The scion of an aristocratic family, Vittorio De Seta originally intended to become an architect but switched to making documentaries shorts in the 1950s, most filmed in and around his native Sicily. He segued to fiction with the starkly shot, minimalist "Banditi a Orgosolo/Bandits of Orgosolo" (1961), for which he received a prize at the Venice Film Festival. The feature employed documentary techniques to examine the flight of a shepherd who unwittingly becomes embroiled in a murder. Filmed in black and white, "Banditi a Orgosolo" was set in the hills of Sardinia and De Seta's fine camerawork established the appropriate mood for the piece.

In 1966, De Seta co-wrote and directed "Un Uomo a Meta'/Almost a Man" which depicted the mental collapse of a struggling writer. The mood piece benefited from a strong central performance from Jacques Perrin and the work of cinematographer Dario di Palma. Critics have referred to the film as a cross between Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. De Seta's third film was "L'Invitee/The Invited" (1969), a well-made character study of marital difficulties. Combining a documentary feel with the moodiness of his second film, "L'Invitee" was a deliberately paced but rich blend of irony and compassion.