Bernardo Bertolucci - Commare secca AKA Grim Reaper (1962)

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'The Eavesdropper' and 'The Grim Reaper' Illustrate Savagery of Our Times

THE STARK truth that the savagery of our times knows no boundaries is illustrated with sharply contrasting but not entirely conclusive effects by Italy's "La Commare Secca" ("The Grim Reaper") and the Argentine "The Eavesdropper," which were unveiled at the New York Film Festival last night.

The third entry of the director, Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, in the annual Lincoln Center fetes, "The Eavesdropper" is an explicit political statement as well as a poetically sensitive exploration of those nuances of love and caste that have distinguished his earlier films.

The usual collaboration between the director and his wife, Beatriz Guido, and several others, has produced a script that stresses the compulsive spying that leads a young, well-to-do, obviously Fascist Buenos Aires terrorist to disaster in love and in politics.

As always, the director's approach is elliptical, brooding and introspective and demands a good deal of a viewer despite the English subtitles. The basic story of the antihero, who is hiding out from the police in a garishly rococo hotel occupied largely by Republican Spanish refugees, is full of people whose motivations are not clearly defined. These include the nubile girl he invites to share his sanctuary, a lass who appears to be searching for the surcease of romance.

One wonders why the heroine, played in gentle, moody and pensive fashion by Janet Margolin (the Lisa of "David and Lisa") would continue to be drawn to the callow terrorist, portrayed in glum, sometimes petulant style by Stathis Giallelis, remembered for his lead role in "America, America." It is not easy to understand why he doesn't simply enjoy the pleasures of sex, which are torridly but decently displayed, instead of constantly succumbing to the snooping that proves disastrous to innocent people, to his cause and to his love.

The director and the producer, Paul M. Heller ("David and Lisa"), have employed some refreshingly exotic types--especially Elena Cortesina as an aging soubrette--for the roles of the Spanish acting troupe in the hotel.

Here and in other strange but pictorial settings the director has guided a somber, often fascinating drama in which his politics are perfectly clear even if his motivations are not. Royal Films International will release "The Eavesdropper" to theaters.

"La Commare Secca," screened earlier in the evening, is the work of Bernardo Bertolucci, the writer-director, who made it in 1962 when he was 20, preceding "Before the Revolution," his drama that was shown at the film festival two years ago. "La Commare Secca" is vivid proof of his ability to generate genuine tension in a classic whodunit format while making little effort to flesh out his characters.

The story is simplicity itself, even though his approach is oblique. The discovery of a dead prostitute on the weedy banks of the Tiber brings in a covey of suspects who once again illustrate that Roman society has more than its fair share of dregs. Included are an inept young thief who preys on unsuspecting neckers; an ex-convict and kept man; a rustic soldier; a couple of teen-agers; a homosexual, and a rough drifter who was one of theprostitute's clients.

Mr. Bertolucci's dissections reveal the lying and viciousness common to these beasts in the human jungle. If these are only flashing forays, they do serve to make his points quickly and directly. He collaborated on the script with Sergio Citti and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

The cast of nonprofessionals turns in natural portrayals that are too brief and obvious to be memorable. They do, however, keep the skein of the melodrama taut enough to hold any fan of this genre entranced.
A.H. Weiler, NY Times, September 15, 1966

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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Bernardo Bertolucci - Commare secca AKA Grim Reaper (1962)

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