2014 Blind Spot Series: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom

Based on the book The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade, Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is the story of a world set in 1944 Nazi-Fascist Italy where four libertines capture a group of teenagers as they subject to horrific forms of torture as it’s told in four different segments. Directed Pier Paolo Pasolini and screenplay by Pasolini and Sergio Citti, the film is considered one of the controversial and obscene scene films of its time as Pasolini interprets de Sade’s 18th century novel into a dark period in Italy in what would be Pasolini’s final film. Starring Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto P. Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti, Caterina Boratto, Elsa de Giorgi, Helene Surgere, and Sonia Saviange. Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is an absolutely disgusting, obscene, and tremendously powerful from Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Set in a Nazi-Fascist controlled region in Northern Italy known as Salo, the film revolve around four leaders of the land who conspire to kidnap a large group of teenagers and subject them to extreme measures of torture. Told in four chapters as it’s based on the different stories of Marquis de Sade, it’s a film that explores a dark world where four men with their army and a small band of rich whore torment the young in their own sick and demented way. Much of which involves forms of torture that is physical, emotional, and mental to the point that the victims ponder if God will save them. The film’s screenplay uses these different stories of de Sade as well as Dante’s Divine Comedy as ideas for what Pier Paolo Pasolini and co-writer Sergio Citti are creating to play into the idea of what these Fascists were doing during this dark period in Italian history.

Controlling this world of sodomy, debauchery, and torment are these four libertines who are part of the Italian Social Republic who come up with an idea to torment their own daughters as well as eighteen teenagers for their own game of sodomy. Four additional teenage boys become recruited as guards while there’s four men also on board as studs. Adding to the world of torment are a trio of aging prostitutes who tell elaborate stories of torture to play into the mind games of their victims. During the stories’ progression, the forms of torture would increase into elements where sick would be understating it. In fact, it’s far more insane as the victims are forced to obey certain laws for their own survival. Eventually to the point where these elements of torment would have the victims do whatever to survive as some of them just want to die.

Pasolini’s direction is quite entrancing for the way he presents the film as it’s largely shot in this lavish palace in Northern Italy where it feels like a place that is idyllic. The film starts off in this very enchanting location that has the look of a paradise but once the film moves towards rural locations, it becomes clear that there is no such thing as paradise. What Pasolini shows is this major schism in the social classes where the wealthy and those of power run things while the poor are completely disenfranchised from all of the things the rich has. Instead, they’re pawns in this world of Nazi-Fascist Italy where the young people of the land have no choice but to be victims. Pasolini’s usage of wide shots and slow pans play into this extravagant world that is full of beauty but it’s also discomforting due to the people that live there. Each segment begins with an aging prostitute telling a story that is often accompanied to music as they’re dressed in glamorous clothing as they tell these stories in style. Pasolini’s compositions are quite mesmerizing in the way he puts actors into a frame whether it’s in a close-up, a medium shot, or a wide shot while he does go into great extremes to portray these moments of torture.

Much of it involves very graphic depictions of sex and violence where rape is very common in this palace as these Fascist libertines take pleasure into raping young men and women. The violence is also quite gruesome where it’s not just in the idea of gunplay but also in the forms of torture where it plays into how Fascists conduct their business and do it with great extremes. Among the forms of torture that will definitely be a major test for audiences involve scenes where characters are forced to eat shit. Yes, a feast of feces, excrement, turds, poo-poo, ca-ca is among the form of torture where Pasolini definitely goes all-out to play into this crazed and demented world where these four men get off on all of these things. Overall, Pasolini creates a very unsettling, visceral, and riveting film about life in the Italian Social Republic during World War II.

Cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli does brilliant work with the film‘s cinematography with its use of colors and natural lights for the exterior scenes to way interiors are lit in some scenes as well as setting moods for the scenes involving the prostitutes telling stories. Editor Nino Baragli does amazing work in the editing as it‘s very straightforward while it has some unique rhythmic cuts to play into the action and sense of terror that looms in the film. Production designer Dante Ferretti and set decorator Osvaldo Desideri does incredible work with the set design from the look of the main hall where the prostitute tell their stories as well as some of the rooms where the rich live to the dreary conditions of the rooms the victims have to live in.

