Political Fellini

Political Fellini Political Fellini Journey to the End of Italy I Andrea Minuz Translated by Marcus Perryman berghahn N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D www.berghahnbooks.com Published by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com English-language edition ©2015 Berghahn Books Original Italian-language edition by Andrea Minuz, Viaggio al termine dell’Italia: Fellini politico, ©2012 Rubbett ino Editore All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without writt en permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Minuz, Andrea. [Viaggio al termine dell’Italia. English] Political Fellini : journey to the end of Italy / Andrea Minuz ; translated by Marcus Perryman. — English-language edition. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-78238-819-7 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-78238-820-3 (ebook) 1. Fellini, Federico—Political and social views. 2. Italy—In motion pictures. I. Title. PN1998.3.F45M5413 2015 791.4302’33092—dc23 2015003135 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed on acid-free paper ISBN 978-1-78238-819-7 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-78238-820-3 (ebook) To Silvia, who detests Fellini, or so she says There can be no appeals to genius as the sole origin of the energies of great art. —Stephen Greenblatt Good heavens, what sadness, what wretchedness, those conversations, those faces, all that falsehood! Is that what we’re really like? Yes, God help us. —Indro Montanelli, reviewing La dolce vita All the characters in the fi lm should look out from the poster, staring at the spectators as they pass by. These characters should be as if stunned into immobility, aghast, amiable, reluctant, shameless, a sort of indelible old, lavish photo refl ected in a festive mirror, one Sunday. —Federico Fellini, lett er to Giuliano Geleng, describing the poster he wanted to advertise Amarcord. But can there be a separation between “elective spirits” and the “nation”? —Antonio Gramsci Contents Preface to the English edition viii Acknowledgments x Essential Chronology by Fabio Benincasa xi Introduction. Political Fellini? 1 Chapter 1. Fellini and “Italian Ideology” 5 Chapter 2. Mythical Biography of a Nation 33 Chapter 3. La Dolce Vita and Its Relevance Today 58 Chapter 4. Fellini, Mussolini, and the Complex of Rome 78 Chapter 5. Fellini and Feminism 111 Chapter 6. A Public Dream: Italy and Prova d’orchestra 136 Chapter 7. You Don’t Interrupt an Emotion 162 Appendix. The Divo and the Maestro: Fellini in the Andreott i Archives 183 Selected Bibliography 190 Index 194 Photo section follows Chapter 4 – vii – Preface to the English Edition After The Great Beauty When I handed over the fi nal version of this book, Paolo Sorrentino’s fi lm La grande bellezza had not yet been screened. Since, in the book, I spoke at length about La dolce vita—a declared source and inspiration for Sorren- tino’s fi lm—naturally I followed its progress with great interest. To my mind, the success of La grande bellezza—winner of the Academy Award for best foreign picture in 2013—and the intense debate that ac- companied the fi lm in Italy confi rm the essential hypothesis in the book. First, Fellini’s extraordinary relevance today, his ability in La dolce vita to touch so deeply so many aspects of Italian life. And the political and not merely artistic importance of his fi lms, particularly their close relationship with history, identity, and the Italian national character, all of which are dealt with in this book. Researching the book, I knew about Sorrentino’s project, which he had spoken about it in various interviews. However, when he talked about the fi lm that was to become La grande bellezza, he referred mainly to the work of the photographer Umberto Pizzi. Pizzi has a great deal of experience as a photo reporter; he is what you could call a modern-day Rome-based paparazzo. In his shots, which he sells to gossipy newspapers, Pizzi tells a story in visual images that is the postmodern version of Rome’s decadence, the politics, art, culture, and high society of the Eternal City. His work is an extraordinary anthropological study of the present day. I was very curious to read about Sorrentino’s fascination with Pizzi’s photographs and his idea of using them for a sort of updated La dolce vita. Aft er the release of La grande bellezza, probably wisely, Sorrentino played down the comparison with Fellini’s masterpiece and distanced himself from Pizzi’s photographs. Not only to defend his own artistic vision, as is only right and proper, but probably also to