The Cannes Film Festival is paying
tribute to cult Italian engagé director Marco Bellocchio with a
three-day event culminating in the presentation of a lifetime
achievement award on Saturday, when the 74th edition of the
iconic festival ends.
On Thursday Bellocchio, 81, had a wide-ranging interview at a
Cannes Rendez-Vous encounter, on Friday his new film Marx può
aspettare (Marx Can Wait) will be screened, and on Saturday
evening he will be given the rare accolade.
Speaking at the Rendez-Vous, Belocchio said about his
directorial journey: "I made some errors, but I'd probably make
the exact same ones if I had to start again from zero. When I
was 20, I wanted to be a poet. Then a painter, but for that I
would have had to go to Rome, and I had been assured that it was
a corrupt city. I did not want to make films like Woody Allen,
to save myself from madness. Cinema is a blend of imagination
and reality that has to be confronted through others. That's the
challenge that has always a source of passion for me. There are
obviously a lot of repetitive elements in this profession. But
you have to accept it and make an effort because it's really
very wonderful and fills you with a lot of energy."
On his work with actors:
As a child I wanted to be an actor. Fortunately I didn't become
one. That would have been a catastrophe. Then I was lucky enough
to film really good actors. If you don't choose the right ones,
it's a problem! I'm someone peaceful on set. I don't like to
scream. Michel Piccoli, for example, immediately understood his
character and was able to provide a masterful interpretation. I
didn't have anything more to say to him during filming.
Mastroianni was able to express an entire page in only a few
gestures. When an actor doesn't understand something, that can
also be the fault of the director. But it's better if he
immediately understands what he has to do.
On his experience with Ennio Morricone and on the music of his
films:
I got to know Morricone thanks to a producer. He did the music
for Fists in the Pocket (I pugni in tasca). At the time, as was
the case with most films, the sound and the dubbing of the
actors were added during editing. I was a little like a child
face-to-face with a major composer. He composed music that was
very original and I accepted it. He was someone really precise.
He composed for one scene, and not for another. And when someone
took music from one scene and stuck it on another, he didn't
like that. Directors can be egotistical. They prefer to work
with young composers who will be available throughout the
process rather than with a great musician who will compose and
then move on to another project. I don't know much about music.
But I believe that I understand when a musical suggestion is
appropriate for such and such a scene. There are filmmakers who
always use the same composer.
On Michelangelo Antonioni and Robert Bresson:
I wrote a thesis on how Antonioni and Bresson directed actors.
Bresson took actors who were not professionals and demanded of
them perfect memory. The text had to come out automatically.
Antonioni had a lot more distance, taking a step back from his
actors. He almost treated them as objects that he moved around
to his liking. He was, in fact, criticized for that. Some actors
rebelled against him, like Mastroianni, who sometimes followed
his own path. Or like Jeanne Moreau, who was extremely
disappointed with her encounters with him. Some actors like
being directed closely. Others less so.
'Marx può aspettare' attempts to make sense of his twin
brother's suicide at the age of 29.
Through this film with its enigmatic title, the filmmaker
attempts to understand, humbly and retrospectively, his twin
brother's suicide at the age of 29. A family tragedy that he has
never really recovered from, both a source of guilt and
inspiration. Blending excerpts from his films and conversations
with people close to him, Bellocchio investigates this fraternal
figure that never ceases to haunt his filmography.
Bellocchio is to to get a career Palme d'Or at this year's
Cannes Film Festival on July 17, joining Jodie Foster as this
year's two recipients of the honour.
Bellocchio, 81, whose films include Fists in the Pocket, The
Prince of Homburg, The Nanny, The Religion Lesson, Win, Dormant
Beauty and The Traitor, will receive the award along with Foster
on the final evening of the fest.
The cult and engagé director will also present his latest
work, Marx Can Wait, in the Cannes Premiere section of the fest.
A friend of late cinema great Pier Paolo Pasolini,
Bellocchio's other films include China is Near (1967), Sbatti il
mostro in prima pagina (Slap the Monster on Page One) (1972),
Nel Nome del Padre (In the name of the Father - a satire on a
Catholic boarding school that shares affinities with Lindsay
Anderson's If....) (1972), Victory March (1976), A Leap in the
Dark (1980), Henry IV (1984), Devil in the Flesh (1986), and My
Mother's Smile (2002), which told the story of a wealthy Italian
artist, a 'default-Marxist and atheist', who suddenly discovers
that the Vatican is proposing to make his detested mother a
saint.
In 1991 he won the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize at the
41st Berlin International Film Festival for his film The
Conviction.
In 1995 he directed a documentary about the Red Brigades and
the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, entitled Broken Dreams. In 2003, he
directed a feature film on the same theme, Good Morning, Night.
In 2006 his film The Wedding Director was screened in the Un
Certain Regard section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2009 he directed Vincere (Win), which was in the main
competition at the Cannes Film Festival. He finished Sorelle
Mai, an experimental film that was shot over ten years with the
students of six separate workshops playing themselves. He was
awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 68th
Venice International Film Festival in 2011.
His 2012 film Dormant Beauty was selected to compete for the
Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.
Bellocchio condemned the Catholic Church's interference in
politics after the premiere of his latest controversial film,
which was about a high-profile euthanasia and right-to-die case,
involving Eluana Englaro.
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