Umberto D

Umberto D is Director Vittorio De Sica’s precise, neat ex-public servant who finds himself and his little dog Flyke in increasingly dire straits. He cannot afford the rent of even the most basic room in a boarding house where the landlady rents the room out by the hour to shamefaced couples when Umberto is not there. If he cannot pay the back rent he will be evicted and as his only option then would be to live in a shelter he would have to give up his beloved little dog. This sounds like an enormously sad tale, and yes it is, and yet there is an uplifting aspect to Umberto’s unwavering dignity in the face of his increasingly desperate plight. There is one masterful scene where he finally succumbs out of desperation to begging and then finds that he cannot bring himself to do it or even expect Flyke to do so in his stead. It’s a deeply moving film, made in the neorealist style, without a hint of sentimentality and here this technique works well. The camera only observes and does not seek to dramatise, making the unfolding story all the more compelling. Umberto is played by Carlo Battisti a university lecturer who had not acted before. For all intents and purposes he is Umberto D, no performance is necessary.