has another of her rough rides in the movies but Rossellini doesn't dare put her away as he did in Europa 51, nor does he abandon her to the inscrutable impassivity of nature (Stromboli). His gift is less transcendent and fragile than the conclusion of Viaggio in Italia. He just gives his wife as much of a fairy tale ending as a real woman can have, a human landscape where she can finally feel at home. Back to the country, a half lit interior scene where shadows suggest the comfort of sleep. After all, it's the "fairy godmother" who speaks the last words in the movie.