March 13, 6 p.m.

L' amore (Love)
​

Directed by Roberto Rossellini, 
Italy, 1948, 69'
Starring Anna Magnani
​and Federico Fellini
​Italian language with English subtitles
Part of the Film-Thinking series of the Cogut Institute for the Humanities.
​The screening will be followed by a reception and a round-table discussion  
with Timothy Bewes, Kristina Mendicino, Massimo Riva, and Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg

Roberto Rossellini directs Anna Magnani in two short films about love and loneliness. In the first, Una voce umana (A Human Voice), based on a play by Jean Cocteau, a woman makes a last-ditch attempt to save her relationship over the phone. In the second, Il Miracolo (The Miracle), based on a script by Federico Fellini, who also stars in the film, a peasant woman believes she is pregnant with the son of God. This episode created high controversy when the film was released in the US, leading to a United States Supreme Court decision in 1952 (Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, a case popularly known as the "Miracle Decision") which declared that film is a form of artistic expression protected by First Amendment freedom of speech guarantees. 

Courtesy of Janus Films/The Criterion Collection. Restored in 2013 by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, CSC - Cineteca Nazionale, Coproduction Office e Istituto Luce Cinecittà at L'immagine Ritrovata Laboratory. The digital restoration was based on the best available elements, a combined duplicate positive preserved by Cinecittà Luce.