“Milan on Screen: Films that Capture the Essence of the City”
Milan is not just another city that serves as a backdrop for films. It has played an integral role in numerous cinematic masterpieces that highlight its connection to industry, fashion, capitalism, and post-war progress. From the iconic films of the 1960s to the present day, Milan continues to captivate filmmakers with its glamorous allure and underlying ambivalence. Here are some of the films that best showcase the real essence of Milan and its reflection of modern life.
1. “I Am Love” (Luca Guadagnino, 2009)
Director Luca Guadagnino offers a sumptuous portrayal of Milan in “I Am Love.” Tilda Swinton leads the ensemble cast in a story that delves into art, business, sex, money, and the significance of food. The lavish Villa Necchi Campiglio serves as the backdrop, emphasizing the city’s historical grandeur that can also feel like a prison.
2. “Miracle in Milan” (Vittorio De Sica, 1951)
Vittorio De Sica takes viewers on a magical journey through Milan in “Miracle in Milan,” combining social realism with elements of comedy. The film presents the stark contrast between the lives of the impoverished and the fantastical dreams that intertwine with their struggles, portraying the different facets of Milan that exist within the city.
3. “La Notte” (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961)
Michelangelo Antonioni’s “La Notte” provides an elegant and somber portrait of Milan’s affluent classes. Jeanne Moreau’s character drifts between book launches and a fading Milan, highlighting the complexities of marital and material boredom in a city undergoing modernization.
4. “Il Posto” (Ermanno Olmi, 1961)
“Il Posto” offers a different perspective on Milan through the eyes of a young man seeking opportunities in the bustling city. The film captures the protagonist’s journey from a small town to the urban clamor, reflecting the transformative nature of Milan and the pursuit of success in a corporate world.
5. “Rocco and His Brothers” (Luchino Visconti, 1960)
Luchino Visconti’s “Rocco and His Brothers” portrays the harsh reality of poverty, boxing, and the divide between northern and southern Italy in Milan. The film showcases Visconti’s hometown from a gritty and operatic perspective, highlighting the challenges faced by the characters within the city.
6. “Teorema” (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968)
Pier Paolo Pasolini sets his mysterious and intriguing film “Teorema” in Milan, using a grand estate as a playground for a charismatic stranger. The movie explores sexual awakening and spiritual enlightenment, unraveling both lighter and darker aspects of Milanese society.
7. “Story of a Love” (Miguel Ángel Antonioni, 1950)
Antonioni brings film noir to Milan’s artificial lake of Idroscalo in “Story of a Love.” The detective-driven story follows the investigation of a young wife’s past, juxtaposing her glamorous life in Milan with the secrets lurking in her hometown of Ferrara.
Lastly, Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” delves into the doomed marriage of Maurizio Gucci and Patrizia Reggiani. While Milan plays a significant role in the film, some locations and scenes were recreated in Rome for dramatic effect, leaving Milan with mixed feelings about its portrayal.
Each film offers a unique perspective on Milan, capturing its timeless allure and complexities. As the city continues to evolve, new films will inevitably emerge, showcasing further dimensions of Milan’s vibrant character.
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This article is part of a Milan guide by FT Globetrotter
Many cities around the world end up on screen due to little more than a tax cut and a set of famous landmarks as the backdrop for a car chase. Milan brings so much more to a film. The northern Italian powerhouse has been a vital character in a series of wonderful films, always linked to industry, aristocracy, fashion, capitalism and the complex blessing of post-war progress.
While much of the most famous Milanese cinema was a product of the red-hot 1960s, the replication has continued. In the 21st century, filmmakers continue to be seduced by its dazzling surfaces and, perhaps, the touch of ambivalence that accompanies them. So the following are the films that I think best capture the real Milan: the city that always said so much about modern life.
I am love (Luca Guadagnino, 2009)
Where to watch: BFI player
Prominent Italian families are sometimes infuriated when their portraits end up on movie screens. (We will arrive at House of Gucci over time.) Not so Piero Castellini Baldissera, the prominent architect descended from the Milanese nobility. In the course of I am love, director Luca Guadagnino’s sumptuous group portrait, Castellini Baldissera joyfully appears on screen to toast a clan said to be inspired by his own. A Milanese winter light soon falls on questions of art, business, sex, money and, most memorably, food. (Milan’s legendary restaurant Craco is another thinly veiled presence.) Tilda Swinton leads the ensemble, against the backdrop of the glass and marble splendor of the Villa Necchi Campiglio, restored before production by Castellina Baldissera himself. Although it may look impressive, Guadagnino gives the place a prison feel. It is difficult to free yourself from a glorious history, the film says.
