It seems that half the IMDb reviews have covered up the subject of Ingrid Bergman leaving her husband (and incidentally Hollywood) for Italian director Roberto Rossellini, a scandal that tarnished her reputation and could have terminated her career in America if if it wasn't for her successful come-back with "Anastasia"; that earned her second Oscar.
Having nothing particularly transcending to say about the film, allow me to give my two cents. I think that the span of six years isn't that of a big deal and perhaps Bergman's move allowed other actresses to rise to stardom, I wouldn't dare get judgmental and what's questioned here is the quality of the film she made with her new husband. Well, I liked "Voyage in Italy" with George Sanders, a solid drama about a couple trying to reinforce their fragile marriage through a holiday in Italy. Now what about "Stromboli", the post-War tale of a newlywed couple settling in the husband's hometown, much to the displeasure of a wife who's used to live a life of luxury during the darkest hours?
There's an ironic ring to Karen's situation that should have been the core of the story. Here's a woman who slept with Germans or maybe other officials who could ensure her to slip through the net of war restrictions or imprisonments, one could even call her the anti-Isla. She's venal, self-centered, utterly amoral... and yet holds such a high esteem of herself that she believes that she deserves the good life. If anything such a personality is the perfect candidate for a moral redemption or a Karmic retribution. But there are times where Rossellini and his collaborators in the script get so carried away by the wave of neo-realism that they took for granted the escapist value of the film. Just because we're here watching fishermen in action or some footage of a Stromboli eruption doesn't mean that the pacing should suffer from it. And there's a limit to the endurance a viewer can display in front of grainy black-and-white pictures and a bad audio.
And so we have Karen, the baltic prisoner and the handsome and dashing prince Antonio (Mario Vitale) who kept courting her from the other side of a camp only to reveal himself a modest fisherman in a little seaside village where most people migrated and stagnating under the ominous presence of the volcano Stromboli. There's something about Karen, her looks, her height, her uncommon beauty that immediately turns her into an outcast, men give her some lusty smiles, women (the few of them left) cold stares. Hardly the best prospects in life and so her whole journey is one of total boredom and perpetual resistance to that impulse to just go away. She can't for many reasons, it's an island, she's married but God knows she'll do her best even if it means tantalizing or seducing other men to do it. Now, how do you make a movie about boredom without making it boring, I guess Rossellini had enough talent to prevent the film from total dullness and was right in assuming that Bergman would carry it, her frustration can be made into a spectable.
Still, the role might have been challenging but as far as patience is concerned, "Stromboli" is very demanding. In fact, I'm wondering right now, how did Rossellini ever pitch it?
And that's it, we do have beautiful shots of the village, picturesque, we have a long sequence showing men fishing a giant tuna and one little with a rabbit attacked by a ferret, needless to say that this is not a film I'd recommend for an animal lover.
But basically "Stromboli" is a film about a bored woman that barely succeeds in not being boring, because Ingrid Bergman's presence is nothing to be proven but even her alone can't carry it for too long and by the time we get to the emotional climax, she had lost so much the connection with the other villagers that there's such a feeling of existential dead-end that Karen can only strike us as a doomed woman, who had made such a disastrous life choice with a man so oblivious to her concerns that there's no way she would ever be happy again. If anything "Stromboli" is a movie about unhappiness.
Having nothing particularly transcending to say about the film, allow me to give my two cents. I think that the span of six years isn't that of a big deal and perhaps Bergman's move allowed other actresses to rise to stardom, I wouldn't dare get judgmental and what's questioned here is the quality of the film she made with her new husband. Well, I liked "Voyage in Italy" with George Sanders, a solid drama about a couple trying to reinforce their fragile marriage through a holiday in Italy. Now what about "Stromboli", the post-War tale of a newlywed couple settling in the husband's hometown, much to the displeasure of a wife who's used to live a life of luxury during the darkest hours?
There's an ironic ring to Karen's situation that should have been the core of the story. Here's a woman who slept with Germans or maybe other officials who could ensure her to slip through the net of war restrictions or imprisonments, one could even call her the anti-Isla. She's venal, self-centered, utterly amoral... and yet holds such a high esteem of herself that she believes that she deserves the good life. If anything such a personality is the perfect candidate for a moral redemption or a Karmic retribution. But there are times where Rossellini and his collaborators in the script get so carried away by the wave of neo-realism that they took for granted the escapist value of the film. Just because we're here watching fishermen in action or some footage of a Stromboli eruption doesn't mean that the pacing should suffer from it. And there's a limit to the endurance a viewer can display in front of grainy black-and-white pictures and a bad audio.
And so we have Karen, the baltic prisoner and the handsome and dashing prince Antonio (Mario Vitale) who kept courting her from the other side of a camp only to reveal himself a modest fisherman in a little seaside village where most people migrated and stagnating under the ominous presence of the volcano Stromboli. There's something about Karen, her looks, her height, her uncommon beauty that immediately turns her into an outcast, men give her some lusty smiles, women (the few of them left) cold stares. Hardly the best prospects in life and so her whole journey is one of total boredom and perpetual resistance to that impulse to just go away. She can't for many reasons, it's an island, she's married but God knows she'll do her best even if it means tantalizing or seducing other men to do it. Now, how do you make a movie about boredom without making it boring, I guess Rossellini had enough talent to prevent the film from total dullness and was right in assuming that Bergman would carry it, her frustration can be made into a spectable.
Still, the role might have been challenging but as far as patience is concerned, "Stromboli" is very demanding. In fact, I'm wondering right now, how did Rossellini ever pitch it?
- Hey, let's make a movie about a woman who's bored to death in a godforsaken place in Italy full of black-clad gossiping matrons and with men going to fish tuna for the whole day". You know local touch, fish out of the water and the Stromboli to work as a metaphor for her nerves at the verge of erupting, not to mention a cool sounding title.
- I don't know, she's bored, you said. But what does she do during the day?
- Oh, she's just a perpetually angry woman, making women suspicious and men trying to comfort her... in total respect of course.
- Oh, I think I see where this is leading. Progressively, she'll learn to fit in the town and become a new woman who embraced the simplicity of life in the Mediterrannean sea, surrounded by rough but ordinary people. She'll be friend with a woman, an old man or maybe a kid.
- No kid. That's an old trope, hey, it's neo-realism, life isn't a fairy tale. Not only she'll always be furious but she'll try to threaten her husband and even seduce men to help her. Hell, she'll even seduce the priest who was her only friend.
- Gee, no wonder she's hated. And how does it end.
- I don't know, right now I'm busy capturing some footage of the Stromboli, the material is a little thin but we'll get enough fillers to give the film its documentary value.
- You said it, it's rather thin.
- Oh did I tell you the lead role is Ingrid Bergman?
- Sold.... But wasn't she married?
- Mmm... that's another story, let's stick to business.
And that's it, we do have beautiful shots of the village, picturesque, we have a long sequence showing men fishing a giant tuna and one little with a rabbit attacked by a ferret, needless to say that this is not a film I'd recommend for an animal lover.
But basically "Stromboli" is a film about a bored woman that barely succeeds in not being boring, because Ingrid Bergman's presence is nothing to be proven but even her alone can't carry it for too long and by the time we get to the emotional climax, she had lost so much the connection with the other villagers that there's such a feeling of existential dead-end that Karen can only strike us as a doomed woman, who had made such a disastrous life choice with a man so oblivious to her concerns that there's no way she would ever be happy again. If anything "Stromboli" is a movie about unhappiness.