Original subtitles

TURI VASILE WRITER AND PRODUCER

Immediately after the war,

Italian cinema underwent a Catholic revival.

"Pastor Angelicus" had already been made,

and while the Germans were still here in Rome,

"The Gate of Heaven" went into production.

It's a film about a miracle

that occurs in people's souls.

Then Germi made "The Testimony"

and there was Blasetti's wonderful "Un giorno nella vita"

and other films.

Little by little, the genre got more impoverished

and new ways to make a profit were sought.

"Fabiola" came into being: a huge spectacular

that cost a fortune and made a lot of money too,

but not enough to cover costs.

The epilogue of this second instalment

was Visconti's "The Earth Trembles”.

It was the first example of an historical compromise

because it was financed 50% by the Communist Party

and 50% by the Catholics.

In the same spirit, a company was set up

called "Film Costellazione".

I recently read that Maselli attributes Pius XII

with contributing to the financing of this company.

It was formed by Mario Melloni,

a representative for the Christian Democrats

who went on to find fame as "Fortebraccio",

a newspaper pundit,

Diego Fabbri and me.

He was president, Fabbri and me were delegated advisors.

We made films that didn't belong to any particular school

but gave more than a nod in the direction of neorealism,

which had established a new way of looking at cinema.

Our first film under the "Film Costellazione" banner

was "The Seven Deadly Sins".

It was an Italian-French co-production,

which featured a wonderful performance by Gérard Philippe

and was helmed by various Italian and French directors,

including Rossellini and Eduardo De Filippo,

and Yves Allégret and Autant-Lara.

In a certain sense, it resembled a catechism.

It was very successful, especially in England.

Immediately after that we made "The City Stands Trial",

which was a harbinger for the events of 30 years later:

the "Maxi-trial",

state collusion with the camorra and the mafia.

That brings us to the film we're most interested in,

because it signalled a divergence,

a turning point for Italian cinema,

Michelangelo Antonioni's "The Vanquished".

The screenplay of this film...

had done the rounds of many producers and when it reached us

we dived headlong into producing it.

It was split into three episodes.

It slotted into the landscape of what was called "lost youth",

referring to the post-war generation

who were confused and searching for their true identity.

It was something that acted as a linchpin to the flood

of what can be called French existentialism,

but it had more distant origins.

Antonioni was very well-read

on this subject,

and imitated, above all, Kierkegaard,

from whom sprang the neurotic anguish,

a dominant theme of European culture.

Kierkegaard, about whom there are some misunderstandings

that can blamed on his German translators,

came from a strictly Catholic background.

A Christian existentialism ahead of its time.

Antonioni adapted the stories from news items.

I think the English episode is the best of the three

and it illustrates Antonioni's Anglo-Saxon bent

that culminated in "Blow Up".

This episode was something

that dealt with the fragmentation of identity,

the gratuitousness of gestures, their ambiguity and nonsense.

He'd taken it from a press cutting

that I still have at home.

The French episode was based on a sensational news item

that concerned two youths

who planned a crime.

As far as Italy went, he found himself dealing

with a society that was rather uncertain

and above all politicized.

This is the trouble with European cinema.

Ernesto Galli Della Loggia perceptively remarked

that the difference between European and American cinema

is that the European model is ideologized.

It's either Communist or Fascist.

American cinema, on the other hand, tells stories.

Storytelling is their linchpin.

The film had quite a few misfortunes,

especially regarding the Italian episode.

This was blamed on censorship. It's true,

but I must say

that the most devastating blows to the film's fortunes

came from France.

It was against the law there

to portray characters on screen

that could be easily identified in real life.

The film was inspired by a news item on the neofascists.

We made it with Interlenghi, Ferrero, etc.

We tried to go to Venice,

because expectations were high for Antonioni's film,

mainly based on the ripples caused by the English and French episodes.

But the French didn't want the film to be shown in competition in Venice.

They even refused to send us the negative.

A compromise was eventually reached

making it possible to participate in the festival,

but out of competition.

The film was not a success.

There was a tepid reaction

to the episodes that actually had the merit

of opening new avenues for cinema.

Of course, it was also tepid for the Italian episode

where it was very easy to recognize the influence,

not too positive in this case, of neorealism.

Basically, the story,

continuing the theme of the other episodes,

dealt with introspection.

It was a photograph of the inexpressible.

A photograph of the characters' inwardness.

Naturally, the Italian censor didn't approve.

We added a preamble to justify ourselves

because at that time, unlike today, there was the fear

that these negative characters would become heroes

and influence the youth of the day.

So we added a preamble

in which we warned against following their example...

.. as if a written warning would have actually done any good.

But, to tell the truth, a change was made

and contrary to what people say,

it was accepted by Antonioni.

As producers, we were prepared to go all the way.

Our company was independent and Catholic,

but Catholic in the sense of total freedom of expression.

Our intention was to highlight the inner turmoil of youths

who had emerged from the terrible experience of the war.

Antonioni was more compliant than we were,

although he did complain afterwards.

It wasn't true that the producers were acquiescent towards the censors.

The censors had the collaboration of Antonioni.

Actually, it was Antonioni himself who made certain baffling changes

because he was concerned with political, idealistic terrorism

that justified certain things,

even the exaltation of a crime...

.. a perfect crime.

Because basically, the main theme throughout "The Vanquished"

is the quest for the perfect crime...

.. a crime without a motive, in a certain sense.

The Italian episode was weighed down

by its political concept.

Only with hindsight,

looking back on things

with that long-sightedness that develops in old people's minds

and makes distant memories seem clearer than recent ones,

I can say this:

it was counterproductive

to change the Italian episode again.

The acts that these characters committed

on the basis of a political conviction

were too extreme when attributed to mere smugglers.

That said, however,

it already implies the direction Antonioni's work would take:

it would tend towards an exploration

that disregarded content.

It was an exploration of form,

because he revolutionized the way films were shot.

There were very long sequences

that managed to include various different set-ups without a break.

There's also the involvement of nature.

And maybe he wanted to distort nature.

And in fact, sometimes he even painted it.

For me, "The Vanquished"

is a cinematic milestone.

Especially the English episode,

which I think is a little masterpiece of cinema.

It was the starting point for "Blow Up",

in which Antonioni photographed the invisible.

A tennis match without the ball!

It was the furthest one could go

in photographing what one couldn't see.

This is very important.

And I'm pleased to have taken part in this adventure,

for better or worse.