Reverse Shot [III]: ‘Exterior Night’ (Marco Bellocchio, 2022)

Third entry of a three-part text on Marco Bellocchio’s mini-series ‘Exterior Night’, where the director returns to a crucial episode in Italian history that he had already tackled in his masterpiece ‘Good Morning, Night’ (2003): the 1978 kidnapping of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades. This entry explores the religious themes of Christ and the Passion, as well as self-referentiality and the double/alternative endings.

Reverse Shot [II]: ‘Exterior Night’ (Marco Bellocchio, 2022)

Second entry of a three-part text on Marco Bellocchio’s mini-series ‘Exterior Night’, where the director returns to a crucial episode in Italian history that he had already tackled in his masterpiece ‘Good Morning, Night’ (2003): the 1978 kidnapping of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades. This entry explores the intersection between history, politics, and psyche (paying special attention to fantasies, dreams, symbols, and Cossiga's psychic breakdown); and traces the different ramifications of the presentation of Moro as a father figure.

Reverse Shot [I]: ‘Exterior Night’ (Marco Bellocchio, 2022)

First entry of a three-part text on Marco Bellocchio’s mini-series ‘Exterior Night’, where the director returns to a crucial episode in Italian history that he had already tackled in his masterpiece ‘Good Morning, Night’ (2003): the 1978 kidnapping of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades. This entry explores the kaleidoscopic construction and narrative strategies of the series, as well as the themes of rhetoric and the Eros Principle.

Motion, Propagation, Transmission: ‘Devil in the Flesh’ (Marco Bellocchio, 1986)

Marco Bellocchio’s 'Devil in the Flesh' starts with a shot of several, interconnected buildings: a high-angle view encompassing the three areas where the action of the eight-minute opening sequence will take place. He draws a precise diagram of the struggle at the centre of the film: madness, besieged on all sides by two institutions – church and school (a third, psychiatry, will make an appearance later) – that are both seduced and horrified by its manifestation...

If versus Despite: ‘Sweet Dreams’ (Marco Bellocchio, 2016)

In Marco Bellocchio's 'Sweet Dreams', there's a scene in which the teenage hero, Massimo, is questioned by his teacher, Father Ettore, about why he keeps telling his friends that his mother is alive when, in reality, she's been dead for several years. "If she were still here … ", says the kid. "If, if … 'If' is the mark of failure. In this life, it’s 'despite' that makes you succeed", responds the Father...