Mamma Roma

In collaboration with the Museum of Cycladic Art, as part of the exhibition 'Marlene Dumas: Cycladic Blues'. The film was specially selected for this screening by the artist herself, Marlene Dumas.

Directed by: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring: Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti
Duration: 106 minutes
Year of Production: 1962

One year after his directorial debut with Accattone, Pasolini continues his social chronicle of the marginalized, observing a vibrant prostitute in a noisy (eternal) city and reverently narrating a Christian allegory that elevates a deity: Anna Magnani. In the story of an honest prostitute striving to secure a better future — by petty-bourgeois standards — for her son, Magnani is wholly devoted to the man she bore, rather than those who imposed themselves on her greedily and commercially.

With the camera as a keen witness to daily, tragic grandeur, Pasolini traps Mama Roma’s “brilliant dream” within the tight cinematic frames and ironically mocks the illusion of longing for escape. Escape is impossible; the shadows of Rome’s neighborhoods foreshadow the dramatic finale, and fate relentlessly and timelessly plays its own game. However, the struggle for a better life must remain the most important motivation, and in the black-and-white world of Mama Roma, the symbol of that struggle is the face of a “mother courage”. Not coincidentally, Pasolini’s next film was The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Panos Gkenas