VIRIDIANA FILMS. 4 EDITIoN Martin, Marcel, in Cinema(Paris), April 1962 shooting his picture and was safely across the Pyrenees, with the Lefevre, Raymond, Viridiana; ou, Les Infortunes de la Charite, in whole of his film smuggled out ahead of him. Franco raged, destroy Image et Son(Paris), Summer 1962. ing the out-take films deliberately and tantalizingly left behind; he Robinson, David, in Sight and Sound (London), Summer 1962. dismissed his minister of culture, and cursed the day he had ever Rotha, Paul, in Films and Filming(London), June 1962. trusted a faithless Spaniard who knew too much for Franco's good It Sarris, Andrew, in Movie(London), June 1962 Vas, Robert. in Monthly Film Bulletin(London). October 1963 its priesthood during Milne, Tom, ""The Mexican Bunuel, in Sight and Sound (london), had not seen their country go to the devil in the name of God Winter 1965-66 and franc Mardore, Michel, in Cahiers du Cinema(Paris), March 1966 Viridiana is basically the story of innocence betrayed and lost. The Rowe. lan in Screen Education Yearbook. London. 1968 heroine, Viridiana, has completed her novitiate and is Sarris, Andrew, The Devil and the Nun: Viridiana, "in Renaissance the Church forever, when her Mother Superior persuades her to pay of the Film, edited by Julius Bellone, London 1970. a farewell visit to Don Jaime, her uncle, who had paid for her unuel Issue"of image et Son(Paris), May 1971 education and entry into the service of God. Although Viridiana Bunuel Issue of Cine Cubano, no. 78-80. 1973 onsents to the visit, she has always loathed her uncle because he has Hogue, P, in Movietone News(Seattle), February 1975 never shown her the slightest affection rich Bunuel Issue" of Contracampo(Madrid), October-November 1980 she is persuaded that she must see him one last time before she takes ematheque(Perpignan), her farewell of the world and its ways. Winter 1984 Don Jaime, to her surprise, is affectionate and charming, and lets Steinborn, B, in Filmfaust(Frankfurt), April-May 1985 her know that she is the very image of his dead wife, for whom he still Roger, A, " Viridiana ou le Tableau vivant, in Iris (lowa City) maintains a kind of necrophiliac passion. He has a handsome illegiti mate son named Jorge, who is attracted to the young and innocent Aub, M, Gustavo Alatriste parle de viridiana, in Positif(Paris), Viridiana, but is willing to bide his time. Besides, he has brought no 391, September 1993 a mistress of his own to his uncle's estate Special Issue of Avant-Scene du Cinema(Paris), no. 428, Janu- Don jaime is able to drug viridiana's wine and later steal 1994 bedroom to look upon her as she lies happily unconscious. Poulet, J, ""Espace mental et filmique dans le cinema espagnol, in devoted to Jesus that she wears a crown of thorns and a huge Cineaction( Conde-sur-Noireau), vol. 75, no. 2, 1995 crucifix. She is clothed only in a simple shift. Don Jaime, in a trance, Castoro Cinema(Milan), no 59, 2nd edition, January 1996. utters his wifes name, removes the crown and crucifix that the girl Larraz, E,"La vision ironique de don Luis, in Cinemaction wears, and brutally rapes her while she lies senseless before him Conde-sur- Noireau), vol. 80, no 3, 1996. Consumed by guilt, he then hangs himself Moine, R,""Mises en cene, in Cinemaction( Conde-sur-Noireau) Viridiana, recovering consciousness, realizes sadly that she is not l.80,no.3,1996 without guilt herself, for she has blinded herself to the realities of the Moine,R, "Je suis athee grace a Dieu: la rhetorique chretienne d,un world; she formally rejects the vows she had made, and returns to the iconoclast, " in Cinemaction( Conde-sur-Noireau), vol. 80, estate she has inherited with Jorge hoping to make her peace with God. Still imbued with a crippled kind of faith, she takes Elia, M, in Sequences(Haute-Ville), no 189/190, March/June 1997. herself to rescue a band of castaway and diseased gypsy inviting them to become workers on the land she inherited w They work the land lazily, and at night they indulge themselves in one of the most defiant orgies ever filmed. It is sacrilegious if one is Viridiana is the most atypical of Luis Bunuel's films If he had set a Christian, which Bunuel was pleased to say he was not. The out deliberately to antagonize and shock a whole school of faith, he drunken, diseased beggars stage a supper scene that is a deliberate certainly did it in this film, which, while it was his undoubted parody of the grouping in Da Vincis painting of"The Last Supper masterpiece, concealed a bomb that made it impossible for him ever They dance grotesquely, ining themselves lewdly to the thun- Not that he wanted to. viridiana was a film he had to make in order The picture Bunuel made of his countrys plight is replete with to free himself, to let the world know that he was not in idle jest when symbolism of what Spain had become, a warning of what it might be he broke away from his Roman Catholic faith. The score he had to in a world gone mad. The only moral salvation the film hints at is settle with the Church must have been building for a long long time. It a hope that in a reformed Viridiana and a wiser, less destructive Jorge Dok over 60 years for him to declare himself utterly free. He was there may be the seed for a new generation of Spain, cut clean away always regarded as the great iconoclast of his time; no director was as from the ancient hypocrisies bred in the Church. His heroine