In a previous post we looked at the connections between the 14th Venice International Architecture Exhibition and the 9th International Festival of Contemporary Dance, but there is a further connection with the Architecture Biennale this year, that with cinema.
Assorted fragments and extracts from over 70 films are indeed screened along the Arsenale itinerary in the "Monditalia" section.
The list is long and features films focusing on Italy and its history with emphasis on urban structures, natural places and industrial backdrops.
Many of these films – such as Stromboli (1950), Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960), Banditi a Orgosolo (1960), L'avventura (1960), La decima vittima (1965), Pier Paolo Pasolini's episode from Le Streghe (1967), and Roma (1972) just to mention a few ones - were already analysed in previous posts on this site.
So, let's look today at one of the films included in the selection that we haven't examined yet from an architectural point of view, Jean-Luc Godard's Le Mépris (Contempt, 1963; with costumes by Tanine Autré).
The story revolves around playwright Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli) hired by American producer Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) to rewrite the script for The Odyssey, a film being shot by Fritz Lang (playing himself).
Producer and director have in mind a different kind of movie, as the former would like it to be more commercial while the latter has in mind an arty film. Further tensions arise, though, when Prokosch puts his eyes on Paul's sensual wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot).
When the American producer makes a pass at Bardot and Piccoli doesn't do anything to defend her assuming an ambiguous behaviour, Camille thinks he is trying to offer her to the American mogul.
A marital argument starts with the couple imploding during a visit to the film set in Capri and a brief stay at the producer's villa, a structure jutting out high above the sea.
You could approach this film from different points of view and discuss the connections with the novel Il disprezzo by Alberto Moravia from which the film was adapted, look at the parallelisms between Paul/Ulysses and Camille/Penelope, or consider the film and certain characters like reflections of a frustrate Godard (see Lang criticising CinemaScope stating that it is "fine for snakes and coffins, but not for people" - Godard hated CinemaScope), trapped while on the set for this film between rich and powerful yet manipulative producers such as Joseph E. Levine and Carlo Ponti.
But an interesting way to dissect the film is maybe to look at the importance of the architectures surrounding the characters.
At the beginning of the film, Rome's Cinecittà is a deserted and derelict place, maybe a reflection of Paul's frustrations and insecurities, or just the physical embodiment of the arid mind of the producer envisaging houses and flats being built where the lonely studios are standing.
The apartment where Paul lives with his wife Camille is new and only features a few pieces of modern furniture in primary colours that create contrasts with the white walls and with Bardot's naked skin.
Shots of the main characters framed while getting out of a cinema theatre where Rossellini's Viaggio in Italia (Journey to Italy, 1954; also among the films included in the "Monditalia" selection) is being screened, hint at parallelisms between Contempt and Rossellini's film (View this photo).
The modernity of Rome with the high-rise apartment in which the young couple lives clashes with the nature of Capri, while Godard's screen compositions become definitely more interesting when the characters arrive at Villa Malaparte.
Designed by Adalberto Libera (even though letters and documents prove the project can be entirely attributed to Curzio Malaparte himself), the villa is unanimously considered as masterpiece of modern architecture.
The Villa is shaped like a parallelepiped broken by a flight of steps that opens on the roof, creating a natural harmony.
Godard's characters are filmed in the main salon characterised by four huge windows, each one opening on a different landscape, where Paul announces he doesn't want to write the script any more, and then on the roof.
Both the steps and the roof are key elements of the film: the characters use the roof as a place to relax, quarrel, contemplate the landscape and read, but also as temple, a set, and a stage.
The main characters in the film do not seem able to reconcile themselves with the nature surrounding them and are destined to become victims of the times they are living in, while the villa turns into a symbol of the integration between two different entities - nature and modern rationalism.
Want to get a bit more into the Mépris mood? Check out Georges Delerue's melancholic score for this film (note: the score for the Italian and Spanish versions of this film is by Piero Piccioni; with many thanks to Kutmusic for lending me a copy of the soundtrack to get inspired and of the film to do the screenshots embedded in this post).
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