Roberto Rossellini

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

In this evocative, atmospheric biography, Roberto Rossellini brings to life philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal, who, amid religious persecution and ignorance, believed in a harmony between God and science.

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Film Info

  • Italy
  • 1972
  • 129 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.33:1
  • French

Available In

Collector's Set

Eclipse Series 14: Rossellini’s History Films—Renaissance and Enlightenment

Rossellini’s History Films—Renaissance and Enlightenment

DVD Box Set

4 Discs

$41.96

Blaise Pascal
Cast
Pierre Arditi
Blaise Pascal
Rita Forzano
Jacqueline Pascal
Giuseppe Addobbati
Etienne Pascal
Christian De Sica
Luogotenente criminale
Livio Galassi
Jacques il servo
Bruno Cattaneo
Adrien Dechamps
Bepi Mannaiuolo
Florin Perrier
Marco Bonetti
Artus Goufier, duca di Roannes
Teresa Ricci
Gilberte Pascal
Christian Aleny
Jean Dechamps
Credits
Director
Roberto Rossellini
Producer
Renzo Rossellini
Screenplay
Roberto Rossellini
Screenplay
Marcella Mariani
Screenplay
Luciano Scaffa
Screenplay
J.D. de La Rochefoucauld
Dialogue
J.D. de La Rochefoucauld
Cinematography
Mario Fioretti
Production design
Franco Velchi
Editing
Jolanda Benvenuti
Sound
Carlo Tarchi
Music
Mario Nascimbene
Costumes
Marcella De Marchis
Costumes assistant
Isabella Rossellini

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Roberto Rossellini

Writer, Director

Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini

A founder of Italian neorealism, Roberto Rossellini brought to filmmaking a documentary-like authenticity and a philosophical stringency. After making films under Mussolini’s fascist regime early in his career, Rossellini broke out with Rome Open City, a shattering and vivid chronicle of the Nazi occupation of Italy’s capital, followed by Paisan and Germany Year Zero, which round out his “war trilogy.” Rossellini’s adulterous affair with Ingrid Bergman led to the biggest controversy of his career (they were both condemned by the United States Senate) but also to another trilogy—Stromboli, Europa ’51, and Voyage to Italy, all starring Bergman and all about spiritual crises; they were dismissed at the time of their release but are widely praised now. Through the 1950s, Rossellini experimented with different forms, offering an ascetic religious film (The Flowers of St. Francis), a documentary about India (India), and a wartime melodrama that was one of his biggest hits (Il Generale Della Rovere). In the final phase of his career, after calling a news conference and announcing, “Cinema is dead,” Rossellini turned to historical television dramas about major subjects and figures (Louis XIV, Blaise Pascal, Descartes, the Medicis), made with a rational, almost scientific approach. As always, he yearned to show life’s minutiae unadorned, bare and pure. Echoes of Rossellini’s approach to filmmaking are still felt in movements around the world, from China to Iran to South America to the United States. It’s fair to say modern cinema wouldn’t exist as we know it without him.

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