Costume designer Danilo Donati does fantastic work with the costumes from the lavish clothes that the prostitutes wear to the uniforms the guards wear and other stylish clothes the libertines wear throughout the film. The sound work of Giorgio Loviscek and Domenico Pasquadibisceglie is superb for the atmosphere of the locations as well as how music is played in some of those scenes along with the sounds of violence. Musical coordinator Ennio Morricone does phenomenal work with assembling the pieces of music in the film as it features an array of classical pieces by Frederic Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Carl Orff plus an instrumental from the 1940s that is conducted by Morricone to play into that dark period of time.

The film’s incredible cast as it features a massive ensemble as many of the talents who play the young victims do great work in displaying the sense of torment and abuse they would endure. Other notable small roles include Ines Pellegrini as a slave girl, Ezio Manni as a collaborator who aids the libertines in the abuse, and Sonia Saviange as the pianist who often accompanies music to the stories of the prostitutes. Helene Sugere and Elsa De Giorgi are excellent in their respective roles as Signora Vaccari and Signora Maggi as two women who tell different stories about their encounters with men. Caterina Boratto is fantastic as Signora Catelli as this lively prostitute who tells the final story as she torments the young victims with these stories that are an absolute disconnect with their own lives.

Aldo Valetti is superb as the President who is this scrawny man that seems to enjoy penetrating anyone he comes across while Umberto Q. Quintavalle is terrific as the Magistrate who is an absolute sadist that takes pleasure in abusing others. Giorgio Cataldi is brilliant as the Bishop who is just as sadistic as the Magistrate as he often writes names down for people to punish as he also wears strange robes during a weird wedding ceremony. Finally, there’s Paolo Bonacelli in an amazing performance as the Duke who leads the ritual of debauchery as it’s a very scary performance as he is extremely chauvinistic and abusive as well as being very violent where it’s really a performance that makes Bonacelli someone will love to hate.

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is a remarkable yet obscene film from Pier Paolo Pasolini. Armed with a great cast and a terrifying premise, this is a film that definitely isn’t for everyone where it makes no qualms in bring discomfort to its audience over its depiction of torture and sodomy. Even as Pasolini isn’t afraid to push buttons and see how much people can take into the extremities of his final film. In the end, Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is a phenomenal yet extremely fucked-up film from the late Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Pier Paolo Pasolini Films: (Accattone) - (La Rabbia) - Mamma Roma - (Location Hunting in Palestine) - (The Gospel According to Matthew) - (Love Meetings) - (The Hawks and the Sparrows) - The Witches (1967 film)- The Earth Seen from the Moon - (Oedipus Rex) - Teorema - (Porcile) - (Medea (1969 film)) - (Appunti per un film sull’India) - (Notes Towards an African Orestes) - The Decameron (1971 film) - The Canterbury Tales - Arabian Nights

© thevoid99 2014

Juliet of the Spirits

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 7/12/09 w/ Additional Edits.

After two back-to-back feature films that were considered landmark films for cinema, Federico Fellini was clearly the top director of Italian cinema. While Fellini was known for his unique ambitions, his art films were clearly not for everyone as some Italian filmgoers were finding themselves being drawn to the rising world of Spaghetti Westerns led by Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci. Yet, Fellini decided to press on with his ambitions in a film that relates to his view of surrealism entitled Giulietta degli Spiriti (Juliet of the Spirits).

Directed by Fedrico Fellini which he co-wrote with collaborators Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli along with Brunello Rondi. Giulietta degli Spiriti tells the story of a woman who explores her subconscious as she delves into the world of her sexy neighbor. Oppressed by her mundane life and her cheating husband, the woman goes into a surreal world where she faces many dreams and nightmares. A film that revels into Fellini's fascination with surrealism, it's also the first feature-length film he made in color as it would be considered as one of his finest films of his career. Starring Fellini regulars Giulietta Masina and Sandra Milo plus Mario Pisu, Valentina Cortese, Valeska Gert, Jose Luis de Villalonga, and Caterina Boratto. Giulietta degli Spiriti is an eerie yet spellbinding film from Federico Fellini.

It's an anniversary party for Giulietta Boldrini (Giulietta Masina) and her husband Giorgio (Mario Pisu). Attending the party is Giulietta's friend Valentina (Valentina Cortese), Dolores (Silvana Jachino), and a clairvoyant named Genius (Genius). The clairvoyant decided to contact spirits for the party with several people while Giorgio and his friend are outside. During the party, Giulietta faints though she quickly recovers. The next day during the beach with her friends and sisters Adele (Luisa Della Noce) and Sylva (Sylva Koscina), surreal images start to appear that features an old man while her neighbor Suzy (Sandra Milo) makes an appearance at the beach. Later that day, Giulietta and her sisters meet their mother (Caterina Boratto) who wonders why Giulietta always put on an understated appearance.

