Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Piazza della Rotonda. Anthony Minghella's psychological thriller
The Talented Mr
Ripley
(1999) uses Rome as a backdrop for the chilling tale of Matt Damon taking
over Jude Law's charmed life. The touching, atmospheric
Pranzo di Ferragosto
(Midsummer Lunch; 2008) is a portrait of a middle-aged man unable to join Rome's
mass summer exodus, while Rome in its guise as political powerhouse is seen in
Paolo Sorrentino's brilliant
Il Divo
(The Master; 2008), about controversial politician
Giulio Andreotti, starring Toni Servillo.
Characters bounced between locations in
Angels & Demons
(2009), based on the
book by Dan Brown, while the postcard-pretty
Eat, Pray, Love
(2010) starred Julia
Roberts and various Italian stereotypes. Nanni Morretti's
Habemus Papum
(2011)
tells the pertinent tale of a French cardinal (Michel Piccoli) who refuses to accept his
election as pope and escapes to spend time in the ordinary life of Rome. Woody Al-
len's
To Rome with Love
(2012), a light comedy starring Penelope Cruz, Alec Bald-
win, Roberto Benigni, and Woody himself, told four linked stories set against (some
might say) a cloyingly cliched vision of the city and its inhabitants.
TOP 5 ROME MOVIES
»
Roman Holiday
(1953)
»
La Dolce Vita
(The Sweet Life; 1960)
»
Roma, Città Aperta
(Rome, Open City; 1945)
»
Pranzo di Ferragosto
(Midsummer Lunch; 2008)
»
Il Divo
(The Master; 2008)
For a grittier perspective, see the neo-realist films of the 1940s and '50s, such as
The Bicycle Thieves
(1948), which ranges from the desolate outskirts of the city to
the bicycle market that still exists at Porta Portese. Other iconic films of this era in-
clude
Roma Città Aperta
(Rome, Open City; 1945; Roberto Rossellini) and Pier