comes of unpredictable; but few would have guessed how deep was his hatred age, and realizing the falseness of her onetime faith, pledges herself to Roman catholicism a new life that may embrace complete freedom. When the Spanish Civil War was concluded and Spain had settled Viridiana may be a compelling shocker, but it is also a beautifully down to a forgiving and let- it-be-forgotten peace, he, as Spains made picture with wonderful visuals, and the shock it gives may be greatest film director, was invited by Franco's minister of culture to virtually necessary to its meaning. Bunuel himself expressed it well return to his native country and make whatever film he chose with the when he said, The sense of film is this: that we do not live in the best blessing of Franco. Nobody, even his co-workers, knew that he w of all possible worlds. He afraid to show peop vicious and contemptible they are. When it is all over, Viridiana sits worked rapidly once he had begun and, in no time, he had finished playing cards, listening to rock-and-roll music with her uncle's
VIRIDIANA FILMS, 4th EDITION 1288 Martin, Marcel, in Cinéma (Paris), April 1962. Lefévre, Raymond, ‘‘Viridiana; ou, Les Infortunes de la Charité,’’ in Image et Son (Paris), Summer 1962. Robinson, David, in Sight and Sound (London), Summer 1962. Rotha, Paul, in Films and Filming (London), June 1962. Sarris, Andrew, in Movie (London), June 1962. Vas, Robert, in Monthly Film Bulletin (London), October 1963. Milne, Tom, ‘‘The Mexican Buñuel,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), Winter 1965–66. Mardore, Michel, in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), March 1966. Rowe, Ian, in Screen Education Yearbook, London, 1968. Sarris, Andrew, ‘‘The Devil and the Nun: Viridiana,” in Renaissance of the Film, edited by Julius Bellone, London 1970. ‘‘Buñuel Issue’’ of Image et Son (Paris), May 1971. ‘‘Buñuel Issue’’ of Cine Cubano, no. 78–80, 1973. Hogue, P., in Movietone News (Seattle), February 1975. ‘‘Buñuel Issue’’ of Contracampo (Madrid), October-November 1980. ‘‘Spanish Directors’ Issue’’ of Cahiers de la Cinémathèque (Perpignan), Winter 1984. Steinborn, B., in Filmfaust (Frankfurt), April-May 1985. Roger, A., ‘‘Viridiana ou le Tableau vivant,’’ in Iris (Iowa City), Autumn 1992. Aub, M., ‘‘Gustavo Alatriste parle de Viridiana,’’ in Positif (Paris), no. 391, September 1993. Special Issue of Avant-Scène du Cinéma (Paris), no. 428, January 1994. Poulet, J., ‘‘Espace mental et filmique dans le cinema espagnol,’’ in Cinemaction (Conde-sur-Noireau), vol. 75, no. 2, 1995. Castoro Cinema (Milan), no. 59, 2nd edition, January 1996. Larraz, E., ‘‘La vision ironique de don Luis,’’ in Cinemaction (Conde-sur-Noireau), vol. 80, no. 3, 1996. Moine, R., ‘‘Mises en cene,’’ in Cinemaction (Conde-sur-Noireau), vol. 80, no. 3, 1996. Moine, R., ‘‘Je suis athee grace a Dieu: la rhetorique chretienne d’un iconoclaste,’’ in Cinemaction (Conde-sur-Noireau), vol. 80, no. 3, 1996. Elia, M., in Séquences (Haute-Ville), no. 189/190, March/June 1997. *** Viridiana is the most atypical of Luis Buñuel’s films. If he had set out deliberately to antagonize and shock a whole school of faith, he certainly did it in this film, which, while it was his undoubted masterpiece, concealed a bomb that made it impossible for him ever to return to his native land, Spain. Not that he wanted to. Viridiana was a film he had to make in order to free himself, to let the world know that he was not in idle jest when he broke away from his Roman Catholic faith. The score he had to settle with the Church must have been building for a long, long time. It took over 60 years for him to declare himself utterly free. He was always regarded as the great iconoclast of his time; no director was as unpredictable; but few would have guessed how deep was his hatred for Roman Catholicism. When the Spanish Civil War was concluded and Spain had settled down to a forgiving and let-it-be-forgotten peace, he, as Spain’s greatest film director, was invited by Franco’s minister of culture to return to his native country and make whatever film he chose with the blessing of Franco. Nobody, even his co-workers, knew that he was planning so defiantly an anti-Catholic film as Viridiana. He always worked rapidly once he had begun and, in no time, he had finished shooting his picture and was safely across the Pyrenees, with the whole of his film smuggled out ahead of him. Franco raged, destroying the out-take films deliberately and tantalizingly left behind; he dismissed his minister of culture, and cursed the day he had ever trusted a faithless Spaniard who knew too much for Franco’s good. It was not long before Spain acknowledged that it had been betrayed by its priesthood during the Civil War, and put its trust in its young, who had not seen their country go to the devil in the name of God and Franco. Viridiana is basically the story of innocence betrayed and lost. The heroine, Viridiana, has completed her novitiate and is about to enter the Church forever, when her Mother Superior persuades her to pay a farewell visit to Don Jaime, her uncle, who had paid for her education and entry into the service of God. Although Viridiana consents to the visit, she has always loathed her uncle because he has never shown her the slightest affection. He is very rich, however, and she is persuaded that she must see him one last time before she takes her farewell of the world