When Giorgio returns home from work, they watch a TV program where later that night, he utters the name Gabriella in his sleep. Giulietta later asks him as he claims he has no idea what he said as Val visits to invite her to a seance with their friend Elena (Elena Fondra). During that seance, Giulietta talks to a spiritual guru (Valeska Gert) who speaks of Giulietta's problems with her marriage and what she should do. Giulietta becomes troubled by the images where she suddenly recalls a fascinating memory involving her grandfather (Lou Gilbert) and a circus ingenue (Sandra Milo). Returning home, she is encountered by a friend of Giorgio named Jose (Jose Luis de Villalonga) who makes sangria for her as he reveals about his world of bullfighting. Giulietta finds herself amazed by Jose though her suspicions of Giorgio's philandering is raised. Turning to Adele for help, they go to a private detective and a psychiatrist for help in order to confirm Giulietta's suspicions.

When a cat appears in Giulietta's backyard, she realizes it belongs to her neighbor Suzy as she goes to Suzy's lavish home filled with a variety of people as they quickly befriend one another. Even as Suzy tries to get Giulietta to open up sexually while taking her to her secret tree house. After getting a call from the private investigator to reveal what is going on with Giorgio, Giulietta suddenly faces the dark truth as her world crumbles. After a party held by Suzy where she encounters strange people and a beautiful young man, Giulietta suddenly has horrifying images that recalls images of the time she was to be martyred for a school play that her late friend Laura was involved in. The images start to be around her where at a party that involves a psycho-dramatist (Anne Francine) finds Giulietta desperate to rid of these images while forced to confront her troubled marriage. After going to the home of Giorgio's mistress in hopes to confront her, she returns home as she is haunted by her troubled marriage and demons surrounding her.

The film is about a woman's life that begins to unravel after an encounter with spirits where she begins to discover her troubled marriage as well as her free-spirited neighbor. Really, it's a film about demons and a woman's inability to find a life outside of her troubled marriage. With her sisters and friends telling her that she should leave Giorgio, the big question is what's next for Giulietta? Making things worse are memories and surreal images that begin to haunt her. Including the ghost of her departed friend Laura, who died at age 15 of drowning, and her eccentric grandfather who refused to have her take part in a ceremony that had him expelled from a prestigious school.

While the script is mostly a character study of a woman's troubled state of mind along with her troubled marriage due to her husband's philandering. The film recalls a lot of Fellini's own personal life which involves his real-life marriage to the film's star Giulietta Masina. A marriage that featured rumors that Fellini himself, had been having affairs with other women at the time he was becoming this internationally-renowned director a few years back. A lot of the film's spiritual, ghostly storylines revel in Fellini's fascination with surrealism as well as his early experiments with the drug known as LSD. With his collaborators like screenwriters Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano along with Brunello Rondi working on this story. The result is truly a film that delves into the world of death, spirituality, and marriage all surrounding a woman's state of mind.

Fellini's direction, being that it is his first film in color, reveal a new maturity in the director. Though the film at times lags in certain spots, it does show that Fellini is still as engaging in his camera work and presentation. With lavish scenes involving the circus and parties that are colorful yet surreal. It has images and scenes that are truly striking while his camera has great compositions on how he shoots the characters. There's times that the faces are darkened only to be shown fully for dramatic effect. At the same time, the camera rarely has a close-up on Sandra Milo throughout the entire film. Still, the images Fellini creates through some amazing visual effects to the lavish art direction shows that he can still create unforgettable images that dazzles the mind of the audience.

Cinematographer Gianni Di Venanzo does some fabulous with the film's rich, colorful cinematography from the exquisite, sunny exteriors on the daytime scenes, notably the look of the scenes in the woods to the dream-like nighttime exteriors of the house that Giulietta and Giorgio live in. The interior scenes, notably the home of Suzy and the scenes with the circus all awash with bright colors to give it a lavish look. Di Venanzo's work that includes some great zoom shots are entrancing to watch in every scene and image shown on the film. Editor Ruggero Mastroianni does some excellent work with the film's transitional cuts, dissolves, and other quick fade-to-black styles. While the editing is mostly conventional yet stylized, it has moments where it lags in the pacing though does work in its dramatic effect in several scenes.

