Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Petri, 1970): Picturehouse Cinemas (across London)
This film is part of the Ennio Morricone season at Picturehouse Cinemas. Details here.
Picturehouses Cinema introduction to their Ennio Morricone season:
Ennio Morricone is il maestro of the movies. As bravura as he was prolific (more than 400 scores for film and TV over six decades), the late Italian composer’s work enlivened film music with insidious earworms, innovative instrumentation (think whip cracks and whistling) and an unerring gift to speak directly to the emotions. This Picturehouse Re-Discover season showcases some of his masterpieces and unsung gems, celebrating perhaps the most original, distinctive voice in film music.
Here is an ICA introduction to today's film from a previous Elio Petri season:
Inaugurating a cycle of cinema politico in Italy, Petri's
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
is a dark and satirical political thriller set during a time of
internal political disturbance, where a psychopathic Roman police
inspector (Gian Maria Volonté) cracks down with relish on the political
dissidents of the day. After slashing the throat of his masochistic
mistress (Florinda
Bolkan), the inspector is perversely put in charge of the investigation.
With sadistic pleasure, he plants clues that implicate himself and then
craftily diffuses them, ostensibly to prove his invincibility. As
director Petri's split-second edits rocket back and forth between
flashback and detection, this film is a biting critique of Italian
police methods and authoritarian repression, a psychological study of a
budding crypto-fascist and a probing who-dunnit. The iciest of film
noirs, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion won the Academy Award
for Best Foreign Language Film of 1970.
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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