«Neorealismo with a satirical outlook»: Alberto Sordi (1920-2003) and the stardom of the commedia all’italiana genre

Authors

  • Giacomo Boitani National University of Ireland, Galway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/9632

Abstract

The Italian cinematic genre known as commedia all’italian consisted of a wave of realist and satirical comedies depicting Italian society between the mid 1950s and the late 1970s. Many of the genre’s filmmakers have pointed out in interviews how their practice was informed by the post-war neorealismo of directors such as Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini. However, the alleged relationship between these two cinematic forms poses a series of problems, one of these being that neorealismo is widely associated with the use of non-professional actors, while commedia all’italiana was characterised by the presence of immensely popular stars. This article will analyse this aspect of the neorealismo-commedia relationship through a case study of the stardom of Roman actor Alberto Sordi (1920-2003), one of the most popular commedia all’italiana stars.

How to Cite

Boitani, G. (2012). «Neorealismo with a satirical outlook»: Alberto Sordi (1920-2003) and the stardom of the commedia all’italiana genre. Status Quaestionis, (1). https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/9632

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Section

Articles