 |
| From http://www.movieposterstudio.com/pimg/ViolentSummer_US1.jpg |
Dir. Valerio Zurlini
France-Italy
 |
| From http://wondersinthedark.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/violent-summer-2.jpg |
Melodrama deserves to be reviewed
on here as much as horror and action cinema is. To ignore the genres I’ve
missed so far would be hypocritical as a film fan who claims to watch “everything”. It is a genre that amplifies
real life situations in ways that seem over elaborate, in a reality when these
problems are frequent for many people, but they have enough a semblance of real
life that draws us to them. Set at the dawn of the end of World War II in
Italy, Violent Summer pushes the
melodrama into a more contemplative area. A young man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and an older widow (Eleonora Rossi Drago), who’s lost her husband to the war, develop
of a romantic relationship, divided by the hostility it creates from her family
and his friends, and the falling apart of Fascist Italy, close to home as the
man’s father is a high ranking member of the Fascist party as it is being decimated.
It is fascinating to think, at least for two films including The Conformist (1970), that Trintignant has played two characters
placed near the end, or aftermath, of Benito
Mussolini’s rule of Italy and the end of the Fascist state, both of them –
one a noble, charming man stuck in his fate, the other a void, both admitting
to wanting to be part of the crowd despite being opposites – liable to
encounter each other within the cinematic depiction of this era face-to-face.
The use of the historical background clearly shows how the lives of the populous
(the characters and their fellow ordinary people) were punctured by the chaos
of the war, a fighter plane flying so low at a beach, lost, that it frightens
the people on it, showing the lack of boundary between the war front and home.
 |
| From http://img1.bdbphotos.com/images/orig/i/3/i316ruepjwwgwwe.jpg |
It is an elegantly made film,
beautiful in cinematography with one sequence, of fireworks and a night of
celebration set to an American song, which stands out as well as pushes a key
emotional thrust forward. As a drama, it stands well, Trintignant and Drago
making compelling leads, Trintignant’s
distinct, handsome face, from another era of masculinity, and Drago’s natural and graceful beauty
shining through. The divisive element of the film, which prevents it from being
a great work, is whether it is actually satisfactory as a dramatic work by its
end or not. As a melodrama with lush orchestra music and scenes of heightened emotion,
you have to be able to suspend your disbelief to be emotionally connected to
the characters, which applies here still despite the obvious political
undertones. The divided and antagonised relationships between the lovers and
everyone around them has a sense of the completely believable, the horrible awkwardness
when a friend becomes hostile to someone they know having passions for someone
they believe they shouldn’t. There is however an issue though to whether
certain turns in the characters actions and story shifts, especially in the
last scene, feel perfectly considered or too abrupt. That will be up to you to
decide if you go and look for Violent
Summer for yourself to see.
 |
| From http://www.berkeleyside.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/VIOLENT-SUMMER-INTEXT702.jpg |
No comments:
Post a Comment