Liliana Cavani
Encyclopedia
Liliana Cavani is an Italian film director and screenwriter. She belongs to a generation of Italian filmmakers that came into prominence in the 1970s and includes Bernardo Bertolucci
, Pier Paolo Pasolini
and Marco Bellochio. Cavani became internationally known after the success of her 1974 feature film Il portiere di notte (The Night Porter
) . Her films have intellectual ambitions and historical concerns. In addition to feature films and documentaries, she has been an opera director.
in the province of Emilia-Romagna
. According to Áine O'Healy (Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies, 2007, p. 427), Cavani was born on 12 January 1937, although Liehm states 1935 (Passion and Defiance, 1984, p. 198); other commentators have claimed 1933 and 1936, with 1933 prevailing on Internet biographies such as IMDb. Cavani's father, an architect from Mantua
, belonged to a conservative bourgeois family of landowners. "My father was an architect interested in urban development. He took me to museums. He had worked in urban planning in Baghdad
in 1956, when Iraq
was still under British control. My mother was very strong, very capable, and very sweet", Cavani explained in an interview. Her mother was passionate about films and took her to the movies every Sunday from an early age. On her mother side Cavani came from a working class family of militant antifascist. Her maternal grandfather, a syndicalist introduced her to the works of Engels, Marx and Bakunin.
She graduated in literature and philology at Bologna University in 1960, writing a dissertation on the fifteen century poet and nobleman Marsilio Pio. Cavani had intended to become an archeologist, a profession she soon abandoned in order to pursue her passion for the moving image. She attended Rome
's renowned "Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia", (Experimental Cinematography Center) inaugurated by Benito Mussolini
prior to World War II
. She studied documentary filmmaking and obtained her diploma with the short films Incontro notturno (1961), about the friendship between two men, a white man and a Senegal
ese African, and L'evento (1962) about a group of tourists who killed for fun.
, Italy's national television network, and took a job there as a director of historical documentaries in 1961. Her professional career thus began making documentaries for RAI between 1961 and
1965, which included Storia del III Reich, (History of the Third Reich) (1962-63), which chronicles the rise of the Nazi regime. It was the first historical investigation of German totalitarianism to appear on television. Other documentaries are: Leta di stalin ("The Stalin Years"), an investigation into the massive abuse of power perpetuated by the soviet leader; La donna nella Resistenza (1965); Phillipe Pétain, proceso a Vichy, winner of the Golden Lion
at Venice film festival
in 1965 in the documentary section. In this period she also made il girono della pace, a four-hour documentary on immigration south-to-north within Italy.
and the atmosphere typical of the films of Pasolini. Made in a period of political unrest, it was to become a kind of manifesto of dissenting Catholicism. Starring Lou Castel
, it portrays Francis of Assisi
as a slightly depress protestor and a avid, albeit mad, supporter of armed brother hood. The ideal defender of the 1968 student movement. The film was a great success, but also triggered many negative reactions. It was called " heretical, blasphemous and offensive for the faith of the Italian people". It was the first of many polemical reaction to Cavani's work.
's belief that the truth should be proved by experimental methods, makes him clash with the dogmas of the church and he falls into the hands of the Inquisition
. The film, originally made for television, was banned by the Italian censor, that considered it anticlerical and was never aired, but it found a distributor and was released on theaters.
' Antigone
, the film, set in the industrial city of Milan
, recounts the struggle of a girl against the authorities that prevents burying the bodies of rebels killed by the police, to serve as a warning to its citizens. The brave girl, the only rebel in a city crushed by dictatorship, is aided only by a mysterious man who speaks an unknown language. The example of this two youngsters is soon followed by others. This work was not very well received by the public, so Cavani returned to television with the series of documentaries I bambini e noi (1970).
