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Le mépris [Contempt] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
May
5
Europe Day
Michel Piccoli, director Fritz Lang, Jack Palance, and director Jean-Luc Godard behind the scenes. The clapperboard held by Godard is for the movie that Lang's working on in Le Mépris, an adaption of Homer's Odyssey. DP: Raoul Coutard.
A director from the EU for Europe Day
“Producers are something I can easily do without”
– Fritz Lang
A film in a film, the latter directed by Fritz Lang, directed by Godard.
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Io la conoscevo bene [I Knew Her Well] (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)
Mar
5
Crispus Attucks – 1770
Adriana (Stefania Sandrelli) seen through her apartment window. Rome is reflected in her face. DP: Armando Nannuzzi.
A wasteful act: Crispus Attucks, (arguably) the first American victim in the American Revolution, dies on March 5th, 1770.
“She's always happy. She desires nothing, envies no one, is curious about nothing. You can't surprise her. She doesn't notice the humiliations, though they happen to her every day. It all rolls off her back like some waterproof material. Zero ambition. No moral code. Not even a whore's love of money.”
– The Writer
An ambitious but aimless girl – she wants to be loved, and to be a model, a proto-Edie – mills about her day.
Sublimely shot, we see Adriana through glass panes, in reflections, in an off-focal plane, in other people's words.
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Il caso Mattei [The Mattei Affair] (Francesco Rosi, 1972)
Oct
27
1962
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
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Io la conoscevo bene [I Knew Her Well] (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)
Apr
2
cocktails
A lone Roberto (Enrico Maria Salerno) at a lively cocktail party in Rome's hypermodern EUR district. DP: Armando Nannuzzi.
“Trouble is, she likes everything. She's always happy. She desires nothing, envies no one, is curious about nothing. You can't surprise her. She doesn't notice the humiliations, though they happen to her every day. It all rolls off her back like some waterproof material. Zero ambition. No moral code. Not even a whore's love of money.”
– the writer
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Lo straniero [The Stranger] (Luchino Visconti, 1967)
Jul
3
soup
Arthur Meursault (Mastroianni) eating from a cracked bowl. DP: Giuseppe Rotunno.
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