After World War II, Italian neo-realism emerged as the most appreciated cinema in the world. The great films of Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini, and Vittorio De Sica turned eyes to Italy and set the stage for a new generation of filmmakers looking beyond the gloom and economic tragedy of the era and toward the issues and opportunities of modern industrialized society. The Portland Art Museum’s exhibition, “Italian Style: Fashion Since 1945,” provides the inspiration for this survey of iconic Italian and Italian-set classics from the 1950s and 60s. During this era, Italian fashion, and everything from Italian thought, attitude, and automobiles to food, design, and Vespas, influenced audiences, filmmakers and culture worldwide—especially in the United States. A legacy of alluring films, directors, and stars timelessly endures, still providing inspiration and an unmistakably Italian vision of pop culture cool.
Il Sorpasso
Directed by Dino Risi
Classically mismatched co-stars Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant embark on a wildly reckless ride in an iconic Lancia Aurelia convertible …
Juliet of the Spirits
Directed by Federico Fellini
The female counterpoint to 8½, Fellini ventures deeply into the surreal as Juliet of the Spirits explores the repressed desires …
L’Avventura
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Antonioni’s meditation on meaning in modern existence remains an obligatory experience in existential cinema-going. On a yachting trip off Sicily, …
La Dolce Vita
Directed by Federico Fellini
Fellini’s emotional travelogue of the soul of modern Rome is a seductive meditation on what was truly meaningful (if anything) …
Le Amiche
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
In Le Amiche (Italian for girlfriends), a young woman returns to her hometown of Turin after World War II to …
Roman Holiday
The first Hollywood film to be shot and produced on location in Italy, Roman Holiday made Audrey Hepburn an enduring …
Summertime
Directed by David Lean
Jane (Katharine Hepburn), a lonely American spinster on vacation in Venice and hoping to find romance, succumbs to a passionate, …
The Barefoot Contessa
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Humphrey Bogart plays Harry Dawes, a recovering alcoholic film director who plucks simple nightclub dancer Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) out …
Valentino: The Last Emperor
Directed by Matt Tyrnauer
Shot by Vanity Fair Correspondent Matt Tyrnauer between 2005 and 2007, Valentino: The Last Emperor, offers an intimate and engaging, …