Arena Cinema Tiziano
Tuesday 7 July 2026 9.00 PM

summer at MAXXI • cinemaSweet Smell of Successby Alexander Mackendrick

Arena Cinema Tiziano
Via Guido Reni, 2 – next to MAXXI

tickets €5
tickets €4 for myMAXXI cardholders
tickets are available at the Cinema Tiziano box office only
year of production: 1957
running time: 96 minutes

opening hours

Monday closed
Tuesday to Sunday 11 am – 7 pm

notice

The Large Glass exhibition will be closed from Thursday 25 June to Thursday 3 September. We apologise for any inconvenience.

more information

A powerful journalist enlists the help of an unscrupulous publicist to put an end to his sister’s relationship with a young jazz musician. The sordid plan will have devastating consequences. It is one of the few films in which the world of journalism and the media, stripped of all rhetoric, is portrayed as an arena where power is wielded as ruthlessly as in the underworld. Its reputation is formidable. Rarely has a film been so ‘dark and cruel’ (Dave Kehr). “The most important reason to see this film is its biting, sarcastic dialogue, faithful to the slang: you don’t hear anything like it today, in an age of digital illiteracy” (Andrew Sarris). Among the best noir films ever, according to Scorsese, thanks in part to the dense darkness and electric lighting of James Wong Howe’s cinematography.

The film will be preceded by a conversation between Paolo Mieli and Mario Sesti and the screening of a video essay titled È la stampa bellezza! – II.