Roma (1972)

A fluid, unconnected and sometimes chaotic procession of scenes detailing the various people and events of life in Italy's capital, most of it based on director Federico Fellini's life.

Director:

Federico Fellini

Writers:

Federico Fellini (story), Bernardino Zapponi (story)

Stars:

Britta Barnes, Peter Gonzales Falcon, Fiona Florence

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Peter Gonzales Falcon	...	Fellini, Age 18 (as Peter Gonzales)
Fiona Florence	...	Dolores - Young Prostitute
Britta Barnes
Pia De Doses	...	Princess Domitilla
Marne Maitland	...	Guide in the Catacombs
Renato Giovannoli	...	Cardinal Ottaviani
Elisa Mainardi	...	Pharmacist's wife / Cinema spectator
Stefano Mayore	...	Fellini as a Child
Galliano Sbarra	...	Music Hall Compere
Anna Magnani	...	Anna Magnani
Ginette Marcelle Bron	...	(as Marcelle-Ginette Bron)
Gore Vidal	...	Himself

Storyline

A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens. blending autobiography (a reconstruction of Fellini's own arrival in Rome during the Mussolini years; a trip to a brothel and a music-hall) with scenes from present-day Roman life (a massive traffic jam on the autostrada; a raucous journey through Rome after dark; following an archaeological team through the site of the Rome subways; an unforgettable ecclesiastical fashion show)

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Plot Keywords:

brothel | panties | female nudity | orgy | nudity | 

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Taglines:

Take a tour with Fellini through the eternal city.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian German English French Latin Spanish

Release Date:

15 October 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fellini's Roma

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ultra Film, Les Productions Artistes Associés

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A bastardized version of Ravel's "Bolero" (apparently arranged by Nino Rota) is played by the pit orchestra during the Vaudeville-esque variety show.

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Goofs

One of the engineers says, "We merely wanted to resolve the traffic problem with a subway like Munich's or Dublin's." But Dublin had no subway in 1972 and still doesn't have one; the current plan is to have one operational by 2027.

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Alternate Versions

The Italian version has only a few voiceovers by Federico Fellini at the beginning of some scenes. The english-language version features an additional first person narration through most of the film giving more background information to help non-italian viewers. This voiceover starts immediately during the title credits informing the viewer that the film they're about to see doesn't have a 'story' in the traditional sense with plot and characters, but is a semi-documentary about a city.

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Connections

Featured in How Strange to Be Named Federico (2013)

User Reviews

Roma

Roma explores the city of Rome from several different perspectives, giving it a mystical life of its own that hangs in the balance between its rich history and its modern identity. With no real chronology, Roma is a tapestry of bizarre scenes and familiar images that blend together into a gorgeous visual carnival. Typical of Fellini, with the carnival comes a critique--and Roma tears through the city's political and religious history, satirizing the Catholic church and various faces of Italian government from Renaissance times through Mussolini's reign and on into the 1960s. While the camera lavishes affectionately over Rome's art and architecture and is clearly a tribute to the Eternal City, most of the sets in the film are constructed, reinforcing Fellini's narrative imagination and keeping viewers caught in a perpetual contradiction between reality and fantasy, history and the present, fact and fiction.