The Guest (1971) Cavani's subsequent film L'Ospite (The Guest)(1971), furthered her interest in social and psychological themes. The plot centers on the relationship between a writer and a woman, a former mental asylum patient struggling to fit back in society. The film, starring Lucia Bose
, was made on a shoestring budget. It was shown at the Venice film festival
out of competition.
Milarepa (1973) The director undertook a venture into Oriental mystical experiences with Milarepa
(1973). A story inspired in a classic text of Tibetan literature, Milarepa moves back and for in time between the story of the title character, a mystic of the eleventh century and a young westerner whose travails are not very different, both are torn between the search for knowledge and a quest for power. The film was praised by Pier Paolo Pasolini
who called it a "truly beautiful film".
(Il portiere di notte), which remains the film for which she is best-remembered. The plot, set in Vienna
in 1954, follows a former concentration camp victim, raped and tortured by an SS camp guard. Fifteen years later, she revives the pattern of abuse after encountering the man by chance in a hotel, where he is working under an assumed name as a night porter. A deeply controversial film, it starred Charlotte Rampling
and Dirk Bogarde
. American critic Roger Ebert
called it "despicable", and both major New York critics, Pauline Kael
(The New Yorker
) and Vincent Canby
(The New York Times
) both dismissed it as "junk". However, in Europe
, the film was uniformly hailed as a groundbreaking attempt to probe the unsettling sexual and psychological ambiguities generated by war and the exploitation of power following by it.
and Russian writer and feminist Lou Andreas Salomé. They meet in Rome in 1882 and move to Germany
in a failed menage a trois while attempting to live their lives and satisfy their intellectual needs rejecting the notions of bourgeois morality. Nietzsche goes mad from a venereal disease and Paul discovers his repressed homosexuality with tragic consequences. Lou, the most liberated of the three, following the banner of of feminism, is the only survivor. The film starring Dominique Sanda
, Erland Josephson
and Robert Powell
was entangled in controversy.
In 1979, she began directing operas with Wozzeck
in Florence
; since then she has produced and directed several operas for many theaters in Europe. Subsequent operas include Iphigénie en Tauride
(1984) and Medea (1986) at the Opera of Paris; Cardillac
(1991) in Florence; La vestale
(1993) at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; and La cena delle beffe
(1995) in Zürich
.
. Shown in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, it was aimed at the international market with a star-studded cast, including Marcello Mastroianni
, Claudia Cardinale
and Burt Lancaster
. The film is set during the American occupation of Naples
in 1944 during World War II
.
(Oltre la porta), set in North Africa, follows a love triangle between Mathew, an American oil ring worker in love with Nina, a young woman entangled in an affair with her stepfather Enrico, an Italian diplomat who is in jail for the death of Nina's mother. The film, starring Marcello Mastroianni
, Tom Berenger
and Eleonora Giorgi
, disappointed audiences and critics.
(Interno berlinese), made in 1985, was loosely based on the novel Quicksand
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. Set in Berlin in 1938, on the verge of war, the film tells the story of a German official working for the foreign office and his wife both of whom are seduced by the young daughter of the Japanese Ambassador to the Third Reich and are dragged into a perverse love triangle.
The film continued Cavani's interest in transgressive relationships. It was the third part of her trilogy of films with a German setting that began with The Night Porter
and continued with Beyond Good and Evil
.
(1989) Liliana Cavani returned to the life of St Francis of Assisi
in a film starring American actor Mickey Rourke
as the title character, and English actress Helena Bonham-Carter as Chiara. The film bore little stylistical resemblance to Cavani's earlier effort. portrays Francesco's life.
In the 1990s Cavani became more interested in staging operas, and devoted less time to filmmaking. She returned to her television roots and directed three TV opera production: Verdi's La Traviata
(1992), Cavalleria rusticana
on Pietro Mascagni
(1996) and Puccini's Manon Lescaut
(1998).
