Non solo Ingrid. Attori di professione, interpreti occasionali e “legge dell’amalgama” secondo Bazin e Rossellini

Through the comparison between some statements by Roberto Rossellini released to the French press in 1946, and the words used by André Bazin in his 1948 essay on Cinematic Realism and the Italian School of Liberation, this study demonstrates the direct Rossellinian influences in the Bazinian elaboration of the law about the amalgam of players, which presupposes the use of both occasional and professional performers, the latter used outside their usual roles. Furthermore, it also comes to focus on the authentic original use of interpreters by Rossellini, which does not consist only in the use of occasional interpreters, i.e. the so-called actors taken from the street, chosen on the basis of physical or biographical criteria. On the contrary, it consists especially and above all in the use of professionals in roles different from the usual ones, as in the case of Ingrid Bergman, but not only. A paradox for the Italian director considered the father of neorealism, who has always distrusted professional performers, but has obtained a greater feeling of truth by using them against the public's expectations.