and its ways. Don Jaime, to her surprise, is affectionate and charming, and lets her know that she is the very image of his dead wife, for whom he still maintains a kind of necrophiliac passion. He has a handsome illegitimate son named Jorge, who is attracted to the young and innocent Viridiana, but is willing to bide his time. Besides, he has brought a mistress of his own to his uncle’s estate. Don Jaime is able to drug Viridiana’s wine, and later steals into her bedroom to look upon her as she lies happily unconscious. She is so devoted to Jesus that she wears a crown of thorns and a huge wooden crucifix. She is clothed only in a simple shift. Don Jaime, in a trance, utters his wife’s name, removes the crown and crucifix that the girl wears, and brutally rapes her while she lies senseless before him. Consumed by guilt, he then hangs himself. Viridiana, recovering consciousness, realizes sadly that she is not without guilt herself, for she has blinded herself to the realities of the world; she formally rejects the vows she had made, and returns to the estate she has inherited with Jorge, hoping to make her peace with God. Still imbued with a crippled kind of faith, she takes it upon herself to rescue a band of castaway and diseased gypsy beggars, inviting them to become workers on the land she inherited with Jorge. They work the land lazily, and at night they indulge themselves in one of the most defiant orgies ever filmed. It is sacrilegious if one is a Christian, which Buñuel was pleased to say he was not. The drunken, diseased beggars stage a supper scene that is a deliberate parody of the grouping in Da Vinci’s painting of ‘‘The Last Supper.’’ They dance grotesquely, entertaining themselves lewdly to the thunder of the ‘‘Hallelujah Chorus.’’ The picture Buñuel made of his country’s plight is replete with symbolism of what Spain had become, a warning of what it might be in a world gone mad. The only moral salvation the film hints at is a hope that in a reformed Viridiana and a wiser, less destructive Jorge there may be the seed for a new generation of Spain, cut clean away from the ancient hypocrisies bred in the Church. His heroine comes of age, and realizing the falseness of her onetime faith, pledges herself to a new life that may embrace complete freedom. Viridiana may be a compelling shocker, but it is also a beautifully made picture with wonderful visuals, and the shock it gives may be virtually necessary to its meaning. Buñuel himself expressed it well when he said, ‘‘The sense of film is this: that we do not live in the best of all possible worlds.’’ He was never afraid to show people how vicious and contemptible they are. When it is all over, Viridiana sits playing cards, listening to rock-and-roll music with her uncle’s
FILMS. 4th EDItION VISKNINGAR OCH ROP Jones, William G, editor, Talking with Bergman, Dallas, 1983. -De witt bodeen Lefevre, Raymond, Ingmar Bergman, Paris, 1983. Dervin, Daniel, Through a Freudian Lens Deeply: A Psychoanalysis of Cinema, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1985 VISKNINGAR OCH ROP Gado, Frank, The Passion of Ingmar Bergman, Durham, North Bergman, Ingmar, Laterna Magica, Stockholm, 1987; as The Magic ( Cries and whispers) Lantem: An Autobiography, London, 1988 Smith, Joseph H, and william Kerrigan editors, Images in Our Souls. Cavell, Psychoanalysis and Cinema. Baltimore. 1987. Director: Ingmar bergman Articles Production: Cinematograph, in cooperation with Svenska Chaplin(Stockholm), voL 14, no. 3, 1972. ilminstitutet; Eastmancolor; running time: 91 minutes; length: 8, 190 Film in Sweden(Stockholm). no. 2, 1972 feet. Released 1972. Oscar for Best Cinematography, 1973 Bergman, Ingmar, extract from diary, in Cinema(Paris), Decem- ber 1972 Producer: Ingmar Bergman; production manager: Lars-Owe Variety(New York), 20 December 1972 Carlsberg: screenplay: Ingmar Bergman; photography: Sven Nykvist; Milne, Tom, in Monthly Film Bulletin(London), March 1973. editor: Siv Lundgren; sound: Owe Svennson; art director: Marik Vos. Strick, Philip, in Sight and Sound (London), Spring 1973 Mellen, Joan, "" Bergman and Women, in Film Quarterly(Berke Cast: Harriet Andersson(Agnes); Kari Sylwan(Anna): Ingrid Thulin ley), Fall 1973 Liv Ulmann(Maria): Erland Josephson(Doctor): Henning Positif( Paris), September 1973 oakim): Georg Arlin(Fredrik): Anders Ek(Isak); Inga Le Fanu, Mark, ""Bergman: The Politics of Melodrama, in Mono- gram(London), no 5, 1974 Gallerani, M, "L anima e le forme nella scrittura di bergman, Cinema Nuovo(Bari), September-October 1978 Publications Lundell, T, and A. Mulac, "Husbands and wives in Bergman Films: Close Analysis Based on Empirical Data, in Journal of University Film Association(Carbondale, Illinois), Winter 1981 Koskinen, M, " Det typiskt Svenska hos Ingmar Bergman, in Bergman, Ingmar, Viskningar och rop, in Avant-Scene du Cinema Paris), December 1973 Dialogue on Film: Sven Nykvist, in American Film(Washington, Books Sitney, P. A, "Color and Myth in Cries and Whispers, in Film Criticism(Meadville, Pennsylvania), no 3, 1989 Bjorkman, Stig, and others, editors, Bergman on Bergman, New Sitney, P. A "Liksom en saga av Broderna Grimm, in Chaplin York, 1973 Ranieri, Tino, Ingmar Bergman, Florence, 1974 Bergman, il paradosso di un 'Ateo cristiano, in Castoro Cinema Ho, Thi Nhu Quynh, La femme dans univers Bergmanien: Analyse Florence), November-December 1991 de quatre films ingmar Bergman, Fribourg, 1975 Kaminsky, Stuart, editor, Ingmar Bergman: Essays in Criticism, New York, 1975 Hope, Kenneth Weaver, Film and Meta-Narrative, Ann Arbor In the rare company of such films as Marnie and l deserto rosso, Michigan, 1976 Cries and Whispers fuses its meaning to its controlled use of color Bergom-Larsson, Maria, Ingmar Bergman and Society, San Brilliantly simple, it is a film of reds, even punctuated with red-outs Diego. 