Miracle in Milan (Vittorio De Sica, 1951)
Where to watch: Mubi and Amazon Prime
The great director Vittorio De Sica will always be synonymous with Rome, the place of his raw masterpiece. Bicycle thieves. But generations of film buffs have also happily accompanied De Sica on the journey he undertook with his next film: Miracle in Milan, a novelty in both geography and tone, fusing social realism with magical comedy. And yet poor Italian lives remain at the heart of the matter, in the story of an impoverished orphan in a slum near the Lambrate train station, where hard knocks and whimsical fantasies intertwine, and street sweepers plow through the streets. heavens on their brooms. The atmosphere is dizzying, but De Sica always wants us to remember a bittersweet reality: the different Milans that always exist within a city.
The Night (Miguel Ángel Antonioni, 1961)
Where to watch: BFI player, The criterion channel
Of all the films that linked Milan on screen to a particular kind of moneyed ennui, the great La Notte He did it in the most elegant and somber way. Over the course of a single day and night, Michelangelo Antonioni offers us a panorama of the modernizing city from the credits, with the camera descending from a tower of beams and glass over traffic and office blocks. What follows is an immortal study in marital and material boredom, with Jeanne Moreau drifting between champagne book launches and an old Milan already dragged to the margins by development, before climaxing at a glittering millionaire party. (The private golf course is real; you can find it just north of town in the Barlassina Country Club.)
The Mail (Ermanno Olmi, 1961)
Where to watch: The criterion channel
Published the same year as Antonioni’s cold tour de force. La Nottethe bright and bittersweet The Post See the shiny new Milan from another angle: through a young man who has arrived in the city from the small town of Meda. “Milan is the place to find work,” they tell him from the beginning. Thus begins his attempt to find a foothold in the business world. From the sleepy provinces to the urban clamor, from childhood to adulthood, the film brims with change. It was also based on reality. Director Ermanno Olmi was a lifelong Milanese whose film career shared hours with his day job making corporate documentaries for the Milan electricity company Edison-Volta.
Rocco and his brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960)
Where to watch: BFI player, The criterion channel
Milan had a difficult relationship with Rocco and his brothers, a neorealist epic and poisoned Valentine’s Day to director Luchino Visconti’s hometown. But the Milan of the film was a bit far from the one Visconti emerged from, the director being an aristocrat who grew up in the splendid Visconti Palace of Modrone. His 1960 film, however, was a gritty, operatic story about poverty, boxing, sex work, and the shadow cast by the divide between northern and southern Italy. The film’s unflinching nature was enough for city officials to even deny Visconti permission to film key scenes on location. The film remains a Milanese classic and very influential. (Francis Ford Coppola The Godfather is just one of the films in debt).
Theorem (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968)
Where to watch: Mubi, BFI player
Filmmaker and scholar Pier Paolo Pasolini will always be associated with the novels and films he set in Rome, the city where he died in 1975. But he made Milan the setting for one of the most endlessly intriguing moments in all of European cinema. Theorem, in which another large estate becomes a vicarious playground for a handsome stranger, a guest of a wealthy family. The lavish Pasolini palace filmed is still preserved today in the Via Palantino. The mysterious newcomer was played by English actor Terence Stamp, who brought sexual awakening and spiritual enlightenment to each of his hosts before darker and stranger reinventions unfolded.
Story of a romance (Miguel Ángel Antonioni, 1950)
Where to watch: BFI player
A decade before he did La NotteAntonioni brought film noir to the artificial lake of Idroscalo. In classic Hollywood style, the story begins with the hiring of a detective agency, whose services are hired here by a rich industrialist who investigates the past of his young wife. He now enjoys a life of white skin and nights at La Scala. But back in his hometown of Ferrara… Where Antonioni came from too — old secrets wait to be discovered. The result has the crunch of an American thriller, but with an exclusively Milanese flavor.
House of Gucci (Ridley Scott, 2021)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime, AppleTV
How else to conclude a cinematographic story so linked to the rich and unhappy that House of Gucci, Ridley Scott’s screwball portrait of Maurizio Gucci and Patrizia Reggiani’s doomed marriage? Like in I am love, Villa Necchi Campiglio takes the lead role, although, unlike Piero Castellini Baldissera, the Gucci family was deeply upset by the film. As for Milan, who can say? In a story linked to the city, real settings from the Duomo to the Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery each had their moment on the screen. But the climactic murder that closes the drama, which actually took place in front of Gucci’s offices on Via Palestro, ended up restaged in Rome, and Scott decided that the actual location wasn’t dramatic enough for his film. Frankly, Milan could have been better off without this.
What is your favorite movie set in Milan or have you seen the city on the big screen? Tell us in the comments below. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter
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