Where Are You? I'm Here (1993) Where Are You? I'm Here (Dove siete? Io sono qui) (1993), recounts the love story of Fausto and Elena two deaf youngsters from different backgrounds. He belongs to a wealthy family who had risen him as if he were not deaf, while she comes from a more humble working class and has to struggles to complete her education. Set in contemporary Italy, the film is similar to The Cannibals and The Guest in its exploration of the themes of silence and isolation. Like many of Cavani's films, it includes the use of dance.
Ripley's Game (2002) In 2002, Cavani made Ripley's Game
(Il Gioco di Ripley), based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith
, a sequel to The Talented Mr. Ripley
, which was made into the 1991 film
, Ripley’s Game, which was presented out of competition at Venice.
Cavani currently lives in Rome. Carpi, her hometown has established the Associazione Fondo Liliana Cavani, where her films are preserved and made available for consultation.
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
, Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
and Marco Bellochio. Cavani became internationally known after the success of her 1974 feature film Il portiere di notte (The Night Porter
The Night Porter
The Night Porter is a controversial 1974 film by Italian director Liliana Cavani, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling.- Synopsis :...
) . Her films have intellectual ambitions and historical concerns. In addition to feature films and documentaries, she has been an opera director.
Early life
Cavani was born in a working-class family in Carpi, near ModenaModena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
in the province of Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
. According to Áine O'Healy (Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies, 2007, p. 427), Cavani was born on 12 January 1937, although Liehm states 1935 (Passion and Defiance, 1984, p. 198); other commentators have claimed 1933 and 1936, with 1933 prevailing on Internet biographies such as IMDb. Cavani's father, an architect from Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, belonged to a conservative bourgeois family of landowners. "My father was an architect interested in urban development. He took me to museums. He had worked in urban planning in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
in 1956, when Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
was still under British control. My mother was very strong, very capable, and very sweet", Cavani explained in an interview. Her mother was passionate about films and took her to the movies every Sunday from an early age. On her mother side Cavani came from a working class family of militant antifascist. Her maternal grandfather, a syndicalist introduced her to the works of Engels, Marx and Bakunin.
She graduated in literature and philology at Bologna University in 1960, writing a dissertation on the fifteen century poet and nobleman Marsilio Pio. Cavani had intended to become an archeologist, a profession she soon abandoned in order to pursue her passion for the moving image. She attended Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
's renowned "Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia", (Experimental Cinematography Center) inaugurated by Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She studied documentary filmmaking and obtained her diploma with the short films Incontro notturno (1961), about the friendship between two men, a white man and a Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
ese African, and L'evento (1962) about a group of tourists who killed for fun.
Early films (1961-1965)
While attending film school, Cavani won a competition at RAIRAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
, Italy's national television network, and took a job there as a director of historical documentaries in 1961. Her professional career thus began making documentaries for RAI between 1961 and
1965, which included Storia del III Reich, (History of the Third Reich) (1962-63), which chronicles the rise of the Nazi regime. It was the first historical investigation of German totalitarianism to appear on television. Other documentaries are: Leta di stalin ("The Stalin Years"), an investigation into the massive abuse of power perpetuated by the soviet leader; La donna nella Resistenza (1965); Phillipe Pétain, proceso a Vichy, winner of the Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
at Venice film festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
in 1965 in the documentary section. In this period she also made il girono della pace, a four-hour documentary on immigration south-to-north within Italy.
Francesco d'Assisi (1966)
Cavani made her first full-length feature film in 1966 with Francis of Assisi (Francesco d'Assisi). Made for television and aired in two parts, it was deeply influenced by the style of RosselliniRossellini
Rossellini is a common Italian family name in Italy. Other spellings include: Rosselini.Rossellini may refers to:* Roberto Rossellini, Italian film director, and brother of Renzo** Renzo Rossellini, producer, son of Roberto...
and the atmosphere typical of the films of Pasolini. Made in a period of political unrest, it was to become a kind of manifesto of dissenting Catholicism. Starring Lou Castel
Lou Castel
Lou Castel is a Colombian actor known primarily for his work in Italian films.Born Ulv Quarzell in Bogotá, Castel moved to Europe as a young man. Interested in acting from an early age, he attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, but was quickly kicked out. His first movie role was an...
