settima

Italy

Il caso Mattei [The Mattei Affair] (Francesco Rosi, 1972)

Oct

27

1962

Il caso Mattei (1972)

A group of well-dressed men, somewhere in a field, with Enrico Mattei (Gian Maria Volontè) in the centre. DP: Pasqualino De Santis.

“IF they want to kill me, let them do it.”

– Enrico Mattei

La donna del lago [The Lady of the Lake / The Possessed] (Luigi Bazzoni + Franco Rossellini, 1965)

Oct

25

La donna del lago (1965)

Tilde (Virna Lisi) caressing a man's hand, resting on her shoulder, with her cheek. DP: Leonida Barboni.

Until November 20.

Il caso Valdemar [The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar] (Gianni Hoepli + Ubaldo Magnaghi, 1936)

Oct

24

Il caso Valdemar (1936)

M. Valdemar on his deathbed.

[A] favourite horror movie overall*

”'M. Valdemar,' I said, 'are you asleep?' He made no answer, but I perceived a tremor about the lips, and was thus induced to repeat the question, again and again. At its third repetition, his whole frame was agitated by a very slight shivering; the eye-lids unclosed themselves so far as to display a white line of the{n} ball; the lips moved sluggishly, and from between them, in a barely audible whisper, issued the words:

'Yes; — asleep now. Do not wake me! — let me die so!'”

– Edgar Allan Poe, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (1845) (via)

A man agrees on being hypnotised while in the state of dying. This particularly haunting and efficiently gory film – the first in the genre – is the result.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

Banditi a Milano [The Violent Four] (Carlo Lizzani, 1968)

Oct

22

Banditi a Milano (1968)

Two of the four bandits, Pietro 'Piero' Cavallero (Gian Maria Volontè) and Sante Notarnicola (Don Backy), surrounded by press and Carabinieri. DPs: Giuseppe Ruzzolini & Otello Spila.

1943-1997 ['43 – '97] (Ettore Scola, 1997)

Oct

16

1943

1943-1997 (1997)

The boy (Francesco Cencioni) on the run in a locked down town. DP: Carlo Tafani.

La vérité [The Truth] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960)

Oct

15

1959

La vérité (1960)

Gilbert (Sami Frey) and Dominique (Brigitte Bardot). DP: Armand Thirard.

The day of the court case. Numerous other dates are mentioned, all in flashbacks.

– The Paris Court of Appeals, meeting on October 15, 1959, pursuant to the charges against Dominique Marceau.

– With a girl like that, truth may be the best defense for once.

Le passager de la pluie [Rider on the Rain] (René Clément, 1970)

Oct

10

Le passager de la pluie (1970)

Mélancolie 'Mellie' Mau (Marlène Jobert) and Col. Harry Dobbs (Charles Bronson), dancing. DP: Andréas Winding.

– You expect me to eat that?

– Americans live on ketchup and milk. I'm a whiz at geography.

Il demonio [The Demon] (Brunello Rondi, 1963)

Oct

6

exorcism

Il demonio (1963)

While several men hold her down, Purif (Daliah Lavi) sticks out her tongue to the crucifix held up to her. DP: Carlo Bellero.

[A favourite] exorcism film*

“Blood of Christ. Demon. A curse upon this man. A curse that he will never forget me. Blood of my body. Until the grave. A curse that he will never forget me.”

– Purificazione

When a rejected young woman puts a curse on her heart's desire, the locals see nothing less than witchcraft. It is decided that Purif must be possessed, and exorcised.

 

* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.

Le boucher [The Butcher] (Claude Chabrol, 1970)

Oct

3

Le boucher (1970)

Popaul (Jean Yanne) and Hélène (Stéphane Audran) in the former's butcher shop. DP: Jean Rabier.

Le orme [Footprints on the Moon] (Luigi Bazzoni + Mario Fanelli, 1975)

Sep

30

International Translation Day

Le orme (1975)

Alice reflected/reflecting in a glass pane (via). DP: Vittorio Storaro.

A translator for International Translation Day

“This mirror reflected a painting… with words. Chinese idiograms. 'The she-crane calls in the shadow. Her cheek answers.'”

– Alice Campos

Alice, the always fantastically brooding Florinda Bolkan, works as a translator when all of sudden she loses her job and finds herself on the small island of Garma. People tell her she has been there before, recently, but she knows this is not possible.

 

Some English-language posters try to sell Le orme as an action-ridden sci-fi giallo, but oh boy leave that perception behind and you're in for one unsettling treat! Le orme can be placed somewhere between Don't Look Now and that other Alice film, Chabrol's Alice ou la dernière fugue. Drifting and elegant, distant and claustrophobic.