''Europe '51'' (), also known as ''The Greatest Love'', is a 1952 Italian
neorealist film directed by
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...
, starring
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...
and
Alexander Knox. The film follows an industrialist's wife who, after the death of her young son, turns towards a rigorous
humanitarianism
Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotion ...
. In 2008, the film was included on the
Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s
100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the
collective memory
Collective memory is the shared pool of memories, knowledge and information of a social group that is significantly associated with the group's identity. The English phrase "collective memory" and the equivalent French phrase "la mémoire collect ...
of the country between 1942 and 1978."
Plot
Due to a
labour strike
Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became co ...
, Irene Girard, wife of American industrialist George Girard, returns late to their apartment in post-war
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, where she is giving a dinner party for their relatives. Her young son Michel laments that she has hardly time for him, to which she replies that it's time for him to grow up and stop being over-sensitive. During dinner, the guests get involved in a debate about politics. While Irene's cousin André, a
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
who writes for a political newspaper, predicts peace for the world, a conservative friend of Irene is convinced that the world is heading straight for war. The party abruptly comes to an end when Michel falls down the building's stairs and is hospitalised for a fracture of the hip bone. At the hospital, Irene learns that Michel might have hurt himself by purpose to receive attention. Irene promises Michel that from now on she will always stay with him. When Michel dies shortly after from a
blood clot
A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...
, Irene falls into a crisis.
After a few days, Irene is called up by André and agrees to meet with him. Like her husband and mother, he urges her to find a way out of her present state and stop blaming herself for Michel's death. If there were anyone to blame, it was post-war society and the child's growing up in fear during a war. He tells Irene of a young boy doomed to die because his poor family can't afford to pay for the expensive medicine. After paying a visit to the boy's home with André, Irene, shaken by the poor circumstances which the family lives in, donates the money needed for the medication. On her next visit, she is thanked by the child's family and the neighbours who gather spontaneously. A young woman neighbour, Ines, shows up and complains about the noise which prevents her from sleeping. The neighbours, speaking disdainfully of her, tell Irene that Ines is working as a prostitute during the night.
Irene meets a young woman living with six children in a small shack by the river. Three of the children are her own, which she had with a lover who left her, while the three others are orphans taken in by her. Asked by Irene to help the young woman, André secures her a job at a local factory. Shortly before her first day at the factory, the young woman tells Irene that she wants to meet a man she once knew and can't show up at her job. Irene steps in for her and is concerned about the working conditions. When she later tells André of her experience, he argues that the exploited have to be freed, even if it means the use of violence. Irene rejects his view, as for her, love is the only answer to the world's troubles, and says that she is dreaming of a paradise both for the living and the departed. At home, she is accused by George of having an affair with André.
After visiting a church, Irene runs into Ines, who just had a confrontation with other prostitutes for streetwalking in their district. Irene takes Ines back to her home, where Ines coughs up blood. She has her examined by a doctor, who declares that Ines is in the final state of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
and that her case is hopeless. Irene watches over Ines, who eventually dies of her illness. When she goes to a neighbour to bring her the news, she is confronted with their armed teenage son, who is on the run from the police after a bank robbery. Irene helps him escape, but urges him to turn himself in by his own free will.
Irene is taken into custody by the police for helping a delinquent escape. When the teenage robber turns himself in, and George's lawyer appeals to the police arguing that Irene is in a state of shock after her son's death, and that her husband is an important representative of the American industry, she is put under observation in a mental institution. There, she has a discussion with a priest who appreciates her desire to help as being of a true Christian spirit, but argues that all help and acts of love have to follow certain regulations. Irene disagrees, calling these regulations responsible for the evils in this world, which can only be overcome with love and compassion for oneself and everybody else. Shortly after, she witnesses an inmate being rescued from a suicide attempt. She lies down next to the woman, telling her that she is not alone and that she will stay by her side.
Some time later, Irene is questioned by a committee, consisting of representatives of the law, George's lawyer, and the head of the mental institution. Again, she tries to explain her motives by saying that she simply wants to help those who are in need of help, and that salvation is only possible if everyone is saved. As her explanation does neither suffice from a radical political nor a dogmatic Christian point of view, she is declared mentally unstable and institutionalised. Under the window of her room, the family of the saved poor boy, their neighbours and the young woman from the shack have gathered, calling her a saint. Irene looks down at them, both crying and smiling.
Cast
*
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...
as Irene Girard
*
Alexander Knox as George Girard
*
Ettore Giannini as André Casatti
*
Giulietta Masina
Giulia Anna "Giulietta" Masina (; 22 February 1921 – 23 March 1994) was an Italian film actress best known for her performances as Gelsomina in ''La Strada'' (1954) and Cabiria in '' Nights of Cabiria'' (1957), for which she won the Cannes Fi ...
as "Passerotto", the young woman living in the shack
* Teresa Pellati as Ines
*
Marcella Rovena as Mrs. Puglisi
* Tina Perna as Cesira
* Sandro Franchina as Michel Girard
*
Maria Zanoli as Mrs. Galli
* Silvana Veronese
*
William Tubbs as Professor Alessandrini
* Alberto Plebani as Mr. Puglisi
* Eleonora Barracco
* Alfonso Di Stefano
* Alfred Browne as Priest at the mental institution
Production
Long fascinated by
Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...
