Una vita difficile? La società dei consumi secondo Dino Risi

Abstract: Between 1950 and 1973 Italian cinema was very attentive to the profound transformations that took place in relation to consumer goods and practices. Dino Risi is one of the most sensitive directors in representing the Italians' adaptation to this rapidly changing context. My essay analyses some of his movies, directed between 1957 and 1968 – from the beginning of the economic boom to the years of student protests – to understand Risi's perspective both on Italian habits of that period and the relation of this new lifestyle with different aspects of material culture.