Europa '51

"Europa 51" may be the best of all the Bergman/Rosselini collaborations of the fifties,outshining such works as "Viaggio in Italia" or "Stromboli,terra de dio". There are two worlds in this god almighty universe:the one in which time is only a quiet river,and the one in which time is killing you.Irène (Bergman)belongs to the former one.Masina's character and Inès,the prostitute to the wrong side of town. When her son committed suicide,Irène was chatting,exchanging trivialities with her posh guests.Eaten with remorse,she realizes her taste for society life took the best of her and now it's too late!

One of her friends opens the gates of a then-unknown world for her:factories where men sweat ,streets where whores roam,slums where mothers strive to feed thir starving children.The man is a Marxist,and he tells Irene about a brand new world where justice and solidarity will be the golden rule.

However,Irene cannot subscribe to this ideology:"This world is not mine because it does not include Michel"-her late son".Beyond that point,the movie turns Christian;Marxist materialism cannot satisfy a desperate woman whose spiritual longing is intense.So she takes altruism to new limits,forgetting all about herself,becoming some kind of Mother Theresa.Christian,too Christian...Her family begins to think she 's lost her mind,and they locked her up in an insane asylum.

Is the ending optimistic or pessimistic?I would opt for the first epithet:behind her bars,Irène can see her new friends come and worship her as a saint.She's lost her wealth,but Michel's death was the beginning of an end for her.Through this redemption,she knows that now,this unfortunate boy forgave her

This is one of Bergman's unfairly forgotten performances.It is accessible and should appeal to a very large public.

EUROPA 51 is an odd film. Irene (Bergman) is the wife and mother in a rich family, in affluent surroundings. Hers seems a perfect world, but she is too self-centered to realize that her son needs attention and love.

EUROPA 51 reflects the situation in Europe in 1951, six years after the end of WW II. Work is scarce. poverty is rife, the impersonality of industry is overwhelming society, but against this general background some personal problems stick out: Irene focuses on being an adroit host and having her house spotlessly clean; her husband wrongly fears that she is cheating on him with a journalist; and their son feels ignored and throws himself down a staircase, with fatal consequences.

Irene feels very guilty about losing her son, moves away from home, and descends into the underworld of poverty, helping people in the process. This is where a memorable performance surfaces, by Giuletta Masina, the wife of famous Italian director Federico Fellini, who injects life into the whole movie, in contrast with Irene's increasingly quiet soul.

The fact that her own husband and circle of friends see her as approaching madness reflects the tragedy that tends to pursue the individual who dares to show feelings and concerns in relation to his/her fellow neighbor. In this case, Irene helps a number of people, takes genuine interest in their predicaments, but her reward is questionable: she sees her husband leave her behind the bars of a psychiatric ward, feeling intolerably lonely, but common people see her as a saint.

Ultimately, it is a film in equal measure wise and wayward. Perhaps I cannot avoid looking at it with 21st Century eyes, and I lack knowledge about the mindset of Italian society in the early 1950s. Still, I had a problem attaching credibility to this film.

That said, Bergman was never more physically stunning than in this film, and her acting is first class.

Director Rossellini shows steely determination driving forward this unusual film. Photography is quite good. Script is generally competent. Acting by Bergman and Masina is excellent, the rest of the cast, Knox included, does not shine so much.

The film's main flaw is that it is overlong by some 20 minutes, but any Rossellini-Bergman collaboration deserves attentive watching.

At first I wasn't sure what the point was of Europa '51. It's a movie that sneaks up on you because the early scenes are not at all about the same thing as everything that comes after. I kept thinking this was going to be a family drama, or some kind of political drama, but I was wrong. I quite like the development of this plot, because it shows how traumatic events can help shape our lives, and change who we are. At the start of this film I didn't care all that much for Ingrid Bergman's character, and I was a bit frustrated at the prospect of following her for the full runtime of this movie. Little did I realize, there were big changes on the way, and that transition impacted me even more because I saw the emotional journey of this character from where she began to where it all ended. I loved the arc of her story, and I was surprised how relevant it seems to the life we all lead every single day.

I think the most impactful thing to me in Europa '51 is that the story made me introspective. I always applaud any film that can get me to the point where I'm contemplating the way I live my own life. The movie shows how our world can be a dark and cynical place, but it also shows the power of love within all that darkness. I was emotional in the climax, not only because I was touched by the way the protagonist had come to view her place in the world, but also because of the way others reacted to her views. It's interesting to see a film tackle this major question of morality without taking it down a religious path. Instead it shows how even those in organized religion can be resistant to the very love and kindness that they preach. Needless to say, I was energized by Europa '51, and found it to be a powerful film that I'd love to explore more and will probably quote to others in the future.

After filming stories about the resistance of the Italian people during the Fascist and Nazi regimes, and the story of a German child against the barren landscape of Berlin after the war, Roberto Rossellini made a movie about Francis of Assisi and started a love and work relationship with actress Ingrid Bergman. In his evolution to works like 'The Rise To Power of Louis XIV', he made a series of melodramas with Bergman, of which 'Stromboli' and 'Voyage To Italy' are always considered the most important. Add to that list this fine drama, in which bourgeois housewife Irene suffers a transformation when confronted with the misery of those who had not been benefited with the European 'economic miracle.' Considered a saint by those she helped (Giulietta Masina included), Rossellini makes quite obvious that Irene reached that state by detouring from the usual roads she took as the wife of a prominent industrialist (Alexander Knox.) Not only has she a Marxist cousin –who curiously does not preach his philosophy, but gives Irene advise whenever she talks about the misery she is discovering- but she also ventures into the slums, helps a single mother, a prostitute and a thief. The final section of the movie reminded me of 'María de mi corazón', a latter film written by Gabriel García Márquez, based on a real story. As in 'María…' there is neither opportunity nor chance to explain clearly what she's going through to husband or authorities, leading her to a dead end of desperation. Only sainthood will save her from the dehumanization around her.

I suppose that when "Europa '51" was going to be filmed there was a great professional mutual understanding between Rossellini (the director) and Ingrid Bergman (main actress). It's really astonishing the way Ingrid Bergman's face changes throughout the movie. She really looks like a "human God" (specially towards the end) just by looking at her expressions. If you have the opportunity of watching "Europa '51" twice, you will notice that her character in the beginning of the story, where Irene Girard (Ingrid Bergman) is the mother of a well-off family, is totally different from the last shots. I also like how Irene contrasts with the way of living of the poor children and working-women. Although Rossellini's movie is a bit lengthy, bearing in mind it was made in Italy in 1952, many events occur with short scenes perfectly connected obtaining a gorgeous dynamism as a whole. I'm almost sure that my favorite scene is the same as the majority of the people who watched "Europa '51". I refer to the moving ending of the story. I also like how the camera moves around capturing the contrast of expressions between the sick patients and Irene. I encourage everybody to watch this masterpiece, even twice!