, to whom he had already dedicated his film ''
Flowers of St. Francis'' (1950), Roberto Rossellini decided to place a person of the saint's character in post-war Italy and show what the consequences would be.
Facing negative critical response to his work and production problems in Italy at the time, he then considered realising the project in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.
In the first version of the script, co-written by
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...
, Irene, divorced by her husband and left by her lover André, is released from the mental institution and continues her humanitarian work in accordance with Christian dogma.
When shooting began in November 1951 (production in Italy had by then been secured), the script was still in the process of re-writing before being finally submitted to the censors in January 1952.
In the final version, Irene's personal interpretation of Christianity is rejected by all institutions, including the church, and her son, with whom she was re-united in the earliest script, dies.
In an introduction produced for French television in 1963, Rossellini cited philosopher and activist
Simone Weil
Simone Adolphine Weil ( ; ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic and political activist. Despite her short life, her ideas concerning religion, spirituality, and politics have remained widely influential in cont ...
as another influence on the film's main character.
Additionally, film historian Elena Dagrada and Rossellini's daughter
Isabella interpreted Irene as a projection of the director's trying to come to terms with the early death of his first son.
The film's sets were designed by
Virgilio Marchi, a veteran
Futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...
architect, together with Ferdinando Ruffo.
For the Italian language version, Ingrid Bergman was dubbed by
Lydia Simoneschi.
Release
''Europe '51'' premiered at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
on 12 September 1952 in a 118 minutes long version, which was shortened by 4 minutes before its release in Italian cinemas on 8 January 1953.
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti ( ; ; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and wikt:statesman, statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992), and was leader of th ...
, responsible for government policy on cinema between 1947 and 1953, had, among other aspects, questioned the film's portrayal of a Communist caring for a poor, sick child while ignoring the Catholic tradition of charity, and the negative juxtaposition of Irene's Christianity with representatives of the law and the church.
This resulted in changes and deletions of religious and political content prior to the film's September premiere, and again before its release in Italian cinemas.
Scenes altered or cut included a line in which Irene addresses André as "the dove of peace", or religious quotations by Irene in discussions with André and the priest at the sanatorium.
The English language version for the international market ran 9 minutes shorter than the festival version, omitting scenes like Irene watching a newsreel about the relocation of the inhabitants of small village which has to make way for a reservoir dam, or her search for a doctor for Ines.
The film was only a moderate success among cinemagoers in Italy, and even less abroad.
Released as ''The Greatest Love'' in the US in 1954, it gained little attention, and it was not distributed at all in Great Britain.
In 2013, the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...
released ''Europe '51'' as part of a three-disc set titled ''3 Films By Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman'' (also containing ''
Stromboli
Stromboli ( , ; ) is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the four active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the seven Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily, and the mytho ...
'' and ''
Journey to Italy''), which featured both the English and Italian language versions.
The film also received repeated retrospective festival screenings, including the
Locarno Film Festival
The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...
in 1977, the
Torino Film Festival in 2000 and the
Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in 2015.
Reception
Upon its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, ''Europe '51'' was harshly criticised both from a
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
and a Catholic point of view.
Piero Regnoli of the ''
L'Osservatore Romano
''L'Osservatore Romano'' is the daily newspaper of Vatican City which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication, a role ...
'' saw the film as Rossellini's best in years, but criticised the portrayal of the representatives of religious and worldly authorities.
In his 1954 review for the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'',
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...
found kind words for star Ingrid Bergman, but dismissed the film as "bleakly superficial and unconvincing". On the other hand, French critic
André Bazin
André Bazin (; 18 April 1918 – 11 November 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. He started to write about movies in 1943 and was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine '' Cahiers du cinéma'' in 1951 ...
called ''Europe '51'' an "accursed masterpiece" which had been misjudged by its critics.
In more recent years, critics have reconsidered the film's qualities. Reviewing the Criterion home media release for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' in 2013,
Richard Brody titled ''Europe '51'' "an exemplary lesson in movie-making". Film historian
David Thomson, writing for ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', rated ''Europe '51'' as the most interesting of the three films in the Criterion release, pointing out "a calm and an existential structure not evident in the other two".
Awards
''Europe '51'' received the International Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Ingrid Bergman won the 1953
Silver Ribbon
The (plural: ''Nastri d'Argento''; English: Silver Ribbon) is an Italian film award, held since 1946 by the ''Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani'' (Italian National Union of Film Journalists). Awards are given annually in ...
award from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
and the
Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance. The Volpi Cup was not awarded to her in 1952 because she was dubbed (by
Lydia Simoneschi) in the version presented at the Festival. However, in 1992 she was awarded posthumously. The prize was accepted by her son Roberto Rossellini.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
1952 films
Italian black-and-white films
1952 drama films
Films directed by Roberto Rossellini
Italian neorealist films
1950s Italian-language films
Films set in Rome
Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis
Films produced by Carlo Ponti
Films scored by Renzo Rossellini
Italian drama films
1950s English-language films
1950s Italian films