‘When I told him I’d secretly seen his films, his eyes filled with tears’: Isabella Rossellini remembers her father Roberto

<p>The Italian director’s career was briefly derailed when his ‘scandalous’ affair with the Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman hit the headlines in the 1950s. Their daughter Isabella remembers a devoted parent and a brilliant film-maker</p><p>In June 1977, Roberto Rossellini died suddenly of a heart attack, home in Rome, less than a week after serving as jury president of the Cannes film festival. The director’s daughter Isabella – the fourth of his seven children – was then in her mid 20s. She remembers her mother, Ingrid Bergman, saying: “Dad left us quickly, just as quickly as he drove his Ferrari.”</p><p>The story of Roberto’s last two decades is told in Living Without a Script, a new archive-based documentary, which premieres this week in Rome. While the film serves as a reminder of its subject’s status as one of the greats of world cinema – the key figure in postwar Italian neorealism – it also shows his life beyond movies.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oct/24/i-told-him-i-had-secretly-seen-his-films-his-eyes-filled-with-tears-isabella-rossellini-remembers-her-father-roberto">Continue reading...</a>