, it portrays Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
as a slightly depress protestor and a avid, albeit mad, supporter of armed brother hood. The ideal defender of the 1968 student movement. The film was a great success, but also triggered many negative reactions. It was called " heretical, blasphemous and offensive for the faith of the Italian people". It was the first of many polemical reaction to Cavani's work.
Galileo (1968)
Her next film, Galileo (1968), focuses on the seventeenth-century conflict between science and religion. Galileo GalileiGalileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
's belief that the truth should be proved by experimental methods, makes him clash with the dogmas of the church and he falls into the hands of the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
. The film, originally made for television, was banned by the Italian censor, that considered it anticlerical and was never aired, but it found a distributor and was released on theaters.
The Cannibals(1969)
The Cannibals (I Cannibali) (1969) , Cavani's first film to rely on an independent production company, uses the myth of Antigone to present the contemporary political state of Italy. Inspired by SophoclesSophocles
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
' Antigone
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus' mother. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood", "in place of a mother", or "anti-generative", based from the root...
, the film, set in the industrial city of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, recounts the struggle of a girl against the authorities that prevents burying the bodies of rebels killed by the police, to serve as a warning to its citizens. The brave girl, the only rebel in a city crushed by dictatorship, is aided only by a mysterious man who speaks an unknown language. The example of this two youngsters is soon followed by others. This work was not very well received by the public, so Cavani returned to television with the series of documentaries I bambini e noi (1970).
The Guest (1971) Cavani's subsequent film L'Ospite (The Guest)(1971), furthered her interest in social and psychological themes. The plot centers on the relationship between a writer and a woman, a former mental asylum patient struggling to fit back in society. The film, starring Lucia Bose
Lucia Bosé
Lucia Bosè, born Lucia Borloni , is an Italian actress, who was at the height of her fame during the period of Italian Neorealism, the 1940s and 1950s. She is the mother of famous Spanish singer Miguel Bosé.-Life and career:...
, was made on a shoestring budget. It was shown at the Venice film festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
out of competition.
Milarepa (1973) The director undertook a venture into Oriental mystical experiences with Milarepa
Milarepa (1974 film)
Milarepa is a 1974 Italian drama film directed by Liliana Cavani. It was entered into the 1974 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Lajos Balázsovits - Leo Milarepa* Paolo Bonacelli - Prof. Bennet* Marisa Fabbri - Milarepa's mother...
(1973). A story inspired in a classic text of Tibetan literature, Milarepa moves back and for in time between the story of the title character, a mystic of the eleventh century and a young westerner whose travails are not very different, both are torn between the search for knowledge and a quest for power. The film was praised by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
who called it a "truly beautiful film".
The Night Porter (1974)
Liliana Cavani was not well known beyond Italy until she made the 1974 film The Night PorterThe Night Porter
The Night Porter is a controversial 1974 film by Italian director Liliana Cavani, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling.- Synopsis :...
(Il portiere di notte), which remains the film for which she is best-remembered. The plot, set in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1954, follows a former concentration camp victim, raped and tortured by an SS camp guard. Fifteen years later, she revives the pattern of abuse after encountering the man by chance in a hotel, where he is working under an assumed name as a night porter. A deeply controversial film, it starred Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
and Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...
. American critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
called it "despicable", and both major New York critics, Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
(The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
) and Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
(The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
) both dismissed it as "junk". However, in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the film was uniformly hailed as a groundbreaking attempt to probe the unsettling sexual and psychological ambiguities generated by war and the exploitation of power following by it.