1978 rather than darkening fades. Opening with crepuscular light in the Kawin, Bruce, Mindscreen: Bergman, Godard, and the First-Person sculpture garden of a 19th-century mansion, the film moves quickly Film. Princeton. 1978. indoors where it settles, with a single exterior flashback, until its Marion, Denis, Ingmar Bergman, Paris, 1979 epilogue. The house is remarkable for its red upholstery: richl Manvell, Roger, Ingmar Bergman: An Appreciation, New York, 1980 saturated red walls and furnishings set off the white gowns in which Mosley, Philip, Ingmar Bergman: The Cinema as Mistress, Bos- three sisters, Agnes, Karin, and Maria, and their servant Anna, dress ton,1981 themselves following the model of their dead mother who appears in Petric, Vlada, editor, Film and Dreams: An Approach to Bergman, a flashback. Agnes lies dying, apparently of a cancer of the womb or South salem. New York. 1981. stomach. After her death the white motif shifts to black. Perhaps the Cowie, Peter, Ingmar Bergman: A Critical Biography, New York, 1982. most brilliant and simple act of color organization comes from the Livingston, Paisley, Ingmar Bergman and the Ritual of Art, Ithaca, dramatic placement of a final flashback motivated by Anna's reading New York. 1982 in Agnes's diary(after her death) of an ecstatic aft 1289
FILMS, 4 VISKNINGAR OCH ROP th EDITION 1289 aggressive illegitimate son. But after the cardplaying and the record has come to an end, what then? —DeWitt Bodeen VISKNINGAR OCH ROP (Cries and Whispers) Sweden, 1972 Director: Ingmar Bergman Production: Cinematograph, in cooperation with Svenska Filminstitutet; Eastmancolor; running time: 91 minutes; length: 8,190 feet. Released 1972. Oscar for Best Cinematography, 1973. Producer: Ingmar Bergman; production manager: Lars-Owe Carlsberg; screenplay: Ingmar Bergman; photography: Sven Nykvist; editor: Siv Lundgren; sound: Owe Svennson; art director: Marik Vos. Cast: Harriet Andersson (Agnes); Kari Sylwan (Anna); Ingrid Thulin (Karin); Liv Ullmann (Maria); Erland Josephson (Doctor); Henning Moritzen (Joakim); Georg Arlin (Fredrik); Anders Ek (Isak); Inga Gill (Aunt Olga). Publications Script: Bergman, Ingmar, Viskningar och rop, in Avant-Scène du Cinéma (Paris), December 1973. Books: Björkman, Stig, and others, editors, Bergman on Bergman, New York, 1973. Ranieri, Tino, Ingmar Bergman, Florence, 1974. Ho, Thi Nhu Quynh, La femme dans l’univers Bergmanien: Analyse de quatre films d’Ingmar Bergman, Fribourg, 1975. Kaminsky, Stuart, editor, Ingmar Bergman: Essays in Criticism, New York, 1975. Hope, Kenneth Weaver, Film and Meta-Narrative, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1976. Bergom-Larsson, Maria, Ingmar Bergman and Society, San Diego, 1978. Kawin, Bruce, Mindscreen: Bergman, Godard, and the First-Person Film, Princeton, 1978. Marion, Denis, Ingmar Bergman, Paris, 1979. Manvell, Roger, Ingmar Bergman: An Appreciation, New York, 1980. Mosley, Philip, Ingmar Bergman: The Cinema as Mistress, Boston, 1981. Petric, Vlada, editor, Film and Dreams: An Approach to Bergman, South Salem, New York, 1981. Cowie, Peter, Ingmar Bergman: A Critical Biography, New York, 1982. Livingston, Paisley, Ingmar Bergman and the Ritual of Art, Ithaca, New York, 1982. Steene, Birgitta, Ingmar Bergman: A Guide to References and Resources, Boston, 1982. Jones, William G., editor, Talking with Bergman, Dallas, 1983. Lefévre, Raymond, Ingmar Bergman, Paris, 1983. Dervin, Daniel, Through a Freudian Lens Deeply: A Psychoanalysis of Cinema, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1985. Gado, Frank, The Passion of Ingmar Bergman, Durham, North Carolina, 1986. Bergman, Ingmar, Laterna Magica, Stockholm, 1987; as The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography, London, 1988. Smith, Joseph H., and William Kerrigan editors, Images in Our Souls: Cavell, Psychoanalysis and Cinema, Baltimore, 1987. Articles: Chaplin (Stockholm), vol.14, no. 3, 1972. Film in Sweden (Stockholm), no. 2, 1972. Bergman, Ingmar, extract from diary, in Cinéma (Paris), December 1972. Variety (New York), 20 December 1972. Milne, Tom, in Monthly Film Bulletin (London), March 1973. Strick, Philip, in Sight and Sound (London), Spring 1973. Mellen, Joan, ‘‘Bergman and Women,’’ in Film Quarterly (Berkeley), Fall 1973. Positif (Paris), September 1973. Le Fanu, Mark, ‘‘Bergman: The Politics of Melodrama,’’ in Monogram (London), no. 5, 1974. Gallerani, M., ‘‘L’anima e le forme nella scrittura di Bergman,’’ in Cinema Nuovo (Bari), September-October 1978. Lundell, T., and A. Mulac, ‘‘Husbands and Wives in Bergman Films: A Close Analysis Based on Empirical Data,’’ in Journal of University Film Association (Carbondale, Illinois), Winter 1981. Koskinen, M., ‘‘Det typiskt Svenska hos Ingmar Bergman,’’ in Chaplin (Stockholm), vol. 26, nos. 5–6, 1984. ‘‘Dialogue on Film: Sven Nykvist,’’ in American Film (Washington, D.C.), March 1984. Sitney, P. A., ‘‘Color and Myth in Cries and Whispers,’’ in Film Criticism (Meadville, Pennsylvania), no. 3, 