Abstract: In this exploration, I strive to answer the question of which director, Roberto Rossellini or Pier Paolo Pasolini, presents their audience with the more positive portrayal of women in their films Roma città aperta (1945) and Mamma Roma (1962), respectively. I analyze three different aspects of the films: the women’s importance to the plot, their sensuality in the film, and their divergence from the typical woman. I explore the history of women during their respective periods, the early 1940s and 1960s, as there is an important difference between the pre and post WWII years. This is clearly shown in the films, as Roma città aperta is shot during the war years while Mamma Roma is shot several years after. There are summaries at the beginning, outlining the films to give my audience an idea of the plot and characters, as well as information about how Anna Magnani, who played the main female protagonist in both films, was treated by each director in each film. The paper is written in Italian to capture the authenticity of the characters in each film.

Author Bio: Stella Magni is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. She studies Italian in the forefront and NYU’s Italian department is what brought her to the school in the first place. Linguistics is her new found love and she seeks to study Cognitive Communicative Disorders at NYU and has a wide interest in language. She is the future president of NYU’s Italian Club and an active member of the Italian Conversation Club with Simon Lieber. She will be traveling to Bologna under a scholarship in May and, as a barista, is seeking the best cup of caffé.