Having renounced her ignominious past, a former streetwalker reunites with her son. However, an extortion scheme endangers her aspirations for a decent bourgeois life. Can she protect him from the same snares that wounded her youth?
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Title: Mamma Roma (1962)
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2 wins & 1 nomination.
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Edit
Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Anna Magnani | ... | Mamma Roma | |
| Ettore Garofolo | ... | Ettore | |
| Franco Citti | ... | Carmine | |
 |
Silvana Corsini | ... | Bruna |
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Luisa Loiano | ... | Biancofiore |
| Paolo Volponi | ... | Il Prete (Priest) | |
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Luciano Gonini | ... | Zacaria |
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Vittorio La Paglia | ... | Il sig. Pellissier |
|
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Piero Morgia | ... | Piero |
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Franco Ceccarelli | ... | Carletto |
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Marcello Sorrentino | ... | Tonino |
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Sandro Meschino | ... | Pasquale |
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Franco Tovo | ... | Augusto |
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Pasquale Ferrarese | ... | Lino |
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Leandro Santarelli | ... | Begalo |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
Storyline
With a fervent yearning for respectability and enough money to buy herself a brand-new life in Rome, the uninhibited, fearless, and determined former streetwalker, Mamma Roma, renounces her ignominious past to reunite with her loafing sixteen-year-old son, Ettore. Free at last from her disgusting pimp and ex-lover, Carmine, Roma is bent on making an honest living running a humble vegetable stall; however, a malicious extortion scheme and the equally insidious menace of exposure threaten to put an end to her zealous aspirations for a decent bourgeois existence. For his own sake, Ettore must be spared the violence of the grown-up world; nevertheless, can a single mother alone protect her only son from the same snares that wounded her youth? Written by Nick Riganas
Genres:
DramaParents Guide:
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See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
ItalyLanguage:
ItalianRelease Date:
18 January 1965 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Мама Рома See more »Filming Locations:
Rome, Lazio, ItalyCompany Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
| (original)Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Color:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
Edit
[Ettore shakes his head no]
Bruna: Then you don't even know how women are made.
Ettore: How are you made?
Bruna: If you only knew.
Ettore: Where are we going? To America?
Bruna: Can't wait, can you? Your heart's pounding, right? I bet your heart's beating hard.
See more »
(uncredited)
Music by Cesare A. Bixio (as Bixio)
Lyrics by Bruno Cherubini (as Cherubini)
Performed by Anna Magnani
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
At the films premiere in the Quattro Fontane Cinema (Rome, 22nd September 1962), Mr. Pier Paolo Pasolini was attacked by fascists who protested against the film. See more »Goofs
In the opening titles, the music that is playing over the titles is noted as "Concerto in Do maggiore di Vivaldi," which translates in English as "Concerto in C major by Vivaldi." The music actually playing is the Largo (slow) movement from Vivaldi's Concerto in D minor (catalog number RV 540) See more »Quotes
Bruna: Have you ever been with a woman?[Ettore shakes his head no]
Bruna: Then you don't even know how women are made.
Ettore: How are you made?
Bruna: If you only knew.
Ettore: Where are we going? To America?
Bruna: Can't wait, can you? Your heart's pounding, right? I bet your heart's beating hard.
See more »
Soundtracks
Violino tzigano(uncredited)
Music by Cesare A. Bixio (as Bixio)
Lyrics by Bruno Cherubini (as Cherubini)
Performed by Anna Magnani
See more »
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As my first Pasolini film, Mamma Roma is as good an introduction as I could have wished. The plot is terrific and heartbreaking, and the depth and range that Mamma Roma's character calls for is delivered in full by Magnani. One must only consider the two separate occasions we see Mamma walk the line after dark. What a force! Her figure attracts so many men, almost like a light in an otherwise dark night would attract insects. But none of these men can keep up with her--the past she recounts, although lightheartedly, is too troublesome a road for anyone to walk down. Indeed, she herself never finds an escape from it.
And this is the genius of Pasolini's film. That we have the two figures of Ettore and Mamma Roma, who each emerge in the film at the hour of their seeming liberation-- Mamma freed from her pimp and Ettore from his "hicks" in the country--who nonetheless crumble under the weight of history. All they are left to do is wonder, to paraphrase Ettore during the end, "why so many people are torturing (them)," when all they (Mamma Roma and Ettore) want to do is good. Existential despair that resonates today amidst grave financial uncertainty and uncertain class ascendancy.