We, the Women: Ingrid Bergman and more

We, the Women: Ingrid Bergman

1953. Italy. Directed by Roberto Rossellini. Screenplay by Rossellini, Cesare Zavattini, Luigi Chiarini. With Ingrid Bergman, Alba Setaccioli. This episode from the five-part compilation film Siamo donne represents the only comedy among the films Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini made together. It is also a sort of home movie, documenting the life of a hard-working movie star as she struggles to maintain a burgeoning family, a sprawling villa, and a magnificent garden—the latter having been invaded by a rose-gobbling chicken from the house next door. When its owner refuses to fence in the feathered menace, Bergman concocts an elaborate plot—out of Gaslight?—to kidnap the creature and, using the family dog as a threat, terrorize it into submission. Courtesy Cineteca Nazionale and Viggo. In Italian; English subtitles. 25 min.

Stromboli

1950. Italy/USA. Directed by Roberto Rossellini. Screenplay by Rossellini, Art Cohn, Renzo Cesana, Sergio Amidei, G. P. Callegari. With Ingrid Bergman, Mario Vitale, Renzo Cesana, Mario Sponzo. Stunned by the innovations of Rossellini’s Open City, Bergman famously offered him the services of “a Swedish actress who spoke English well.” The first result of their artistic collaboration was this demanding story of a Lithuanian refugee (Bergman) who accepts the marriage offer of a Sicilian fisherman she barely knows, and finds herself transported to a harsh and primitive landscape (the volcanic island of the title). Despite the scandal surrounding the production, Stromboli ranks with the work of Robert Bresson, Carl Th. Dreyer, and Leo McCarey as a profound depiction of religious experience. Digital restoration courtesy Janus Films. English version. 106 min.