TODAY'S NUGGET: Fellini Satyricon (1969) - What Does the "Indecipherable Clarity of Dreams" Look Like?

[Quick Summary: A series of adventures involving two youths in 1st century Rome.]

FOUR THINGS TO KNOW:

1) AN ODD SUBJECT MATTER.  Only fragments of the source material, Satyricon (written by Petronius, (? - 66 A.D.)), exist. Someone wrote that the only things you needed to know are that:
a) it's supposedly the first recorded novel, and 
b) it's very, very dirty. 

2) FELLINI IS CHALLENGING THE AUDIENCE. Some films have a minimal plot and simply want you to experience and feel.  These tend to be experimental films and not for everyone. I think this is one of them. 

3) FELLINI IS CHALLENGING HIMSELF AS DIRECTOR. Though he got an Oscar nomination for best director, it didn't seem like a fun process for Fellini:

"I'm saturated with fatigue. This Satyricon is a massacre...and from the psychological point of view too: nothing wears me out more than this detachment I've imposed on myself. My temperament always tends toward identification with the characters. Here there's only a secret identification, an aesthetic one. This side-stepping I'm obliged to do all the time is an unhealthy operation, at least for the spirit. On one hand I have to have a total openness, which doesn't admit any structural, archeological conditioning; on the other I must bring all my professional skills to bear on the subject in a lucid, rational and above all detached manner. To integrate these two approaches demands a balance which I fear I haven't succeeded in finding yet. I feel like the chameleon, which always has to harmonize its coat with the colours surrounding it." - Fellini (my underline)

3) FELLINI IS AIMING FOR "INDECIPHERABLE CLARITY OF DREAMS".  Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that this film is about excess and decay.*  

If Ebert was right, I found it interesting HOW Fellini was trying to pull it off by creating a dream state: 

...."Satyricon should have the enigmatic transparency, the indecipherable clarity of dreams. The greatest effort that this film has demanded of me has been to make two parallel and completely opposite operations coincide. In the film everything is invented: faces, gestures, situations, surroundings, objects. To obtain this result I have entrusted myself to the inflamed and impassioned dimension of imagination. but then I have had to objectify the fruit of that imaginative operation and detach myself entirely from it in order to be able to explore it afresh from a disquieting viewpoint, to find it afresh both intact and unrecognizable. The same thing happens with dreams. They contain things that belong to us deeply, through which we express ourselves, but in the light of day the only cognitive relationship we can have with them is of an intellectual, conceptual kind. That is why dreams seem to our conscious selves so fugitive, alien, and incomprehensible. So in order to give the film this feeling of alienation, I have adopted a dream language, a figurative cipher which will have the allusiveness and inevitability of a dream." - Fellini (my underline) 

An example of the "clarity of dream" state is in the scene below: 
- A rich man, Trimalichio, is hosting a party.
- At the party, a Male Prostitute amuses the guests with a story about a soldier who is supposed to guard a man hanging on the gallows.
- The soldier sees a widow nearby weeping at the tomb of her husband. 
- He goes to comfort her and they have sex. 
- Afterwards, he goes back to the gallows, but the body is gone.  The man's family has taken him off the gallows.
- The soldier is in a cold sweat now.
- Note how the prostitute is telling this story to amuse the dinner guests (sort of dreamy situation), but the story itself has a clarity about it, a neat solution to both the widow's and the soldier's problems. 

Scene 23 Tomb of Ephesus (In the Male Prostitute's Story). Interior. Night.

474
The widow of Ephesus is happy and serene, and looks more beautiful and less pale. She is combing her hair with calm and a certain satisfaction.

475
She turns at the soldier's entrance.
The soldier is very upset; he can't find words to speak at first.
Finally he speaks.

SOLDIER: They've stolen a body.

The widow goes to him, looks at him with the air of not understanding, worried.

SOLDIER: Yes, while I was with you, the thief's relations carried his body off.

476
The soldier is even more gloomy. He mutters to himself.

SOLDIER: I know the penalty the law provides...a lingering death...Useless to wait; I'll do it myself...with my own hands.

The soldier takes out a short wide sword. Stares at it, unable to decide to kill himself...

477
...but the widow takes his arm, and smiles tenderly at him.

WIDOW: No, my dear. To lose the two men in my life, one after the other, would be too much.

The widow kisses the soldier, who still hasn't understood what she's getting at.

478
Then the widow indicates the body of her husband; with a gentle and sweet smile she says:

WIDOW: We can substitute this for the missing corpse...