1989. Sitney, P. A., ‘‘Liksom en saga av Broderna Grimm,’’ in Chaplin (Stockholm), no. 3, 1989. ‘‘Bergman, il paradosso di un ‘Ateo cristiano,’’’ in Castoro Cinema (Florence), November-December 1991. *** In the rare company of such films as Marnie and Il deserto rosso, Cries and Whispers fuses its meaning to its controlled use of color. Brilliantly simple, it is a film of reds, even punctuated with red-outs rather than darkening fades. Opening with crepuscular light in the sculpture garden of a 19th-century mansion, the film moves quickly indoors where it settles, with a single exterior flashback, until its epilogue. The house is remarkable for its red upholstery: richly saturated red walls and furnishings set off the white gowns in which three sisters, Agnes, Karin, and Maria, and their servant Anna, dress themselves following the model of their dead mother who appears in a flashback. Agnes lies dying, apparently of a cancer of the womb or stomach. After her death the white motif shifts to black. Perhaps the most brilliant and simple act of color organization comes from the dramatic placement of a final flashback motivated by Anna’s reading in Agnes’s diary (after her death) of an ecstatic afternoon of lush
VISKNINGAR OCH ROP FILMS. 4 EDITIoN autumnal colors. The natural effulgence is all the more striking for and Karins husband, Frederick, represent the punishing power of being reserved and isolated at the end of the film masculinity, while Marias suicidal husband and a minister illustrate In the films dramatic center, where the logic of dreams holds male weakness as self-absorption sway, the corpse of Agnes elicits comfort from the three surviving within the visual and color economy of the film the wound of women. Anna alone cradles the dead body in an image that suggests Marias husband (who stabs himself in the stomach reacting to her a Pieta, but shows as well a full breast beside the""face hint that she has slept with the doctor) is part of a covert symbolical incapable of earthly nurture. As Mater Dolorosa, the servant has equation with broken glass Karin inserts in her vagina(apparently to a religious faith in the liminality of death itself. This is consistent with deny her husband sex)and their ultimate visual echo: a red book held the very first sight we get of her early in the film, waking and pray against the mothers dress (in ory flashback) as a displaced beside the fetishes of her dead daughter. menstrual stain. In this dreamlike, liminal world of the metamorphic An elaborate linkage of gestures, both rhyming and reversing, woman, fusing fantasies of defloration, menstruation, and castration, throughout the film suggests that the different characters are vectors the four men are versions of masculine self-hatred in sadistic and of a single fantasy system that generates its narrative complexity by masochistic registers. scattering and redistributing its aspects among imagined persons whe We know from Bergmans autobiography the fetishistic impor- are in essence a single haunting presence. Anna is as much the absent tance he gives to the magic lantern. In the flashback of the mother mother as is Maria (Liv Ulmann plays both her and the mother): even there is a magic lantern version of Hansel and Gretel. Here the magic the miserable Karin(named after the filmmakers own mother)is her lantern represents simultaneously the gift of fairy tales, and thereby most threatening face the psychic-defense machinery for exteriorizing infantile and oedipal The men of the film are all shadowy figures for the dead, radically terrors, and the gift of cinema for the incipient filmmaker. The oral absent father. Alternately fierce and weak, they underline the missing gratification and oral aggression at the core of the fairy tale are male presence in Agnes's life. The doctor, Maria's sometime lover, prominent components of Bergman's film, whose very title brackets 1290
VISKNINGAR OCH ROP FILMS, 4th EDITION 1290 Viskningar och rop autumnal colors. The natural effulgence is all the more striking for being reserved and isolated at the end of the film. In the film’s dramatic center, where the logic of dreams holds sway, the corpse of Agnes elicits comfort from the three surviving women. Anna alone cradles the dead body in an image that suggests a Pietà, but shows as well a full breast beside the ‘‘dead’’ face incapable of earthly nurture. As Mater Dolorosa, the servant has a religious faith in the liminality of death itself. This is consistent with the very first sight we get of her early in the film, waking and praying beside the fetishes of her dead daughter. An elaborate linkage of gestures, both rhyming and reversing, throughout the film suggests that the different characters are vectors of a single fantasy system that generates its narrative complexity by scattering and redistributing its aspects among imagined persons who are in essence a single haunting presence. Anna is as much the absent mother as is Maria (Liv Ullmann plays both her and the mother); even the miserable Karin (named after the filmmaker’s own mother) is her most threatening face. The men of the film are all shadowy figures for the dead, radically absent father. Alternately fierce and weak, they underline the missing male presence in Agnes’s life. The doctor, Maria’s sometime lover, and Karin’s husband, Frederick, represent the punishing power of musculinity, while Maria’s suicidal husband and a minister