settima

Italy

Io la conoscevo bene [I Knew Her Well] (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)

Apr

2

cocktails

Io la conoscevo bene (1965)

A lone Roberto (Enrico Maria Salerno) at a lively cocktail party in Rome's hypermodern EUR district. DP: Armando Nannuzzi.

“Trouble is, she likes everything. She's always happy. She desires nothing, envies no one, is curious about nothing. You can't surprise her. She doesn't notice the humiliations, though they happen to her every day. It all rolls off her back like some waterproof material. Zero ambition. No moral code. Not even a whore's love of money.”

– the writer

Max et les ferrailleurs [Max and the Junkmen] (Claude Sautet, 1971)

Mar

16

Max et les ferrailleurs (1971)

Lily (Schneider) and Max (Piccoli) at a small table decked with good food, good wine, and quite a few wads of cash. DP: René Mathelin.

Avere vent'anni [To Be Twenty] (Fernando Di Leo, 1978)

Mar

9

sandwiches

Avere vent'anni (1978)

Lia (Gloria Guida), one of the young, hot and pissed off 20-somethings, enjoys a sandwich with her espadrilles resting on a small restaurant table. Just visible in the background are multiple men on their lunchbreak. DP: Roberto Gerardi.

“I'm young, hot and pissed off!”

– Tina

I fidanzati [The Fiancés] (Ermanno Olmi, 1963)

Feb

29

leftovers

I fidanzati (1963)

Giovanni (Carlo Cabrini) in a restaurant. It's near closing time. Cooks scape the pans. DP: Lamberto Caimi.

“If an old man can't even have a glass of wine, what's left to live for?”

El verdugo [The Executioner] (Luis García Berlanga, 1963)

Jan

31

stale bread

El verdugo (1963)

A closeup of man's hands crumbling bread over a small bowl placed next to a newspaper with keys on top of it. The man has a wool blanket over his shoulders. DP: Tonino Delli Colli.

“Father, we just ate!”

Les yeux cernés [Marked Eyes] (Robert Hossein, 1964)

Jan

11

baguette

Les yeux cernés (1964)

A young woman with big eyes and a dark bob (Marie-France Pisier) picks crumbs out of a fresh baguette. She's somewhere in a dreary small town. The snow's almost gone. DP: Jean Boffety.

A cavallo della tigre [On the Tiger's Back / Jail Break] (Luigi Comencini, 1961)

Jan

6

A cavallo della tigre (1961)

Two men in a doorway with a stunned look on their faces and their mouths stuffed with food. DP: Aldo Scavarda.

La battaglia di Algeri [The Battle of Algiers] (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)

Dec

18

Arabic Language Day

La battaglia di Algeri (1966)

Petit Omar (Mohamed Ben Kassen) reading out a letter to Ali La Pointe (Brahim Hadjadj) in the قصبة, (Cashbah). If it were not for the leads' jeans and sneakers, this scene could be in any century. DP: Marcello Gatti.

Speak an Arabic language on UN Arabic Language Day.

“The first section's dead. There's no one left. We lost contact with the second. The third is reorganizing. All that's left is the fourth. It's enough to start over with.”

Nostalghia [Nostalgia] (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1983)

Dec

10

Worldwide Candle Lighting Day

Nostalghia (1983)
Nostalghia (1983)

Hands shield something on stone steps. In the next shot, with the hands withdrawn, we see a small, lit candle. DP: Giuseppe Lanci.

“Feelings unspoken are unforgettable.”

– Andrei Gorchakov

L'udienza [The Audience] (Marco Ferreri, 1972)

Nov

14

L'udienza (1972)

Amedeo (Enzo Jannacci), a young man with heavy rimmed glasses wrapped in heavy, flowery drapes as if it's a toga, eating late at night. There's an opened can on one of his plates. A sad looking stuffed toy dog hangs out. DP: Mario Vulpiani.