Bernardo Bertolucci's "La Commare secca", his directorial film debut, is wonderfully preserved in the Criterion DVD we had the occasion of watching recently. It shows a young man with great promise in a film that some contributors to IMDb like to compare with Kurasawa's "Rashomon", which is unfortunate. Bertolucci had been around the movie business as he had been behind the scenes in the Italian cinema serving his apprenticeship with the likes of Pier Paolo Passolini and other great masters. In this film, he got help from Passolini, who contributed to the screen play.
The beginning of the film has a Fellinesque look to it, as we are shown Parco Paolo, in Rome, with the flying debris that come to settle at the scene where a young prostitute is lying on the ground. The crisp black and white cinematography of Giovanni Narzisi enhances everything it focuses on with tremendous elegance, showing that Bertolucci knew his business and his camera angles, mostly shown in scenes in the park, are always effective. The musical score by Piero Piccione and Carlo Rustichelli enhances the film, adding another dimension. Bertolucci was well served by Nino Baragli's editing.
There are aspects of the film in which he recognize the input of Pier Paolo Passolini, as we see the homosexual who is cruising the park at night. In fact, most of the men in the film are predators, one way or another. The prostitute, who hardly utters a word in the movie until the end, is a symbol for the lost innocence the director and his collaborators sensed at the time the film was produced.
This film deserves a view by all fans of the Italian cinema because it marked the arrival on the scene of a revolutionary director whose career spans more than forty years.
The beginning of the film has a Fellinesque look to it, as we are shown Parco Paolo, in Rome, with the flying debris that come to settle at the scene where a young prostitute is lying on the ground. The crisp black and white cinematography of Giovanni Narzisi enhances everything it focuses on with tremendous elegance, showing that Bertolucci knew his business and his camera angles, mostly shown in scenes in the park, are always effective. The musical score by Piero Piccione and Carlo Rustichelli enhances the film, adding another dimension. Bertolucci was well served by Nino Baragli's editing.
There are aspects of the film in which he recognize the input of Pier Paolo Passolini, as we see the homosexual who is cruising the park at night. In fact, most of the men in the film are predators, one way or another. The prostitute, who hardly utters a word in the movie until the end, is a symbol for the lost innocence the director and his collaborators sensed at the time the film was produced.
This film deserves a view by all fans of the Italian cinema because it marked the arrival on the scene of a revolutionary director whose career spans more than forty years.