When the dead body of a prostitute is found by a river, the police round up a bunch of witnesses and suspects who were in the park where the prostitute plied her trade. Through a series of interviews, they attempt to get clues that might lead to the identity of the murderer. But as we see via flashback, the witnesses aren't as observant or as truthful as they should be. The directorial debut of a 21 year old Bernardo Bertolucci is so assured and fluid that you'd never guess it was a film by a first time filmmaker. Of course, it helped that his mentor Pier Paolo Pasolini provided the seeds of the storyline, and one would assume, perhaps some guidance on his first film. Each flashback by the witness/suspect is a short story, a movie unto itself, that are totally unrelated to the murder but give us an insight to each character from a purse snatching punk (Francesco Ruiu) to a lonely soldier (Allen Midgette). Even the prostitute (Wanda Rocci) gets her moments before she's killed. The film works just fine as a conventional murder mystery but even better as a series of life portraits. The discreet score is by Piero Piccioni.
No comments:
Post a Comment