avoid legal wrangles with Umberto Pizzi. And in point of fact, in La grande bellezza the ferocious images of Pizzi become something else; they take on something of the glossy magazine. However, what remains is the idea of looking at the decadence of Rome as the archetype of all decadence and making Rome the stage for the whole of Italy. – viii – Preface Aft er its presentation at the Cannes Film Festival, numerous compari- sons were made between La dolce vita and La grande bellezza. But why all the discussions in Italy about Sorrentino’s fi lm? When La grande bellezza was released for public screening, during the promotional tour and in numerous interviews Paolo Sorrentino admitt ed that he was completely taken back by the contrasting reactions of the crit- ics. “When I made Il Divo [about the controversial fi gure of Giulio An- dreott i] I thought there would be all hell to pay, but nothing happened. Then I made this fi lm and suddenly there’s all hell to pay.” And yet, it is not at all surprising. In Italy, we are more at peace with the ghost of Andreott i than with the spirit of beauty. Beauty and an aesthetic con- ception of life are—for us—a “mission” and a national obsession. As the poet D’Annunzio warned, “the fate of Italy is inseparable from the fate of beauty, of which it is the mother.” It is a myth that comes and goes throughout the complex course of Italian history, each time reincarnating in new forms and taking on a huge variety of discourse. An idea that is far from ephemeral and decorative, actually a continuously evolving batt le ground. As the important research of Stephen Gundle1 has shown, in relation to the question of Italian beauty, all the stereotypes of national identity and ideological questions immediately come into play. This was also the case with the discussions prompted by La grande bellezza, a fi lm that was seen to have a strong political dimension despite the fact that—unlike Il Divo—it does not address Italian politics. Through its reference to Fellini and La dolce vita, Sorrentino’s fi lm reaches into the depths of the Italian unconscious, using the idea of beauty as a political subject, an allegory of the nation, and a cultural brand to be exported. An idea that is of fundamental importance, today, if we want to understand the cinema of Federico Fellini. Rome, June 2014 Note 1. S. Gundle, Bellissima: Feminine Beauty and the Idea of Italy (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007). – ix – Acknowledgments For their amenability and help in the research of this book, I would like to thank Luciana Devoti (head of the Andreott i Archive), Giuseppe Ricci (of the Federico Fellini Foundation), and Michela Zegna (of the Bologna Film Library). I would also like to thank the staff of the Luigi Chiarini Library of the National Film School in Rome and of the Archive and Library of the International Women’s Home in Rome for their kind help. This book would not have seen the light of day without the help of Thea Apollonio, Fabio Benincasa, Claudio Bisoni, Elena Dagrada, Fabrizio Natalini, Chiara Supplizi, and Christian Uva. To them, and to all those I have forgott en to mention who found themselves drawn into tedious conversations about Fellini, go my sincerest thanks. – x – Essential Chronology By Fabio Benincasa 1920—January 20: Federico Fellini is born in Rimini, to Urbano, a sales representative, and Ida Barbiani, originally from the Esquilino district of Rome. April–May: Violent strikes and rallies lead to the resignation of the Nitt i government. June 9: Giolitt i becomes prime minister. Sep- tember 27: An agreement between the CGIL Trade Union and industri- alists ends the so-called “two-year red period.” 1921—January 21: The Socialist Party splits, giving rise to the foundation in Livorno of the Communist Party of Italy, under Bordiga and Gramsci. 1922—October 28: Mussolini’s March on Rome. The King asks him to form a government. 1924—April 6: New electoral law to ensure parliamentary majority: the National Fascist Party obtains a large majority. June 10: The anti-fascist Socialist parliamentarian, Giacomo Matt eott i, is kidnapped and mur- dered. October 6: Beginning of regular radio broadcasts in Italy. 1925—January 3: In an address to Parliament, Mussolini takes responsi- bility for the murder of Matt eott i. December 24–31: So-called “highly fascist laws” begin to usher in a dictatorship. Mussolini assumes the title “head of the government”; press restrictions are introduced. 1926—April 3: Abolition of the right to strike and trade unions placed under control.

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