Agent provocateur
Dillinger is Dead (Dillinger è morto)
Marco Ferreri's Dillinger is Dead is the second film in First Look's provocateur trilogy.
Dillinger is Dead (1969) is a bizarre day-in-the-life of Glauco (French cinema legend Michel Piccoli), an industrial designer and, at first, a seemingly normal man. But Glauco is trapped inside his mundane bourgeoise world, alienated and teetering on the edge.
The film follows the events at his home one evening, from ordinary rituals such as cooking and watching movies to his strained relationship with his wife (played by Rolling Stones paramour de jour Anita Pallenberg), his kinky mistress and the odd lengths he goes to in his efforts to break the relentless monotony of his life.
That same evening he discovers a vintage revolver wrapped in a page from a 1934 newspaper with the headline "Dillinger is dead"; an account of the famous American gangster's death (recently portrayed by Johnny Depp in Public Enemies). From there, events become more peculiar, with Glauco setting himself 'tasks' to try and break the boredom of the evening.
Dillinger is Dead is aptly described by one reviewer as "poised between the sinister and the absurd." Written and directed by Ferreri, it is intended as a social commentary on alienation and human dynamics in a modern world.
Already earning a reputation as an agent provocateur, Ferreri followed up with sex and violence in the better-known romp La Grande Bouffe (1973), also starring Piccoli, this time with Italian screen legend Marcello Mastroianni.
Regarded by many as Ferreri's masterpiece, Dillinger is Dead was nominated for the Cannes Film Fesitval's prestigious Golden Palm in 1969. It was only selectively screened around Europe at the time of its release, deemed controversial for its subject matter, and the restored print was only released in theatres in the USA in 2009.
ACMI brings the restored print to Melbourne as part of the First Look program's three-part investigation of directors as provocateurs. Dillinger is Dead is an absurd and shocking film, ripe for rediscovery, screening from Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 February, 2010. More here.
Published Monday, 8 February 2010
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