settima

MarcelloMastroianni

La notte [The Night] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961)

Feb

7

Falò delle vanità – 1497

La notte (1961)

Author Giovanni Pontano (Marcello Mastroianni) pondering next to a full bookcase. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.

Books, or art, in commemoration of Savonarola's 1497 Florentine falò delle vanità (bonfire of the vanities).

“I used to spend afternoons reading in bed. Tommaso would call and find me there. He could have kissed me. I wouldn't have resisted, out of boredom. But he was satisfied to watch me as I read. All those purposeless books.”

– Lidia

A lavish #CocktailParty in celebration of the launch of a novel is bookended by tragedy, in the loss of a befriended writer and the unraveling of another writer and his wife's marriage.

Touche pas à la femme blanche [Don't Touch the White Woman!] (Marco Ferreri, 1974)

Nov

23

potato chips

Touche pas à la femme blanche (1974)

Two white Frenchmen – in a University of Columbia and a CIA sweatshirt respectively – comment on the “period piece” they're in. CIA man (Paolo Villaggio) stuffs his face with potato chips. DP: Étienne Becker.

“Whoever dies for the country hasn't lived in vain. I, on the contrary, will live for the country because I'm not that stupid.”

– George A. Custer

Divorzio all'italiana [Divorce Italian Style] (Pietro Germi, 1961)

Nov

9

Divorzio all'italiana (1961)

Ferdinando Cefalù (Mastroianni), all handsome and bored, at a table set with food and wine for one. DPs: Leonida Barboni & Carlo Di Palma.

Domenica d'agosto [Sunday in August] (Luciano Emmer, 1950)

Aug

7

1949

Domenica d'agosto (1950)

A little boy runs down a Roman street. Superimposed it reads SUNDAY AUGUST 7 S. GAETANO THE SUN RISES AT 5:15 SUNSET AT 19:42 – CRESCENT MOON. S. GAETANO refers to Saint Cajetan, who's feast day is on August 7. DPs: Leonida Barboni, Ubaldo Marelli & Domenico Scala.

Domenica d'agosto [Sunday in August] (Luciano Emmer, 1950)

Apr

29

spaghetti di mamma

Domenica d'agosto (1950)

Marcella (Anna Baldini) enjoying mamma's spaghetti on the beach of Ostia. DPs: Leonida Barboni, Ubaldo Marelli & Domenico Scala.

Lo straniero [The Stranger] (Luchino Visconti, 1967)

Jul

3

soup

Lo straniero (1967)

Arthur Meursault (Mastroianni) eating from a cracked bowl. DP: Giuseppe Rotunno.

La dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)

Mar

15

National Shoe The World Day

La dolce vita (1960)

An exuberant Sylvia (Anita Ekberg) dances barefoot to a stoic guitarist. DP: Otello Martelli.

Various characters lose their shoes in Fellini's hedonistic La dolce vita, most famously Anita Ekberg after entering a freezing Fontana di Trevi with paparazzo Marcello Mastroianni.

“I like lots of things. But there are three things I like most: love, love, and love.”

– Sylvia