Fondazione Prada’s project “Soggettiva” has so far explored the biographies, the hidden passions and the imagery of movie directors and artists. The last chapter is titled “Soggettiva Bernardo Bertolucci: Doppia Autobiografia”, a film program curated by Francesco Casetti in collaboration with Fondazione Bernardo Bertolucci.
The program aims to identify specific connections and cross-references between nine films by Bertolucci directed between the 1960s and the 1970s and as many feature films by Italian and international authors such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Mario Schifano, John Ford, Jean Renoir, Max Ophüls, Aleksandr Dovzhenko and Douglas Sirk. Each of the Italian director’s nine movies – from the debut work La commare secca (1962) to La Luna (1979) – is associated with a film by another filmmaker akin or accomplice to him, even if distant in time.
The project will be anticipated by an open talk that will take place at the Fondazione’s Cinema on Friday, 16 December, at 8 pm. It features Francesco Casetti and Sterling Professor of Humanities and Film and Media Studies at Yale University, Alberto Barbera, Director of the Venice International Film Festival, and Paola Malanga, Artistic Director of Rome Film Fest.
Bernardo Bertolucci (Parma, 1941 – Rome, 2018) was a cinephile filmmaker. For this reason, his work can also be interpreted as the result of reciprocal exchanges and continuous comparisons with authors he looked up to with enthusiasm, admiration and challenge. “Soggettiva Bernardo Bertolucci” reveals, as its subtitle states, a “double autobiography”. According to Francesco Casetti, it “seeks to re-establish otherwise hidden dynamics, assuming small borrowings, long-distance dialogues, stylistic reversals and shared obsessions”.
Through a dense network of references, homages, appropriations and overturnings, made up of the eighteen films selected for the project, the audience is invited to discover the unique point of view of Bertolucci, who, throughout his career, had created an evocative, powerful and fascinating cinematography.
“Soggettiva Bernardo Bertolucci” includes La commare secca (The Grim Reaper – Italy, 1962) by Bernardo Bertolucci with Mamma Roma (Italy, 1962) by Pier Paolo Pasolini; Prima della rivoluzione (Before the Revolution – Italy, 1964) by Bernardo Bertolucci with À bout de souffle (Breathless – France, 1960) by Jean-Luc Godard; La via del Petrolio – II. Il Viaggio (Italy, 1967) by Bernardo Bertolucci with Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners & I – France, 2000) by Agnès Varda; Partner (Italy, 1968) by Bernardo Bertolucci with Umano, non umano (Italy, 1969) by Mario Schifano; Strategia del Ragno (The Spider’s Stratagem – Italy, 1970) by Bernardo Bertolucci with The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (United States, 1962) by John Ford; Il Conformista (The Conformist – Italy / France / Germany, 1970) by Bernardo Bertolucci with La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game – France, 1939) by Jean Renoir; Ultimo tango a Parigi (Last Tango in Paris – Italy / France, 1972) by Bernardo Bertolucci with La ronde (La Ronde – France, 1950) by Max Ophüls; Novecento (1900 – Italy / France / Germany, 1976) by Bernardo Bertolucci with Zemlja (Earth – URSS, 1930) by Aleksandr Dovzhenko; La Luna (Luna – Italy / United States,1979) by Bernardo Bertolucci with Imitation of Life (United States,1959) by Douglas Sirk.