479
The soldier smiles with gratitude. The lady adds:

WIDOW: I'd rather hang a dead husband than lose a living lover!

At these last words we hear a chorus of laughter echoing, as if these were an invisible audience; it's the laughter of Trimalichio's guests who have been listening to the Male Prostitute's tale. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I heard someone recently say that it's the power of ideas that make a story work.  Trying for "the indecipherable clarity of dreams" is so unlike any other writer out there and I think it makes Fellini's work special.  

Fellini's Satyricon (1969)**
by Federico Fellini & Bernardino Zapponi & Brunello Rondi
Based on the novel by Petronius 

* Film critic Roger Ebert actually visited Fellini's set while this film was being shot! He wrote two varying reviews: in 1970 and 2001.  I especially liked how he summed it up in 2001:

What is the sum of all this effort? A film that deals in visual excess like no other, showing a world of amorality, cruelty, self-loathing and passion. Did Fellini see his “Satyricon” as a warning to modern viewers, an object lesson? Not at all, in my opinion. He found an instinctive connection between Petronius and himself–two artists fascinated by deviance and excess–and in the heady days of the late 1960s saw no reason to compromise. “Fellini Satyricon” is always described as a film about ancient Rome, but it may be one of the best films about the Summer of Love–not celebrating it, but displaying the process of its collapse. What is fun for a summer can be hard work for a lifetime. (my underline)

** For writers seeking more about this film, the published version of the screenplay has a lot of in-depth material, including:
- Two essays 
- An interview with Fellini
- The treatment, with preface by Fellini
- The screenplay, which is broken into 10 sections

TODAY'S NUGGET: Fellini's Casanova (1976) - Showing an Ephemeral Feeling Like an "Anxiety I Can't Face"

[Quick Summary: Giacomo Casanova, a big flirt, tries to make sense of his life.]

THREE THINGS TO KNOW: 

1) WHO IS CASANOVA? As the film's title says, this is Fellini's version of Casanova.  But what is that?  The printed version of this script includes this explanation in the foreword: 

And so, who is this fascinating apparition - Fellini's Casanova? An incurable idealist, longing for the unattainable? Then why, as Fellini's assistant recalled, did the director mutter while shooting the film, "I should never have made this film. I should have let it go"? Could it be that Fellini made the film at a time when he was going through the stage in his life akin to what Tolstoy went through when he was writing his "Kreutzer Sonata"? Fellini almost said that: " For me the film meant crossing the line, gliding into the last part of my life....Perhaps, subconsciously I placed all my fears, the anxiety I can't face in this film." The anxiety of the artist who is always expected to perform; a "vanity of vanities!" anxiety; the anxiety of ultimate loneliness; the anxiety of the void - encroaching and inescapable. "Casanova is a pretext for a conversation with a spectator, as are many other films of mine, in this case even more so," Fellini said. - Foreword by Leon Steinmetz (my underline)

2) BATTLE OF WRITTEN WORD VS. FILMING. I was moved by this description of Fellini's process and view of the script (from the preface of the printed version):

[Fellini] didn't look at dailies, at rushes, while we were shooting Casanova. He didn't want his ever-fluid, three-dimensional fantasy stilled by its two-dimensional representation. 

He felt much the same about the written word. It was there to be changed; at once a conceit and a deceit, an indication for set designers, the costumiers, and the financiers. The written word was for him a participating piece in his game of avoiding the decisive artistic reality until finally the reality crusted relentlessly its birthright upon him. 

The battle liberated him.  - Preface by lead actor Donald Sutherland (my underline)

3) TETHERING THE "ANXIETY I CAN'T FACE".  I often find Fellini scripts difficult to digest.  What is he trying to say?  

However, I felt more on solid ground in reading that Fellini also had difficulty with this script, that he was delving into "anxieties I can't face" (in #1 above).

Here's a scene that shows how to discuss an ephemeral feeling like anxiety:      
- Casanova has just been introduced to the Duke of Matalona. 
- Casanova can't remember how they met.
- The Duke invites Casanova to his house.
- I may not know what it's like to be Casanova, but I recognize the anxiety of being cornered.
- The ephemeral feeling of anxiety is tethered to a familiar situation.

INT. MATALONA'S CARRIAGE. NIGHT.

Pressed one against the other on the seat of the duke's carriage, CASANOVA and MATALONA talk. MATALONA displays an odd agitation, like a nagging worry that he is trying vainly to conceal.

MATALONA: Five years ago...no, ten or even more...Forgive my confusion, dear Casanova! You have been to Naples, haven't you?

CASANOVA: Certainly. And if I am not wrong, I've already had the pleasure of meeting you.

