70 years of Umberto D.
On January 10, 1952, the premiere of Vittorio De Sica's film "Umberto D." took place in the Uruguayan resort town of Punta del Este. The screenwriter of the film was the famous Italian writer Cesare Zavattini, according to whose scripts, in particular, such films as "Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)", "Bellissima (Beautiful)", "La ciociara (Two Women)" were shot.
Vittorio De Sica invited non-professional actors to play the main roles in this film. And if Carlo Battisti, after filming the film, returned to his main profession as a professor of linguistics at the State University in Florence, then Maria Pia Casilio, who got into this film quite accidentally at the age of 17, continued to act in films for another 45 years. However, the most successful was this, the first film in her life.
At the end of April of the same year, the film "Umberto D." was presented to the guests and participants of the Cannes International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Prix among 35 applicants. By the decision of the jury, chaired by French writer Maurice Genevoix, the main prize of the festival went to two other paintings: "The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice" by Orson Welles and "Due soldi di speranza (Two Cents Worth of Hope)" by Renato Castellani. The company of "relative losers" for Vittorio De Sica's film inter alia included the film "Guardie e ladri (Cops and Robbers)" by Italian directors Mario Monicelli and Steno.
In total, Vittorio De Sica's film "Umberto D." received three film awards, of which the most prestigious was the Bodil Award of the Danish Film Academy as the Best European Film, awarded in 1955.
In Italian government circles, Vittorio De Sica's film "Umberto D." was received extremely ambiguously. For example, Giulio Andreotti, who at that time held the post of cabinet secretary, and later subsequently changed many ministerial posts and even held the post of prime minister of the country for several years, called the film a slander on the true picture of post-war Italy.
Against the background of the film's rather modest festival successes and the negative perception of it by Italian officials, it is difficult to call the film's evaluation by film critics anything other than full of stormy delight. The overwhelming majority of film critics responded to the film with reviews full of exceptionally positive ratings. The guru of American film criticism Roger Ebert called the film "may be the best of the Italian neorealist films" and included it in his list of "Great Movies". According to Ebert,
"the film "Umberto D." is most simply itself, and does not reach for its effects or strain to make its message clear".
Even the ever - grumbling Bosley Crowther in his review noted:
"VITTORIO DE SICA'S genius as a director of realistic films has already been evidenced in this country by his "Shoe Shine" and "The Bicycle Thief." But nothing of his that has yet been seen here has had quite the pure simplicity and almost unbearable candor and compassion of his current "Umberto D."But, hopeful or not, in comparison to the usual run of movie make-believe, this eloquent scan of a man's emotions under the most trying circumstances is a great and memorable achievement on the screen. It is an honest, noble study of human character with which few film exercises can compare."
The film "Umberto D." was equally highly appreciated by Vittorio De Sica's colleagues in the cinematographic workshop. Ingmar Bergman called it his favorite movie. And Martin Scorsese included it in his list of 39 non-American films on which aspiring filmmakers should study.
Modern moviegoers, several decades after the release of the film on the screens, gave the film their very high appreciation. 71% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film scores from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of Vittorio De Sica's film "Umberto D." according to FilmGourmand was 8,455, which allowed it to take 344th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
In 2008, the French director Francis Huster made a remake of this masterpiece by Vittorio De Sica - the film "Un homme et son chien (A Man and his Dog)". This is how the picture was originally supposed to be called by Vittorio De Sica. But then De Sica decided to dedicate the film to his father and gave his name to both the main character and the film as a whole. The main role in the remake of French cinematographers was played by Jean-Paul Belmondo. The role in this film was the last in the work of this great actor.
