''Desire'' (Italian: ''Desiderio'') is a 1946 Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Marcello Pagliero Marcello Pagliero (15 January 1907 – 18 October 1980) was an Italian film director, actor, and screenwriter. Pagliero was born in London and died in Paris. He is perhaps best known for his performance in the Roberto Rossellini film ''Rome, O ...

and

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

and starring

Massimo Girotti Massimo Girotti (18 May 1918 – 5 January 2003) was an Italian film actor whose career spanned seven decades. Born in Mogliano, in the province of Macerata, Girotti developed his athletic physique by swimming and playing polo. While studying eng ...

Elli Parvo Elli Parvo (17 October 1915 – 19 February 2010) was an Italian film actress, born in Milan as Elvira Gobbo. She appeared in more than 50 films between 1934 and 1960. Selected filmography * ''Loyalty of Love'' (1934) as La nobildonna al b ...

and

Carlo Ninchi Carlo Ninchi (31 May 1896 – 27 April 1974) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1963. He was born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, and died on 27 April 1974 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Selected filmogra ...

Plot

Paola, daughter of a railwayman, leaves her home in Abruzzo to go to Rome, where she finds work with a dressmaker. It does not last, and she drifts into high-end prostitution. Shocked one morning by seeing the corpse of a girl who had thrown herself from a building, she is comforted by Giovanni, a kindly older man whose business is breeding flowers. Contrasting the mess of her own life with the simple purity of his, she resolves to return to the family home and see her sister Anna, whose wedding she failed to attend. Giovanni will follow later and ask her father for her hand. While Anna is glad to see her and her mother accepts her back, her father refuses to acknowledge her existence and Nando, her sister's husband, regards her as fair game. She is also pestered by Riccardo, now married, who had seduced her. Worried over her husband's infatuation with Paola, Anna persuades him to take her away for a few days. Riccardo then learns from the girl in the village post office that Giovanni is coming to claim Paola, so he threatens to reveal her past if she does not succumb again. Learning this from Anna, Nando rushes back to the village and, after knocking Riccardo out, claims from Paola his reward for saving her. Once he has finished, Paola throws herself from a railway bridge. Walking from the station to the family home, Giovanni is shocked to see policemen guarding a corpse under a blanket.

Production

The film originally went into production in 1943 with Rossellini as director under the title ''Scarlo Merci'' (''Freight Yard''). Rossellini planned to shoot at the railway yards in

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

in Rome, but these were hit by a heavy Allied bombing raid the night before filming was due to start. He switched shooting to the comparative safety of the

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

hills, but after the Fall of the Fascist regime financing dried up and Rossellini halted the shoot in September 1943. After the

Liberation of Rome The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The op ...

, Marcello Pagliero relaunched the production and took over direction of the film. Interiors were shot at the

Farnesina Studios Farnesina may refer to: Architecture * Casa della Farnesina, an historic building of the ancient Rome, in the neighborhood of Trastevere, Rome * Palazzo della Farnesina, the headquarters of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of the ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

while

location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for exam ...

took place around

Tagliacozzo Tagliacozzo (Marsicano: ') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, central Italy. History Tagliacozzo lies in an area inhabited in early historic times by the Aequi and the Marsi, although the first mentions of the town ...

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Virgilio Marchi Virgilio Marchi (21 January 1895 – 30 April 1960) was an Italian architect and art director. He designed the sets for more than fifty films during his career. Marchi was stylistically identified with the Futurist movement.Sabatino, Michelangelo ...

. Now retitled ''Rinuncia'' (''Renunciation'') it had had censorship issues and with several scenes cut it was finally released as ''Desire''.Brunette p.34

Cast

as Nando, husband of Anna *

as Paola, sister of Anna *

as Giovanni, plant breeder * Roswita Schmidt as Anna, sister of Paola * Francesco Grandjacquet as Riccardo, former lover of Paola *

Giovanna Scotto Giovanna Scotto (born Giovanna Margherita Piana-Canova; August 26, 1895 – December 23, 1985) was an Italian stage and film actress.Verdone p.111 She also became a prominent voice actress, dubbing foreign films for release in the Italian market. ...

as Elvira, mother of Paola and Anna * Lia Corelli as Elena * Jucci Kellerman as Lia

References

Bibliography

* Brunette, Peter. ''Roberto Rossellini''. University of California Press, 1996. * Chiti, Roberto & Poppi, Roberto . ''I film: Tutti i film italiani dal 1930 al 1944''. Gremese Editore, 2005. * Gallagher, Tag. ''The Adventures Of Roberto Rossellini: His Life And Films''. Hachette Books, 1998. * Gundle, Stephen. ''Fame Amid the Ruins: Italian Film Stardom in the Age of Neorealism''. Berghahn Books, 2019.

External links

* {{Roberto Rossellini 1946 films Italian drama films 1946 drama films 1940s Italian-language films Films directed by Marcello Pagliero Films directed by Roberto Rossellini Films set in Rome Films shot in Abruzzo 1940s Italian films