Isabella Rossellini

Source: Fondazione Cinema per Roma / Festa del Cinema di Roma 2025.

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini expressed her gratitude for what she called “the rediscovery of my father’s voice” as Roberto Rossellini – More Than One Life made its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival this week.

He hated being called an artist, he wanted to be seen as a human being,” she said at the press conference. “In this film I found him again, beyond the myth. It tells the truth of who he was.”

She recalled watching her father’s films for the first time as a teenager. “I went secretly [to a retrospective of his work at a cinema] because he didn’t like being turned into a monument. When he found out, he was moved to tears.”

Entirely composed of archive materials, Roberto Rossellini – More Than One Life pieces together unseen footage, recordings and letters read off screen by contemporary artists voicing Ingrid Bergman and cinematographer Aldo Tonti, to reconstruct the portrait of an artist determined to escape the very myth that surrounded him. It mostly chronicles his little-known last 20 years. 

Ilaria De Laurentiis, Raffaele Brunetti and Andrea Paolo Massara, the Italian directing trio of Roberto Rossellini – More Than One Life, said they wanted to explore the creative urgency and intellectual freedom that defined Rossellini’s work beyond the boundaries of neorealism.

The main challenge was that it had been conceived, written and edited in parallel, over two and a half years, with each of the three directors contributing with their specific skillset: De Laurentiis as editor, Massara as screenwriter,  and Brunetti as director. “I wouldn’t suggest to anyone to work this way,” said Brunetti.

The result is a montage of private correspondence, television fragments and home movies.

The filmmakers said they opted for a minimalist structure where Rossellini’s words drive the narrative. To embody the people around him, they invited actors to lend their voices to authentic letters and diaries. Isabella Rossellini appears as herself, while Kasia Smutniak gives voice to Ingrid Bergman and Pierluigi Gigante interprets Aldo Tonti, Rossellini’s cinematographer and companion.

The research drew on an extensive range of sources, including the family’s private collection. “It was a monumental effort,” De Laurentiis notes, crediting producer-archivist Chiara Sbarigia and historian Margherita Moro, who helped order what the filmmakers describe as the ‘folle archivio’ (crazy archive) of Renzo Rossellini’s house, working closely with siblings Alessandro and Isabella.

Producer Gabriele Genuino of Rai Cinema said the project immediately stood out for its contemporary resonance: “The reason to support it was clear: to bring Rossellini’s thoughts and words back among us. They remain avant-garde and necessary, almost prophetic. It is as if he had opened time and looked into the future with frightening clarity.”

The Rome launch will now be followed by an Italian theatrical release via Fandango in early November. Genuino believes the work’s immersive archive approach broadens its reach. “This is not only for cinephiles,” he said.

Beyond its archival value, the filmmakers of Roberto Rossellini – More Than One Life argue for the modernity of Rossellini’s vision. His belief that television could become an educational platform, his early experiments with serial narrative and his insistence on form as a vehicle for thought anticipate the current convergence of cinema, television and streaming.

“Rossellini broke the idea of format,” said Brunetti. “He was one of the first to say that it doesn’t matter whether it’s cinema or television, what matters is knowledge.”

Roberto Rossellini – More Than One Life is produced by B&B Film as a co-production with Rai Cinema and VFS Film, with Fandango handling international sales.

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