Roma ore 11

Drawn by an advertisement offering a typist position, several hundred young women from all over Rome flock to the company’s headquarters. The wait on the steps of the building lasts several hours, and at a certain point, one of the young women attempts to sneak past the others. This causes a violent uproar in the group, and the steps collapse. Many suffer bruises, some are slightly injured, others seriously, while one, despite prompt surgery, dies.
The incident has varied consequences: some young women simply resume their old lives; the middle-class girl who wanted to become independent to follow her boyfriend finds the strength to leave her family; the abused maid returns to her hometown; one of them, pregnant, can no longer hide her condition; the girl who started the fight is called to the police station, but evidently she is not responsible.

"Almost all my films are inspired by current events or a particular environment. So, when I read about the news story of the collapse of the staircase where so many young women had crowded together, based on a newspaper ad, a job offer for a single typist, it seemed emblematic of a certain condition of female unemployment in a large urban centre like Rome. And, also because I had directed a film like Riso amaro, set in an all-female setting, I thought it was easy enough for me to make a film starring a chorus of women [...]
My research for Roma ore 11 led to my collaboration with Elio Petri. I had asked Gianni Puccini for the name of a reporter capable of interviewing the young women present at the collapse on Via Savoia, and he suggested Elio. Petri completed the investigation and then stayed on as my assistant and screenwriter. The censors couldn’t snip Roma ore 11 because it was a meticulously crafted film, the most perfect I’ve ever worked on, not only because of Zavattini’s presence, but also because of other collaborators like Sonego, Puccini, Franchina, and Petri. I understand from the accounts of some friends that Andreotti, after seeing it, exclaimed, like a true Ciociaro like me: “This time De Santis has screwed us!” In short, they couldn’t even make the slightest cut; they were forced to adopt other methods to boycott it." (L’avventurosa storia del cinema italiano, edited by Franca Faldini and Goffredo Fofi)

PRODUCTION:
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale
Via Tuscolana, 1520
00173 Roma, Italia
Tel: +39 06722941
E-mail: csc@cert.fondazionecsc.it
Web: http://www.fondazionecsc.it

PRODUCTION AT THE TIME OF FILMING: 
​Titanus

CO-PRODUCTION AT THE TIME OF FILMING:
Transcontinental Film

ITALIAN DISTRIBUTION:
Titanus
Via Sommacampagna, 28
00185 Roma, Italia
E-mail: presidenza@titanus.it

PRESS OFFICE:
Silvia Saitta - Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Cineteca Nazionale
Via Tuscolana, 1520
00173 Roma, Italia
Tel: +39 3282010029
E-mail: silvia.saitta@fondazionecsc.it, ufficiostampa@visfactor.it