Beyond Good and Evil (1977)
In 1977, she made Beyond Good and Evil (Al di là del bene e del male), which recounts the intense relationship between German philosophizer Friederich Nietzsche, his friend author Paul ReePaul Rée
Paul Ludwig Carl Heinrich Rée was a German author and philosopher, and friend of Friedrich Nietzsche.-Biography:...
and Russian writer and feminist Lou Andreas Salomé. They meet in Rome in 1882 and move to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in a failed menage a trois while attempting to live their lives and satisfy their intellectual needs rejecting the notions of bourgeois morality. Nietzsche goes mad from a venereal disease and Paul discovers his repressed homosexuality with tragic consequences. Lou, the most liberated of the three, following the banner of of feminism, is the only survivor. The film starring Dominique Sanda
Dominique Sanda
Dominique Sanda is a French actress and former fashion model.Sanda was born as Dominique Marie-Françoise Renée Varaigne in Paris to Lucienne and Gérard Varaigne...
, Erland Josephson
Erland Josephson
Erland Josephson is a Swedish actor and author. He is best known to international audiences for his work in films directed by Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Theodoros Angelopoulos.-Biography:...
and Robert Powell
Robert Powell
Robert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay...
was entangled in controversy.
In 1979, she began directing operas with Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
; since then she has produced and directed several operas for many theaters in Europe. Subsequent operas include Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigénie en Tauride is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard....
(1984) and Medea (1986) at the Opera of Paris; Cardillac
Cardillac
Cardillac is an opera by Paul Hindemith in three acts and four scenes. Ferdinand Lion wrote the libretto based on the short story Das Fräulein von Scuderi by E.T.A. Hoffmann.-Performance history:...
(1991) in Florence; La vestale
La vestale
La vestale is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra in Paris on December 15, 1807 and is regarded as Spontini's masterpiece...
(1993) at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; and La cena delle beffe
La cena delle beffe
La cena delle beffe is an opera in four acts composed by Umberto Giordano to an Italian libretto by Sem Benelli adapted from his play of the same name...
(1995) in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
.
The Skin (1981)
Her 1981 film, La Pelle (The Skin), was based on the eponymous novel by Curzio MalaparteCurzio Malaparte
Curzio Malaparte , born Kurt Erich Suckert, was an Italian journalist, dramatist, short-story writer, novelist and diplomat...
. Shown in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, it was aimed at the international market with a star-studded cast, including Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
, Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale is an Italian actress, and has appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. The majority of Cardinale's films have been either Italian or French...
and Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
. The film is set during the American occupation of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
in 1944 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Beyond the Door (1982)
The plot of 1982's Beyond the DoorBeyond the Door (1982 film)
-Cast:* Marcello Mastroianni - Enrico Sommi* Eleonora Giorgi - Nina* Tom Berenger - Matthew Jackson* Michel Piccoli - Mr. Mutti* Paolo Bonetti* Maria Sofia Amendolea - Secretary* Enrico Bergier* Marcia Briscoe - Nina's Friend...
(Oltre la porta), set in North Africa, follows a love triangle between Mathew, an American oil ring worker in love with Nina, a young woman entangled in an affair with her stepfather Enrico, an Italian diplomat who is in jail for the death of Nina's mother. The film, starring Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
, Tom Berenger
Tom Berenger
Tom Berenger is an American actor known mainly for his roles in action films.-Early life:Berenger was born as Thomas Michael Moore in Chicago to an Irish Catholic family. Berenger's father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Berenger has a sister, Susan...
and Eleonora Giorgi
Eleonora Giorgi
Eleonora Giorgi is an Italian actress, screenwriter and film director.Giorgi was born in Rome. She made her film debut in a minor role in Paolo Cavara's horror film Black Belly of the Tarantula . Giorgi has appeared in nearly fifty films, including Pasquale Festa Campanile's Conviene far bene...
, disappointed audiences and critics.
