Film Details

• Umberto D.
• Dir. Vittorio De Sica, 1952, Italy, 89 mins.
• Written by Cesare Zavattini
• Cinematography: G. R. Aldo
• Music by Alessandro Cicognini
• Production: Giuseppe Amato / Rizzoli Film
• Fun Fact: Carlo Battisti was not an actor, but a professor of linguistics that De Sica found on the streets of Rome

Cast/Characters

• Umberto D. Ferrari (Carlo Battisti). An elderly retired civil servant
• Maria (Maria Pia Casilio). The young maid who works in Umberto’s boarding house
• Antonia Belloni (Lina Gennari). Umberto’s landlady
• Flike (or Flag in some versions) (Napoleone, uncredited). Umberto’s dog

Key terms:

• Postwar Italy – poverty, reconstruction, and social change
• Italian Neorealism – location shooting, nonprofessional actors, ordinary people and everyday life
• Social realism, dignity, loneliness, old age
• Everyday actions and small details as cinematic drama

Worksheet questions:

1. What makes this an example of Italian Neorealism?
2. How does De Sica bring dramatic interest to the everyday – with what techniques?
3. Let’s talk about Umberto D’s dog and their relationship. What does this relationship reveal?
4. How does the film speak to its time – postwar Italy in the early 1950s?