Europe '51
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Europe '51 (1952) is a film directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and Alexander Knox. The film follows an upper-class woman who, after the death of her young son, turns towards a rigorous humanitarianism.
Plot
Due to a labour strike, Irene Girard, wife of American industrialist George Girard, returns late to their apartment in post-war Rome, where she is giving a dinner party for their relatives. Her young son Michel laments that she has hardly time for him, to which she replies that it's time for him to grow up and stop being over-sensitive. During dinner, the guests get involved in a debate about politics. While Irene's cousin André, a Communist who writes for a political newspaper, predicts peace for the world, a conservative friend of Irene is convinced that the world is heading straight for war. The party abruptly comes to an end when Michel falls down the building's stairs and is hospitalised for a fracture of the hip bone. At the hospital, Irene learns that Michel might have hurt himself by purpose to receive attention. Irene promises Michel that from now on she will always stay with him. When Michel dies shortly after from a blood clot, Irene falls into a crisis.
After a few days, Irene is called up by André and agrees to meet with him. Like her husband and mother, he urges her to find a way out of her present state and stop blaming herself for Michel's death. If there were anyone to blame, it was post-war society and the child's growing up in fear during a war. He tells Irene of a young boy doomed to die because his poor family can't afford to pay for the expensive medicine. After paying a visit to the boy's home with André, Irene, shaken by the poor circumstances which the family lives in, donates the money needed for the medication. On her next visit, she is thanked by the child's family and the neighbours who gather spontaneously. A young woman neighbour, Ines, shows up and complains about the noise which prevents her from sleeping. The neighbours, speaking disdainfully of her, tell Irene that Ines is working as a prositute during the night.
Irene meets a young woman living with six children in a small shack by the river. Three of the children are her own, which she had with a lover who left her, while the three others are orphans taken in by her. Asked by Irene to help the young woman, André secures her a job at a local factory. Shortly before her first day at the factory, the young woman tells Irene that she wants to meet a man she once knew and can't show up at her job. Irene steps in for her and is concerned about the working conditions. When she later tells André of her experience, he argues that the exploited have to be freed, even if it means the use of violence. Irene rejects his view, as for her, love is the only answer to the world's troubles, and says that she is dreaming of a paradise both for the living and the departed. At home, she is accused by George of having an affair with André.
After visiting a church, Irene runs into Ines, who just had a confrontation with other prostitutes for streetwalking in their district. Irene takes Ines back to her home, where Ines coughs up blood. She has her examined by a doctor, who declares that Ines is in the final state of tuberculosis and that her case is hopeless. Irene watches over Ines, who eventually dies of her illness. When she goes to a neighbour to bring her the news, she is confronted with their armed teenage son, who is on the run from the police after a bank robbery. Irene helps him escape, but urges him to turn himself in by his own free will.
Irene is taken into custody by the police for helping a delinquent escape. When the teenage robber turns himself in, and George's lawyer appeals to the police arguing that Irene is in a state of shock after her son's death, and that her husband is an important representative of the American industry, she is put under observation in a mental institution. There, she has a discussion with a priest who appreciates her desire to help as being of a true Christian spirit, but argues that all help and acts of love have to follow certain regulations. Irene disagrees, calling these regulations responsible for the evils in this world, which can only be overcome with love and compassion for oneself and everybody else. Shortly after, she witnesses an inmate being rescued from a suicide attempt. She lies down next to the woman, telling her that she is not alone and that she will stay by her side.
Some time later, Irene is questioned by a committee, consisting of representatives of the law, George's lawyer, and the head of the mental institution. Again, she tries to explain her motives by saying that she simply wants to help those who are in need of help, and that salvation is only possible if everyone is saved. As her explanation does neither suffice from a radical political nor a dogmatic Christian point of view, she is declared mentally unstable and institutionalised. Under the window of her room, the family of the saved poor boy, their neighbours and the young woman from the shack have gathered, calling her a saint. Irene looks down at them, both crying and smiling.
Cast
- Ingrid Bergman as Irene Girard
- Alexander Knox as George Girard
- Ettore Giannini as André Casatti
- Giulietta Masina as "Passerotto", the young woman living in the shack
- Teresa Pellati as Ines
- Marcella Rovena as Mrs. Puglisi
- Tina Perna as Cesira
- Sandro Franchina as Michele Girard
- Maria Zanoli as Mrs. Galli
- Silvana Veronese
- William Tubbs as Professor Alessandrini
- Alberto Plebani as Mr. Puglisi
- Eleonora Barracco
- Alfonso Di Stefano
- Alfred Browne as Priest at the mental institution
