Le psychodrame

One of Roberto Rossellini’s greatest talents was that for survival. Whenever he’d hit a career impasse, he’d find a way out. After the unhappy shooting of Dov'è la libertà...? (which he started in 1953 and left mid-work, with Mario Monicelli finishing the production a year later, uncredited) and the vitriolic disinterest with which Angst (1954) was met by audiences and reviewers alike, Rossellini turned towards the virgin territory of television, shooting three psychodramas devised by Jacob Levy Moreno, a pioneer of group psychotherapy.

In doing so, Rossellini again placed himself where he liked to be best: at the epicentre of the zeitgeist – psychodrama was then the last word in therapy. But, as in the case of Dov'è la libertà...?, Rossellini walked off the production – and this time nobody picked up the pieces. Seen now, with the 1956 materials put into a presentable shape, Le psychodrame reveals itself to be an unexpected key piece in the mosaic that is Rossellini’s oeuvre/legacy.