Stardom and the Aesthetics of Neorealism

Ingrid Bergman in Rossellini's Italy

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by Ora Gelley

Type

Studies

Subject

Actress > Ingrid Bergman

Keywords

Ingrid Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Italy

Publishing date

2016

Publisher

Routledge

Collection

Routledge Advances in Film Studies

1st publishing

2012

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 204 pages
6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches (16 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-1-138-65151-7

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Book Presentation:
In this exciting new book, Gelley considers the collaboration between Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman in light of the neorealist aesthetic. This study re-examines the director's postwar works in relation to the contemporary discussion on Italian national identity: rather than marking a radical break with the director's early neorealist successes, Rossellini's films with Bergman in fact extend the boundaries of neorealism and challenge the standard reading of its basic tenets, especially the relationship between character and setting.

Gelley reassesses the relationship between European postwar and American cinema, looking at how the image of the Hollywood star was translated and transformed when it was imported into Rossellini's Italy. Rossellini's insertion of the Hollywood star into the native landscape had a significant influence on the director's approach to the neorealist aesthetic. His filming of the encounter between Bergman and the Italian landscape involves not only a re-interpretation and transformation of the Hollywood star persona, but also a challenge to the idealized notion of an authentic Italian national collective free of foreign influence. The disruption of Bergman's character into the Italian landscape became one means whereby the director was able to explore the ambivalence inherent in any attempt to construct a national identity.

About the Author:
Ora Gelley is Assistant Professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University.

See the publisher website: Routledge

See the complete filmography of Ingrid Bergman on the website: IMDB ...