Production designers Giantito Burchiellaro, Luciano Ricceri, and E. Benazzi Taglietti along with set decorator Vito Anzalone, and art director/costume designer Piero Gherardi is marvelous in the look of the home of Giulietta with its trees and gardens along with the look of Suzy's home. The production design on the circus scenes are extravagant yet wonderful in the presentation as it's one of the film's technical highlights. Gherardi's costume design lives up to the film's lavish production with hats, dresses, and costumes that really plays up to the posh lifestyle of its characters. With its large hats, colorful dresses, and the clothes that Sandra Milo wears, it's another of the film's highlights in its technical work.

The sound work of Mario Faraoni and Mario Morigi is excellent in creating moments of suspense as well as bringing a ghostly sound to the film's dramatic scenes. The film's best technical highlight is the vibrant, flourishing score of Nino Rota. Rota's pieces from 1930s-1940s style jazz, electric organ-style pieces that plays to the film's dreamy, comical tone. The arrangements and melodic-driven score that Rota creates is overall fascinating and powerful. It is truly one of the most majestic and memorable film scores in the history of film.

The cast is truly amazing with memorable appearances from Alba Cancellieri as the young Giulietta, Sujata Rubener as the assistant of the spiritual guru, Elisabetta Gray & Milena Vukotic as Giuletta's maids, Alessandra Mannoukine as Suzy's mother, and Mario Connocchia as Giulietta's old headmaster. Other notable small roles like Elena Fondra as Elena, the famed clairvoyant Genius as himself, Anne Francine as the psycho-dramatist, Sylva Koscina as Giulietta's TV star sister Sylva, Silvana Jachino as Dolores, Lou Gilbert as Giulietta's grandfather, Luisa Della Noce as Adele, and as the grotesque, strange spiritual guru, Valeska Gert. Caterina Boratto is excellent as Giulietta's rich, snobbish mother while Jose Luis de Villalonga is very good as Giorgio's friend Jose.

Valentina Cortese is wonderful as Giulietta's best friend Valentina who introduces Giulietta to the world of the spirits as she becomes more intrigued by what it has done for Giulietta while being concerned for her well-being. Mario Pisu is good as Giorgio, the philandering husband who constantly lies while being unaware that his wife knows exactly what she knows he's doing. Sandra Milo is great in the role of three women where she plays the circus ingenue known as Fanny as well as a spirit named Iris. Yet, it's the role of Suzy that Milo really gets to be loose and free while providing some great scenes with Giulietta Masina as it's definitely an excellent supporting performance from the sexy yet vivacious Milo.

Finally, there's Giulietta Masina in an amazing performance as the title character of Giulietta. While it may not have the comical approach and liveliness of her famed, previous performances in La Strada and Nights of Cabiria, it's definitely of Masina's best roles. Especially for how understated she is in her reactions to situations. There's something angelic in her facial expressions that plays well to her quiet, restrained role. Even as she doesn't do a lot of over-the-top performance as she is Masina is really the heart of the film.

Released in the fall of 1965, the film drew rave reviews with critics marking another achievement for Federico Fellini. Despite winning a Golden Globe and several critics awards, the film marked the last time Fellini worked with longtime screenwriter Ennio Flaiano who had a falling out with the director of creative credits. The film also marked a new phase for Fellini as he became more interested in surreal imagery due to the work of Carl Jung that would have a huge impact on his next film, Fellini Satyricon.

While it may not reach the brilliance of films like La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, or his two previous films, Giulietta degli Spiriti is still a brilliant, colorful, and haunting film from Federico Fellini. Thanks in part to the radiant performance of Giulietta Masina, it's a film that is definitely quintessential Fellini in all of its extravagance, humor, and look. Along with a great score by Nino Rota, it's a film that revels in the world of spirits and into a woman's state of mind as she deals with her troubled marriage. Despite a few flaws, Giulietta degli Spiriti is a mesmerizing, enchanting film from Federico Fellini.

Federico Fellini Films: (Variety Lights) - The White Shiek - I, Vitelloni - (L'amore in Citta-Un'agenzia matrimoniale) - La Strada - Il bidone - Nights of Cabiria - La Dolce Vita - (Boccaccio '70-Le tentazioni del Dottor Antonio) - 8 1/2 - Histoires extraordinaires-Toby Dammit - (Fellini: A Director's Notebook) - Fellini Satyricon - (I Clowns) - Roma - Amarcord - Casanova - Orchestra Rehearsal - City of Women - And the Ship Sails On - Ginger and Fred - (Intervista) - (The Voice of the Moon)

© thevoid99 2011