The Berlin Affair (1985)
The Berlin AffairThe Berlin Affair
The Berlin Affair is a 1985 Italo-German film, directed by Liliana Cavani and starring Gudrun Landgrebe, Kevin McNally and Mio Takaki. Set in Berlin, 1938, it sees the wife of a rising Nazi diplomat fall in love with Mitsuko Matsugae, the daughter of the Japanese Ambassador and an artist. Her...
(Interno berlinese), made in 1985, was loosely based on the novel Quicksand
Quicksand (novel)
is a novel by the Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. It was written in serial format between 1928 and 1930 for the magazine Kaizō. The last of Tanizaki's major novels translated into English, it concerns a four-way bisexual love affair between upper-crust Osakans.-Title:The Japanese title, Manji,...
by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. Set in Berlin in 1938, on the verge of war, the film tells the story of a German official working for the foreign office and his wife both of whom are seduced by the young daughter of the Japanese Ambassador to the Third Reich and are dragged into a perverse love triangle.
The film continued Cavani's interest in transgressive relationships. It was the third part of her trilogy of films with a German setting that began with The Night Porter
The Night Porter
The Night Porter is a controversial 1974 film by Italian director Liliana Cavani, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling.- Synopsis :...
and continued with Beyond Good and Evil
Beyond Good and Evil
Beyond Good and Evil is a book by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, first published in 1886.It takes up and expands on the ideas of his previous work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but approached from a more critical, polemical direction....
.
Francesco (1989)
With FrancescoFrancesco (film)
Francesco is a 1989 docu-drama relating in flashback St. Francis of Assisi's evolution from rich man's son to religious humanitarian and finally to full-fledged saint. The film was based on Herman Hesse's Francis of Assisi, which director Liliana Cavani had previously filmed in 1966. It stars...
(1989) Liliana Cavani returned to the life of St Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
in a film starring American actor Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
as the title character, and English actress Helena Bonham-Carter as Chiara. The film bore little stylistical resemblance to Cavani's earlier effort. portrays Francesco's life.
In the 1990s Cavani became more interested in staging operas, and devoted less time to filmmaking. She returned to her television roots and directed three TV opera production: Verdi's La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
(1992), Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
on Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
(1996) and Puccini's Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut is a short novel by French author Abbé Prévost. Published in 1731, it is the seventh and final volume of Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité . It was controversial in its time and was banned in France upon publication...
(1998).
Where Are You? I'm Here (1993) Where Are You? I'm Here (Dove siete? Io sono qui) (1993), recounts the love story of Fausto and Elena two deaf youngsters from different backgrounds. He belongs to a wealthy family who had risen him as if he were not deaf, while she comes from a more humble working class and has to struggles to complete her education. Set in contemporary Italy, the film is similar to The Cannibals and The Guest in its exploration of the themes of silence and isolation. Like many of Cavani's films, it includes the use of dance.
Ripley's Game (2002) In 2002, Cavani made Ripley's Game
Ripley's Game (film)
Ripley's Game is a feature film based on the 1974 novel of the same name, the third in Patricia Highsmith's "Ripliad," a series of books chronicling the murderous adventures of con artist Tom Ripley...
(Il Gioco di Ripley), based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short-story writer most widely known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951...
, a sequel to The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith. This novel first introduced the character of Tom Ripley who returns in the novels Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water...
, which was made into the 1991 film
The Talented Mr. Ripley (film)
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a 1999 American psychological thriller written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella. It is an adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith 1955 novel of the same name, which was previously filmed as Plein Soleil .The film stars Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, Gwyneth...
, Ripley’s Game, which was presented out of competition at Venice.
Cavani currently lives in Rome. Carpi, her hometown has established the Associazione Fondo Liliana Cavani, where her films are preserved and made available for consultation.
