| Pier Pasolini: The Erotic
Films "Cinema is identical to life, because each one
of us has a virtual and invisible camera which follows us from when we’re born to
when we die." -- Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Filmmaker, screenwriter, essayist, poet, critic and novelist, Pier
Paolo Pasolini (1922 – 1975) was, as Susan Sontag has noted, "indisputably
the most remarkable figure to have emerged in Italian arts and letters since the Second
World War." An artist and thinker of protean talents,
Pasolini was continually drawn to those on the fringes of society:
prostitutes, thieves, religious rebels and the like. He considered himself a Catholic
Marxist (even though the Communist Party had unceremoniously booted him out in the late
1940’s for being a homosexual); but his politics, like his life itself, was
inseparable from his impassionated poetic vision, what he referred to as a "desperate
vitality." This vitality reached its peak in Pasolini’s "Trilogy Of
Life" – THE DECAMERON (1970), THE CANTERBURY TALES (1971) and ARABIAN
NIGHTS (1974) – three films that re-interpreted literary classics as epic
celebrations of life in all its uninhibited erotic glory. Although he initially claimed
the three films were his most non-political, Pasolini later switched gears, claiming that
the movies celebrated the naked human body as the only terrain not dominated by the forces
of capitalism! Ironically, the worldwide commercial success of the films took Pasolini by
surprise, and he embarked on a never-finished "Anti-Trilogy Of Life" with his
most controversial film, SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1975), a relentless,
unbearably claustrophobic examination of fascism and sadism in the last days of World War
II, which was widely banned, and has only rarely been revived in the United States. Just
before the release of SALO, Pasolini was tragically and brutally murdered by a young
prostitute, robbing world cinema of one of its most seminal artists.
Our enormous thanks to John Kirk at MGM/UA for
striking beautiful new 35 mm. prints of THE DECAMERON, THE CANTERBURY TALES, ARABIAN
NIGHTS and SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM for this series!!
Friday, June 27 – 7:30 PM
New 35 mm. Prints!
THE DECAMERON, 1970, MGM/UA, 111
min. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. Based on Giovanni Boccaccio’s classic novel, the first
film in Pasolini’s "Trilogy of Life" established the raw, visceral feeling
of the series, using gorgeous period locations, mixing professional and non-professional
actors, and combining equal parts poetry, social satire, slapstick and bawdy sexuality
into a unique living tapestry. Pasolini himself appears as a Renaissance artist, "one
of Giotto’s best students," hired to paint an enormous fresco on the wall of a
church. With Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Angela Luce.
SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM, 1975,
MGM/UA, 117 min. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. Be prepared, SALO is not for the weak of heart.
The polar opposite of the "Trilogy Of Life," SALO depicts with cold precision
the sexual and psychological atrocities visited on sixteen young men and women, held
hostage by a group of depraved nobles at the end of WWII. Pasolini based the film on a
notorious book by the Marquis de Sade, but shifted the locale to the town of Salo, where
Pasolini’s brother was killed during the war (and where he himself was arrested by
the Nazis). One of the most controversial and widely censored films ever made (it took
over 25 years for the uncut version to screen in England), SALO has lost none of its power
to shock and disturb. With Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto Quintavalle. [Note: due to the graphic sexual nature of these films, no one under 18
will be admitted to the screenings.]
Saturday, June 28 – 7:00 PM
New 35 mm. Prints!
THE CANTERBURY TALES, 1971,
MGM/UA, 109 min. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. On a pilgrimage to Canterbury, a group of
travelers agree to share stories to ease the journey – and we’re treated to a
riotous carnival of lecherous old merchants, deceitful young wives, naked satyrs, houses
of prostitution, a handsome Devil in rent collector’s clothes and much more. With
stunning production design by Dante Ferretti (GANGS OF NEW YORK), and a haunting score of
period music selected by Pasolini and Ennio Morricone. Winner of the Golden Bear at the
1972 Berlin Film Festival. With Hugh Griffith, Laura Betti, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti,
and Pasolini himself as Geoffrey Chaucer - !
SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM, 1975,
MGM/UA, 117 min. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. (See June 27 for film description) [Note: due to the graphic sexual nature of these films, no one under 18
will be admitted to the screenings.]
Sunday, June 29 – 5:00 PM
New 35 mm. Prints!
ARABIAN NIGHTS, 1974, MGM/UA,
130 min. One of Pasolini’s greatest achievements, ARABIAN NIGHTS is a shimmering,
golden dream of a film, drunk on its own beauty, where story after story unfolds like
leaves in an ancient Persian manuscript. Equalled only by Wojciech Has’ THE SARAGOSSA
MANUSCRIPT in its exquisite, otherworldly tone and intricate, puzzle-box structure,
ARABIAN NIGHTS is simply unforgettable. With Tessa Bouche, Ines Pellegrini, Ninetto
Davoli, Franco Citti, Franco Merli.
SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM, 1975,
MGM/UA, 117 min. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini. (See June 27 for film description) [Note: due to the graphic sexual nature of these films, no one under 18
will be admitted to the screenings.] |
