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VIOLENT
SUMMER
Estate Violenta
(1959; 89 mins)
Cast
Carlo Cremolli, , Eleonora Rossi Drago
Set during the summer of 1943, Violent
Summer is a subtle, moving fusion of wartime
love story and political drama. It conveys a vivid
sense of one of the most controversial moments
in 20th century Italian history. The seaside town
of Riccione on the Adriatic coast provides the
setting for a beautifully composed wide-screen
production. The idle rich continue to pursue a
life of pleasure even as Mussolini's regime tumbles
and the balance of the war tilts towards the Allies.
Handsome charmer Carlo (Jean-Louis Trintignant)
has escaped the draft. He flirts with the gorgeous
Rosanna (Jaqueline Sassard) but his heart is drawn
to Roberta (an award-winning Eleonora Rossi Drago),
a widow struggling to come to terms with the death
of her heroic husband. Real love forces Carlo
to confront his shallow existence and finally
face the realities of a country at war.
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Edinburgh Filmhouse
Monday 24 November tbc pm
Glasgow
Film Theatre
Sunday 2 November tbc pm
(screening with The Girl With The Suitcase)
Riverside Studios, London
Wednesday 5 November 6.45pm
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FAMILY
DIARY
Cronaca familiare
(1962; 115m)
Cast
Claudia Cardinale, Corrado Pan, Jacques Perrin
Dir Luchino Visconti
Once described as the " classiest male weepie
ever filmed ", Family Diary is an exemplary
adaptation of the semi-autobiographical Vasco
Pratolini novel Two Brothers and won Zurlini a
shared Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Marcello Mastroianni gives a sensitive, finally
judged performance as Enrico, a struggling journalist
in the Rome of 1945. He receives a phonecall informing
him that his younger brother Lorenzo (Jacques
Perrin) has died. Enrico recalls their long and
difficult relationship; he was brought up by their
poor but warm-hearted grandmother (Sylvie), Lorenzo
was raised as a gentleman by a wealthy local aristocrat.
Reunited in the Florence of the 1930s, Enrico
becomes his spoilt brother's keeper, forever haunted
by a sense of guilty responsibility towards a
man he both hates and loves.Beautifully photographed
by Guiseppe Rottuno, this is austere, deeply felt
masterwork is one of Zurlini's greatest achievements.
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Edinburgh Filmhouse
Monday 3 November tbc pm
(screening with the short Soldati)
Glasgow Film Theatre
Sunday 9 November tbc pm
(screening with the short Soldati)
Riverside Studios, London
Wednesday 12 November 6.45pm
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THE
DESERT OF TARTARS
Il deserto dei Tartari
(1976; 140mins)
Cast: Jacques Perrin, Vittorio Gassman, Max Von
Sydow, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Fernando Rey, Philippe
Noiret.
Zurlini's final film is a haunting, all-star adaptation
of the Dino Buzzati novel that combines the epic
eye of a David Lean with the existential dread
found in the finest films of Michelangelo Antonioni.
Set in 1907, The Desert Of The Tartars was shot
entirely within the 2,000 year-old Persian citadel
of Bam which was largely destroyed by a 2003 earthquake.
Jacques Perrin stars as Drogo, a young lieutenant
assigned to an isolated fortress on the edge of
the desert. He discovers a world of empty days
and oppressive buildings where everyone endures
the heavy burden of the endless wait for an engagement
with an unseen enemy. Carrying echoes of Catch-22,
this is a mesmerising film about the flipside
of war; the inaction, the grinding routine, the
ridiculous bureaucracy and the sheer futility
of armed conflict. It is a neglected masterpiece
of world cinema.
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Edinburgh Filmhouse
Thursday 27 November tbc pm
Glasgow Film Theatre
Sunday 30 November tbc pm
Riverside Studios, London,
Wednesday 19 November 8.20pm
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THE
GIRL WITH THE SUITCASE
La Ragazza con la valiglia (15)
(1960 103 mins)
Cast
Claudia Cardinale, Jacques Perrin
Fresh from Visconti's Rocco And His Brothers,
the young Claudia Cardinale shines in Zurlini's
delicately handled heartbreaker inspired by true
events from his own life. Cardinale is Aida, a
glamorous nightclub singer and naive gold-digger
ambitious for a better life. She leaves her job
and heads to Parma on the promise that wealthy
playboy Marcello will provide her with that opportunity.
Marcello soon tires of her leaving his teenage
younger brother Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) to come
to the rescue. She represents an adult world that
Lorenzo is keen to experience. He is one of the
few sympathetic figures in a world she finds cruel
and heartless . Their relationship develops in
a believable fashion even as we understand that
there are forces in society that will crush any
hope of it lasting. Zurlini's most touching tale
and one of Cardinale's finest roles.