illustrate male weakness as self-absorption. Within the visual and color economy of the film the wound of Maria’s husband (who stabs himself in the stomach reacting to her hint that she has slept with the doctor) is part of a covert symbolical equation with broken glass Karin inserts in her vagina (apparently to deny her husband sex) and their ultimate visual echo: a red book held against the mother’s dress (in a memory flashback) as a displaced menstrual stain. In this dreamlike, liminal world of the metamorphic woman, fusing fantasies of defloration, menstruation, and castration, the four men are versions of masculine self-hatred in sadistic and masochistic registers. We know from Bergman’s autobiography the fetishistic importance he gives to the magic lantern. In the flashback of the mother there is a magic lantern version of Hansel and Gretel. Here the magic lantern represents simultaneously the gift of fairy tales, and thereby the psychic-defense machinery for exteriorizing infantile and oedipal terrors, and the gift of cinema for the incipient filmmaker. The oral gratification and oral aggression at the core of the fairy tale are prominent components of Bergman’s film, whose very title brackets
FILMS. 4th EDItION I VITELLONI speech with labial ( whispers)and dental(cries)suggestions. Maria Books. duction of the doctor involves a sensual and somewhat greedy scene of eating: in direct contrast. the silent meal of Karin and Frederick, in Renzi, Renzo, Federico Fellini, Parma. 1956 which she spills wine and denies him sexual pleasure, precedes the Taylor, John Russell, Cinema Eye, Cinema Ear, New York, 1964 horrific mutilation of her genitals, and that too ends with her rubbing Rondi, Gian Luigi, Italian Cinema Today, New York, 1965 the blood on her mouth and laughing: Agnes vomits, and Anna goes Budgen, Suzanne, Fellini, London, 1966 through the motions of breast-feeding her. Maria fulfills the role of Salachas. Gilbert Federico Fellini. New York, 1969 the fairy-tale mother who fails to care for her children and abandons Betti, Liliana, Fellini, Zurich, 1976 them to the forest But in Anna we have the all- giving mother who has Fellini on Fellini, New York, 1976 lost her daughter Ketcham, Charles B, Federico Fellini: The Search for a New he lesson of Hansel and Gretel, according to bruno bettleheim Mythology, New York, 1976. is that the child must learn to curb his infantile desires and win self- Murray, Edward, Fellini the Artist, New York, 1976; revised edi- sufficiency through his own ingenuity. The ingenuity of Cries and tion 1985 Whispers is the Orphic transformation of terror into art, of the loss of Rosenthal, Stuart, The Cinema of Federico Fellini, Cranbury, New the mother into the musical richness of autumnal color and the self- Jersey, 1976. sufficiency of memory Stubbs, John C, Federico Fellini: A Guide to References and Resources. Boston. 1978 -P. Adams sitney Alpert, Hollis, Fellini: A Life, New York, 1981, 1998 Fruttero, Carlo, and Franco Lucentini, Je te trouve un pen pale: Recit d'ete avec trente fantasies feminins de Federico Fellini, Paris, 1982 Costello, Donald P, Fellini's Road, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1983 IⅤ ITELLONI Grazzini. Giovanni. editor. Federico Fellini: Intervista sul cinema Rome, 1983 Burke, Frank, Federico Fellini: Variety Lights to La Dolce Vita, CThe Young and the passionate) Boston, 1984 Fava, Claudie F, and Aldo vigano, The Films of Federico Fellini, Italy-France, 1953 Secaucus, New Jersey, 198 Kezich. Tullio. Fellini. Milan. 1987. Director: Federico Fellini Baxter. John. Fellini. New York. 1994 Costantini, Costanzo, editor, Fellini on Fellini, translated by Sohrab Production: Peg Films(Paris)and Cite Films (Rome): black and Gieri, Manuela, Contemporary Italian Filmmaking: Strategies of white, 35mm; running time: 104 minutes. Released 1953, Venice Subversion: Pirandello, Fellini, Scola, and the Directors of the Film Festival. Filmed December 1952-Spring 1953 in Viterbo, Ostia, New Generation. Toronto. 1995 and Florence Fellini, Federico, Fellini on Fellini, translated by Isabel Quigley, New York. 1996. Producer: Lorenzo Pegoraro: screenplay: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, and Ennio Flaiano, from their screen story: photography Articles. Otello Martelli, Luciano Trasatti, and Carlo Carlini; editor: rolando Benedetti: art director: Mario Chiari: music: Nino Rota. Fellini, Federico, in Cinema Nuovo(Turin), I January 1963 Castello, Giulio Cesare, in Cinema(rome), 31 August 1953 Cast: Franco Interlenghi(Moraldo): Alberto Sordi(Alberto); Franco Berger, Rudi, in Filmcritica(Rome), September 1953 Fabrizi(Fausto ) Leopoldo Trieste (Leopoldo ): Riccardo Fellini Ghelli, Nino, in Bianco e Nero(rome), October 1953 (Riccardo ) Elenora Ruffo (Sandra): Jean Brochard(Fausto's fa- Koval, Francis, in Films in Review(New York), October 1953 her): Claude Farell(Alberto's sister): Carlo Romano (Michele): Martin, Andre, in Cahiers du Cinema(Paris), May 1954 Enrico Viarisio(Sandras father); Paolo Borboni(Sandra's mother); Benedetti, B, in Cinema Nuovo(Rome), 15 August 1954 Lida Baarova(Michele's wife): Arlette Sauvage(Lady in the movi Tailleur, Roger, and Bernard Chardere, in Positif( Paris), September theater): Vira Silenti( Chinese maiden): Maja Nipora(Chanteuse) October 1954 Mangini, Cecilia, " Le Cas Fellini, in Cinema(Paris), January 1955 Lambert, Gavin, The Signs of Predicament, ' in Sight and Sound Publications London), January-March 1955 Salachas, Gilbert in Telecine(Paris), October-November 1955 Archer, Eugene, in Film Culture(New York), no 4, 1956. Young, Vernon, in Hudson Review(New York), Autumn 1956 Crowther, Bosley, in New York Times, 24 October 1956 ellin, Federico, Tullio Pinelli, and Ennio Flaiano, I vitelloni, in ll "Marty-Italian Style, 'in Newsweek(New York), 12 Novem- primo Fellini: Lo sceicco bianco, / vitelloni, La strada, Il bidone edited by Renzo Renzi, Bologna, 1969; translated as I vitelloni, ir Philippe, Pierre, in Cinema(Paris), February 1958 Fellini: Three Screenplays, New York, 1970; also published Bennett, Joseph, Italian Film: Failure and Emergence, in Kenyon Quattro film, Turin, 1974 Review(gambier, Ohio), autumn 1 1291
