«“Theoretically sophisticated, politically astute, and historically informed, this is a brilliant work, one that will be a productive model for the future study of Italian cinema as well as the investigation of national cinema in general. There is no doubt that this is one of the best books ever written in English on Italian cinema, and by far the most theoretically advanced. Restivo’s fascinating exploration of questions of subjectivity, space, and nation will be of great interest to scholars in fields beyond Italian cinema as well.”—Peter Brunette, author of Roberto Rossellini»

«“This book is far above the usual histories of national cinema. It combines political analysis, psychoanalytic reading, and close cinematic explication with Restivo’s breathtaking first-hand knowledge of Italian socio-political history, enabling him to locate each author in a specific context and to discern connotations that are out of reach for most Anglo-Saxon cinema historians.”—Slavoj Zizek, author of Gaze and Voice as Love Objects»