Filmography as director
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Francesco d'Assisi | Francesco d'Assisi | Made for television |
| 1968 | Galileo | Galileo | Made for television |
| 1969 | The Cannibals | I Cannibali | |
| 1971 | The Guest | L’ospite | |
| 1973 | Milarepa Milarepa (1974 film) Milarepa is a 1974 Italian drama film directed by Liliana Cavani. It was entered into the 1974 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Lajos Balázsovits - Leo Milarepa* Paolo Bonacelli - Prof. Bennet* Marisa Fabbri - Milarepa's mother... |
Milarepa | |
| 1974 | The Night Porter The Night Porter The Night Porter is a controversial 1974 film by Italian director Liliana Cavani, starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling.- Synopsis :... |
Il portiere di notte | |
| 1977 | Beyond Good and Evil Beyond Good and Evil (film) Beyond Good and Evil is a 1977 drama film directed by Liliana Cavani. It stars Dominique Sanda , Erland Josephson and Robert Powell... |
Al di là del bene e del male | |
| 1981 | The Skin | La pelle | Based on the eponymous novel by Curzio Malaparte Curzio Malaparte Curzio Malaparte , born Kurt Erich Suckert, was an Italian journalist, dramatist, short-story writer, novelist and diplomat... |
| 1982 | Beyond the Door Beyond the Door (1982 film) -Cast:* Marcello Mastroianni - Enrico Sommi* Eleonora Giorgi - Nina* Tom Berenger - Matthew Jackson* Michel Piccoli - Mr. Mutti* Paolo Bonetti* Maria Sofia Amendolea - Secretary* Enrico Bergier* Marcia Briscoe - Nina's Friend... |
Oltre la porta | |
| 1985 | The Berlin Affair The Berlin Affair The Berlin Affair is a 1985 Italo-German film, directed by Liliana Cavani and starring Gudrun Landgrebe, Kevin McNally and Mio Takaki. Set in Berlin, 1938, it sees the wife of a rising Nazi diplomat fall in love with Mitsuko Matsugae, the daughter of the Japanese Ambassador and an artist. Her... |
Interno Berlinese | Based on the novel Quicksand by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki |
| 1989 | Francesco Francesco (film) Francesco is a 1989 docu-drama relating in flashback St. Francis of Assisi's evolution from rich man's son to religious humanitarian and finally to full-fledged saint. The film was based on Herman Hesse's Francis of Assisi, which director Liliana Cavani had previously filmed in 1966. It stars... |
Francesco | |
| 1993 | Where Are You? I'm Here | Dove siete? Io sono qui | |
| 2002 | Ripley's Game Ripley's Game (film) Ripley's Game is a feature film based on the 1974 novel of the same name, the third in Patricia Highsmith's "Ripliad," a series of books chronicling the murderous adventures of con artist Tom Ripley... |
Il gioco di Ripley | Based on Ripley's Game Ripley's Game Ripley's Game is a psychological thriller by Patricia Highsmith, the third in her "Ripliad" series.-Plot summary:In the third Ripley novel, Tom Ripley is a wealthy man in his early thirties. He lives in Villeperce, France, with his French wife, Heloise... by Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short-story writer most widely known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951... |
| 2005 | De Gasperi, The man of Hope | De Gasperi, l'uomo della speranza | Made for television |
| 2008 | Einstein | Einstein | Made for television |
| 2012 | Un corpo in vendita | Un corpo in vendita | |
Sources
- Armstrong, Richard, The Rough Guide to Film: An A-Z of Directors and their movies, Rough Guides, 2007. ISBN 9781843534082
- Bruneta, Gian Piero. The History of Italian Cinema: A Guide to Italian films from its origins to the twenty first century. Princenton University Press, 2011. ISBN 0-6911-1989-9
- Bonadella, Peter. Italian Cinema: from the Neorealism to the present. Continuum New York, 1988. ISBN 0-8044-6061-2
- Marrone, Gaetana. The Gaze and the Labyrinth: the Cinema of Liliana Cavani. Princenton Paperbacks, 2000. ISBN 0-691-00873-6