FILMS, 4 I VITELLONI th EDITION 1291 speech with labial (whispers) and dental (cries) suggestions. Maria’s seduction of the doctor involves a sensual and somewhat greedy scene of eating; in direct contrast, the silent meal of Karin and Frederick, in which she spills wine and denies him sexual pleasure, precedes the horrific mutilation of her genitals, and that too ends with her rubbing the blood on her mouth and laughing; Agnes vomits, and Anna goes through the motions of breast-feeding her. Maria fulfills the role of the fairy-tale mother who fails to care for her children and abandons them to the forest. But in Anna we have the all-giving mother who has lost her daughter. The lesson of Hansel and Gretel, according to Bruno Bettleheim, is that the child must learn to curb his infantile desires and win selfsufficiency through his own ingenuity. The ingenuity of Cries and Whispers is the Orphic transformation of terror into art, of the loss of the mother into the musical richness of autumnal color and the selfsufficiency of memory. —P. Adams Sitney I VITELLONI (The Young and the Passionate) Italy-France, 1953 Director: Federico Fellini Production: Peg Films (Paris) and Cité Films (Rome); black and white, 35mm; running time: 104 minutes. Released 1953, Venice Film Festival. Filmed December 1952-Spring 1953 in Viterbo, Ostia, and Florence. Producer: Lorenzo Pegoraro; screenplay: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, and Ennio Flaiano, from their screen story; photography: Otello Martelli, Luciano Trasatti, and Carlo Carlini; editor: Rolando Benedetti; art director: Mario Chiari; music: Nino Rota. Cast: Franco Interlenghi (Moraldo); Alberto Sordi (Alberto); Franco Fabrizi (Fausto); Leopoldo Trieste (Leopoldo); Riccardo Fellini (Riccardo); Elenora Ruffo (Sandra); Jean Brochard (Fausto’s father); Claude Farell (Alberto’s sister); Carlo Romano (Michele); Enrico Viarisio (Sandra’s father); Paolo Borboni (Sandra’s mother); Lida Baarova (Michele’s wife); Arlette Sauvage (Lady in the movie theater); Vira Silenti (Chinese maiden); Maja Nipora (Chanteuse). Publications Script: Fellini, Federico, Tullio Pinelli, and Ennio Flaiano, I vitelloni, in Il primo Fellini: Lo sceicco bianco, I vitelloni, La strada, Il bidone, edited by Renzo Renzi, Bologna, 1969; translated as I Vitelloni, in Fellini: Three Screenplays, New York, 1970; also published in Quattro film, Turin, 1974. Books: Renzi, Renzo, Federico Fellini, Parma, 1956. Taylor, John Russell, Cinema Eye, Cinema Ear, New York, 1964. Rondi, Gian Luigi, Italian Cinema Today, New York, 1965. Budgen, Suzanne, Fellini, London, 1966. Salachas, Gilbert, Federico Fellini, New York, 1969. Betti, Liliana, Fellini, Zurich, 1976. Fellini on Fellini, New York, 1976. Ketcham, Charles B., Federico Fellini: The Search for a New Mythology, New York, 1976. Murray, Edward, Fellini the Artist, New York, 1976; revised edition, 1985. Rosenthal, Stuart, The Cinema of Federico Fellini, Cranbury, New Jersey, 1976. Stubbs, John C., Federico Fellini: A Guide to References and Resources, Boston, 1978. Alpert, Hollis, Fellini: A Life, New York, 1981, 1998. Fruttero, Carlo, and Franco Lucentini, Je te trouve un peu pâle: Récit d’été avec trente fantasmes féminins de Federico Fellini, Paris, 1982. Costello, Donald P., Fellini’s Road, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1983. Grazzini, Giovanni, editor, Federico Fellini: Intervista sul cinema, Rome, 1983. Burke, Frank, Federico Fellini: Variety Lights to La Dolce Vita, Boston, 1984. Fava, Claudie F., and Aldo Vigano, The Films of Federico Fellini, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1985. Kezich, Tullio, Fellini, Milan, 1987. Baxter, John, Fellini, New York, 1994. Costantini, Costanzo, editor, Fellini on Fellini, translated by Sohrab Sorooshian, London, 1995. Gieri, Manuela, Contemporary Italian Filmmaking: Strategies of Subversion: Pirandello, Fellini, Scola, and the Directors of the New Generation, Toronto, 1995. Fellini, Federico, Fellini on Fellini, translated by Isabel Quigley, New York, 1996. Articles: Fellini, Federico, in Cinema Nuovo (Turin), 1 January 1963. Castello, Giulio Cesare, in Cinema (Rome), 31 August 1953. Berger, Rudi, in Filmcritica (Rome), September 1953. Ghelli, Nino, in Bianco e Nero (Rome), October 1953. Koval, Francis, in Films in Review (New York), October 1953. Martin, André, in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), May 1954. Benedetti, B., in Cinema Nuovo (Rome), 15 August 1954. Tailleur, Roger, and Bernard Chardère, in Positif (Paris), SeptemberOctober 1954. Mangini, Cecilia, ‘‘Le Cas Fellini,’’ in Cinéma (Paris), January 1955. Lambert, Gavin, ‘‘The Signs of Predicament,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), January-March 1955. Salachas, Gilbert, in Téléciné (Paris), October-November 1955. Archer, Eugene, in Film Culture (New York), no. 4, 1956. Young, Vernon, in Hudson Review (New York), Autumn 1956. Crowther, Bosley, in New York Times, 24 October 1956. ‘‘Marty—Italian Style,’’ in Newsweek (New York), 12 November 1956. Philippe, Pierre, in Cinéma (Paris), February 1958. Bennett, Joseph, ‘‘Italian Film: Failure and Emergence,’’ in Kenyon Review (Gambier, Ohio), autumn 1964
