Abstract
Chapter 3 focuses on Italian neorealism, the film current that consolidated nonprofessional performance as a tenet of film realism and art cinema. The first part of the chapter considers the reasons why, despite being regarded as a cornerstone of Italian neorealism since the writings of André Bazin, nonprofessional performance remains significantly underexplored in films from the period. Chapter 3 argues that nonprofessional performance in neorealism changes significantly from film to film and, therefore, must be analysed in the context of specific works.
Building on the distinctions identified in Chap. 2, Chap. 3 compares nonprofessional performances in films by three neorealist filmmakers: Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. Chapter 3 argues that each of these filmmakers can be understood as continuing each of the three traditions of nonprofessional performance identified in Chap. 2. Chapter 3 also contends that different facets of nonprofessionalism emerge as significant with regard to characters in films from the post-war period. Most neorealist works feature characters who are unemployed (lacking a profession) or, more broadly, out of their depth, at the mercy of oppressing forces. Chapter 3 then examines how nonprofessional actors bring to these films qualities that synergise with the characters’ nonprofessionalism.
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Notes
- 1.
Throughout the book, the term “neorealism” is sometimes used as replacement for “Italian neorealism” rather than to refer to what we might call “global neorealism”: films made outside the Italian post-war context that, however, feature qualities associated with Italian neorealism.
- 2.
See Levy (2003).
- 3.
For an excellent discussion of the reception of Italian neorealism in the USA see Schoonover (2012a).
- 4.
Wagstaff also notes that ‘At the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (the state film school) Umberto Bavaro drilled his students in analysis of Soviet films […] as well as translating Pudovkin’s writings into Italian’ (2007, p. 23).
- 5.
For compelling discussions focusing on the complexity of screen performance in Hollywood cinema, see Affron (1977), Klevan (2005) and Clayton (2007). For discussions that consider ambiguity in relation to screen performance through analysis of what’s often referred to as classical films see Perkins (1990) and Law (2021).
- 6.
- 7.
The line is a variation of the proverb 20:29 from The Bible.
- 8.
See Kiss (2015).
- 9.
- 10.
See Gallagher (1998).
- 11.
A Walk With De Sica (Bernier, 1950).
- 12.
The following is an extract from an unpublished interview with De Sica conducted by James Blue: ‘Blue: Did you use actors to dub your non-professionals? De Sica: No, they did it themselves. The first two days were difficult but after, they work with great ability. I speak to them in the same way as for the shooting—in a sweet, firm, quiet voice. In the dubbing, it is difficult to obtain the same sincerity and the same truth’ (De Sica in Blue, 1965).
- 13.
Views such as Truman Capote’s, who saw De Sica as ‘mostly a megaphone for Zavattini’ (Capote in Hill, [1957] 1987, p. 28) are not uncommon and many to this day see Zavattini as the true author of the films.
- 14.
See Rowan (1950).
- 15.
When it comes to the protagonists of his other films, Carlo Battisti, chosen for the role of Umberto in Umberto D., was a renowned university professor and therefore had a loose connection with struggling retired pensioner Umberto. Lianella Carell who plays Maria, Antonio’s wife, in Bicycle Thieves, was a journalist and while De Sica explains that Maria Pia Casilio, who plays Maria, the young maid in Umberto D. was a real maid (De Sica in Blue, 1965), Casilio never defines herself so but, rather, remembers that she was on holiday in Rome with her aunt when De Sica approached her (Casilio, 2003).
- 16.
De Sica’s son recalls De Sica lying in bed, passionately kissing Marcello Mastroianni to show Sophia Loren exactly what he wanted her to do (Toccafondi & Santi, 2006a), which explains that De Sica’s method of mimetic directing was not reserved exclusively for nonprofessionals.
- 17.
- 18.
The story that De Sica hid cigarette butts in Staiola’s pockets is mentioned in Ettore Scola’s C’eravamo tanto amati/We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974) while in his interview with Blue (1965), De Sica explains that he made fun of Staiola in front of the crew for sleeping in a bedroom with six other brothers and sisters.
- 19.
De Sica suggests that, in this regard, ‘[The nonprofessional’s] ignorance is an advantage, not a handicap. The man in the street, particularly if he is directed by someone who is himself an actor, is raw material that can be moulded at will’ (1968, p. 5).
- 20.
Regarding the actor-effect, as Pitassio (2008) notes, it is not so much the question of acting training or experience that is important but simply the fact that, once the nonprofessional has acted in several films, it becomes more and more possible to recognize the performances as part of a body of work.
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Gaggiotti, M. (2023). Italian Neorealism and the Nonprofessional Protagonist. In: Nonprofessional Film Performance. Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32382-9_3
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