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Edinburgh Filmhouse
Wednesday 26 November tbc pm
Glasgow Film Theatre
Sunday 2 November tbc pm
(screening with Violent Summer)
Riverside Studios, London
Wednesday 5 November 8.45pm
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| BLACK
JESUS
Seduto alla sua destra
(1968; 89m)
Cast: Woody Strode,
Jean Servais, Franco Citti, Pier Paolo Capponi,
Stephen Forsyth
Zurlini was a practicing Catholic and a card-carrying
member of the Communist Party. It is the inherent
conflict in these positions that lends such
an electricity to Black Jesus, his raw, radical
interpretation of the Passion of Christ. Woody
Strode was a powerful presence in films like
Spartacus and Once Upon A Time In The West and
has one of his best roles here as Lalubi, a
messianic freedom fighter betrayed and imprisoned
during the civil war in the Belgian Congo. Patrice
Lumumba is said to be the inspiration for the
character but the film uses real events and
characters as a mere starting point for an uncompromising
engagement with the brutality of colonialism.
There is grim inevitability surrounding the
fate of a man who dares to speak out for truth,
justice and non-violence. This is a passionate
cry from the heart that deserves to be as well
known as Pontecorvo greats like Battle Of
Algiers and Burn!
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Edinburgh Filmhouse
Tuesday 4 November tbc pm
(screening with the short Serenata)
Glasgow Film Theatre
Sunday 16 November tbc pm
(screening with the short Serenata)
Riverside Studios, London
Wednesday 12 November 9pm
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THE
PROFESSOR
La prima notte di quiete
(1972; 132m)
Cast
Alida Valli
Zurlini acknowledged
The Professor as an acutely autobiographical
tale revisiting his fascination with existential
dread, his discomfort with the empty distractions
of contemporary life and the sense that death
could be a great deliverance. The film's Italian
title is taken from a line by Goethe: "
Death, the first night of silence."
Alain Delon stars as Daniele Dominci, a lecturer
hired on a temporary contract at a university
in the seaside town of Rimini. Gambling and
alcohol provide the only escapes from a profoundly
unhappy existence defined by a troubled relationship
with his wife and the belief that everything
he does in life is futile. He finds his students
spoilt and shallow but is drawn to beautiful,
enigmatic teenager Vanina (Sonia Petrovna).
They embark on an affair that seems fated to
end in tragedy. Delon proves to be the perfect
Zurlini protagonist; his impassive features
masking an immense sense of suffering and self-loathing.
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Edinburgh Filmhouse
Tuesday 6 November tbc pm
(screening with the short La Stazione)
Glasgow Film Theatre
Sunday 23 November tbc pm
(screening with the short La Stazione)
Riverside Studios, London
Wednesday 19 November 5.45pm
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| SHORTS
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The
Station / La stazione 1952 11mins
A cinema-verité portrait of the sights
and sounds of a railway station where the greatmass
of humanity wait for a train or pass through
on their way to ameeting, an important encounter
or another meaningless day.
SCREENS WITH THE PROFESSOR
AT EDINBURGH FILMHOUSE
ON THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER AND
GLASGOW FILM THEATRE ON SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER
Soldiers
in the City / Soldati in citta 1952 10mins
Zurlini captures a sense of lonely youngmen away
fromhome who find temporary distractions in a
childish game of football or a lingering moment
with a beautiful young girl.
SCREENSWITH
FAMILY DIARY AT EDINBURGH
FILMHOUSE ON MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER AND GLASGOW
FILM THEATRE ON SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER
One Penny
Serenade / Serenata da un soldo 1953 12mins
An uncharacteristically sentimental tale of desperately
poor organ grinders fromNaples eager to earn a
littlemoney to send to their families back home.
SCREENS WITH BLACK JESUS
AT EDINBURGH FILMHOUSE
ON TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER AND
GLASGOW FILM THEATRE ON SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER
The complete
shorts programme plays at
Riverside Studios, London on 26 November 7pm
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Rome's Termini Station
in the Fifties, the setting of Zurlini's early
short La Stazione.
Zurlini began his film career directing a series
of short, non-fiction films that allowed him to
build his confidence and develop his style.
He later confessed the short documentaries
weremade “simply as away of getting noticed.”
The comment betrays a false modesty as several
of the films were prize-winners and clearly showthe
hallmarks of an emerging talent.
The shorts screening in support of this retrospective
comprise La Stazione, Soldati in
citta and Serenata da un soldo.
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