I VITELLONI FILMS. 4 EDITIoN I vitelloni Sufrin, Mark, in Film Society Review(New York), May 1970 backing for La strada, already in scenario form. Together with Lefevre, Raymond, "Fellini, in image et Son(Paris), January 1971 scenarists Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli, he devised the story of the Burke, F. M, ""Reason and Unreason in Federico Fellini's I Vitelloni, prankish middle-class youths--or vitelloni(meaning literally"big in Literature/Film Quarterly(Salisbury, Maryland), no 2, 1980. slabs of veal")that he remembered from his Romagnan boyhood Italianism(Reading, Berkshire), no. 1, 1981 Having high opinions of their limited talents, these aging provincial Martin, Marcel,""Federico Fellini, "in Revue du Cinema( Paris), good-for-nothings prefer banding together to amuse themselves at the January 1984 expense of their neighbors in lieu of settling down into responsible Sragow, Michael, in American Film, vol 14, no. 7, May 1989. lifestyles and the work they consider demeaning Predal. Rene. ''Les vitelloni du neorealism au cinema moderne. ' in The film foc the lives of five buddies drawn with the Cinemaction( Conde-sur-Noireau), no 70, January 1994 bservation of a great satirist. Ea ch must come to Schickel,R, ""Send in the Clowns: An Aspect of Fellini, in Film terms with the inevitable alienation that they face when confronted Comment(New York), vol 30, September/October 1994 with their worthlessness and with the bleakness of their futures Sequences(Haute- Ville), no 179, July-August 1995 Alberto, the saddest of the group, lives with his mother and Amengual, Barthelemy, ""Propositions pour un portrait du jeune upported by his sister. He tries desperately to remain an adolescent Fellini en neo-realiste, in Positif(Paris), no. 413/414, July for everyone except his sister to whom he acts the commanding August 1995 brother and man of the family. Against his will, his sister elopes, aving him to become the breadwinner. Fausto, the handsome Don Juan of the group, is coerced into marrying Moraldo' s sister whom he has gotten pregnant; however, he doesn,t hesitate to abandon his new After Lo sceicco bianco, which despite its formal brilliance was wife at the movies to pursue the woman in the seat next to him. Fausto a critical and financial failure, Fellini found himself unable to obtain loses his job in a religious statuary shop (a typical Fellini touch of
I VITELLONI FILMS, 4th EDITION 1292 I Vitelloni Sufrin, Mark, in Film Society Review (New York), May 1970. Lefèvre, Raymond, ‘‘Fellini,’’ in Image et Son (Paris), January 1971. Burke, F. M., ‘‘Reason and Unreason in Federico Fellini’s I Vitelloni,’’ in Literature/Film Quarterly (Salisbury, Maryland), no. 2, 1980. Italianist (Reading, Berkshire), no. 1, 1981. Martin, Marcel, ‘‘Federico Fellini,’’ in Revue du Cinéma (Paris), January 1984. Sragow, Michael, in American Film, vol. 14, no. 7, May 1989. Prédal, René, ‘‘Les vitelloni, du néoréalisme au cinéma moderne,’’ in Cinemaction (Conde-sur-Noireau), no. 70, January 1994. Schickel, R., ‘‘Send in the Clowns: An Aspect of Fellini,’’ in Film Comment (New York), vol. 30, September/October 1994. Séquences (Haute-Ville), no. 179, July-August 1995. Amengual, Barthélemy, ‘‘Propositions pour un portrait du jeune Fellini en néo-réaliste,’’ in Positif (Paris), no. 413/414, JulyAugust 1995. *** After Lo sceicco bianco, which despite its formal brilliance was a critical and financial failure, Fellini found himself unable to obtain backing for La strada, already in scenario form. Together with scenarists Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli, he devised the story of the prankish middle-class youths—or vitelloni (meaning literally ‘‘big slabs of veal’’)—that he remembered from his Romagnan boyhood. Having high opinions of their limited talents, these aging provincial good-for-nothings prefer banding together to amuse themselves at the expense of their neighbors in lieu of settling down into responsible lifestyles and the work they consider demeaning. The film focuses on the lives of five buddies, drawn with the profound social observation of a great satirist. Each must come to terms with the inevitable alienation that they face when confronted with their worthlessness and with the bleakness of their futures. Alberto, the saddest of the group, lives with his mother and is supported by his sister. He tries desperately to remain an adolescent for everyone except his sister to whom he acts the commanding brother and man of the family. Against his will, his sister elopes, leaving him to become the breadwinner. Fausto, the handsome Don Juan of the group, is coerced into marrying Moraldo’s sister whom he has gotten pregnant; however, he doesn’t hesitate to abandon his new wife at the movies to pursue the woman in the seat next to him. Fausto loses his job in a religious statuary shop (a typical Fellini touch of