MATALONA: The pleasure! No, mine! Only mine! Then...then, though, we didn't see each other very often. I was always by myself, in despair...I suffered the pains of love! You know the pains of love!

CASANOVA nods, as an expert.

CASANOVA: There are sufferings that also give much delight, the delight of being alive, of loving, even though the love unluckily is not reciprocated...

MATALONA: And so it was my case! The woman that I loved passionately was married. But her husband wasn't an obstacle, no; the trouble was that she fell in love with another, who seduced and abandoned her...and I suffered doubly...for my unhappiness and for that of my sweetheart Lucrezia...

CASANOVA frowns, pensive.

CASANOVA: Lucrezia?

MATALONA grows red with anger and suddenly attacks shrilly. 

MATALONA: You were that seducer, Casanova!

CASANOVA (raises his voice): I will not tolerate being addressed in this tone!

MATALONA quickly reverts to his hypocritical humility: 

MATALONA: I beg your pardon, dear friend. Forgive a poor irascible old man...

He rubs his face and begins speaking again in a quiet tone:  

MATALONA: A little later her husband died...My poor Lucrezia agreed to marry me, even though she's never loved me...But now she's my wife. I am taking you to her! 

Matalona laughs nervously.

CASANOVA: Duke, frankly I don't understand you. You know our past. I can see you're still jealous. You want to take me to Lucrezia? Why?

MATALONA (in a low voice, almost whispering): Because you are the only one who can get your memory out of her heart...because all these years she's been in love with you...and I want you to speak to her...And moreover I want her to see you again...as you are today. Old! And ugly! 

MATALONA stares at CASANOVA with an odd intensity, so that CASANOVA is stunned and speechless. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Though I don't always like Fellini films, I do admire his bold attempts at capturing the ephemeral, indescribable feelings at the edges, like anxiety.  

Here, he tries to help the audience by tethering them to reality with a somewhat familiar situation (the protagonist is in a carriage with his former lover's husband), though he adds his own surrealistic twist (the husband wants to use the protagonist to shame his wife).

Fellini's Casanova (1976)
by Federico Fellini & Bernardino Zapponi
Based on the autobiography of Giacomo Casanova

TODAY'S NUGGET: Juliet of the Spirits (1965) - "Availability of Consciousness" Makes Fellini's Work Special

[Quick Summary: Juliet is haunted by mystical visions and memories as she ponders leaving her cheating husband.] 

This book of the published script has a lot of great material on Fellini's process, including an introductory essay, the screenplay, and a translation of the final film.

The introduction has a great description of what makes Fellini special:

The true alchemy of Fellini is his ability to touch a profound human note at the same time he mobilizes an undisciplined and indecipherable universe. It could be a lesson to those who claim to be upset and confused by modern life. What Fellini has learned in these last years, going beyond the rather mystical enchantment of his early efforts, is a kind of availability of consciousness.  (from "Twenty Years Later" by Tullio Kezich)(my underlining)

One way he demonstrates this "availability of consciousness" is by finding an image that externalizes the protagonist's internal state.

For example, in the scene below:
- Juliet's husband is cheating on her.
- Juliet goes to her fascinating neighbor Susy's party.
- Susy encourages Juliet to have a fling.
- Juliet is conflicted about it.  She is frightened by an image of a woman and a burning grate.
- Juliet is the only one who sees this image.  
- I include both the script and final versions below so that you may be able to see the differences.
- Note that Juliet is scared of the same image in both. 
- However, also note that the final version has a sharpened consciousness about it with the addition of eavesdroppers and Elisabetta (an innocent whom Juliet is projecting her thoughts of herself upon).

THE SCREENPLAY:
- A band is playing. Juliet compliments the pianist, who translates for the trumpet player. 
- Susy sees Juliet's interest in the trumpet player.
- Susy offers the trumpet player a place to shower & urges Juliet to show him the way.

Juliet walks through the hallway, silently followed by the trumpet player. They go into Susy's room. The window is open, and the breeze swells the curtains.

The young trumpet player, suddenly a little boy, sits down on the bed and looks up at the ceiling, where the enormous mirror reflects his image. He leans over toward Juliet, only lightly touching her with one hand. Shyly, with a childish and gay smile, he say, pointing to the mirror: 

TRUMPET PLAYER: Look there. We're together as if on a cloud; the two of us, up there.

Opening her eyes with difficulty, heavy with sleep and dizziness, Juliet asks, as if she were a thousand miles away:

JULIET: What?

But the trumpet player, with his childish smile, continues to point toward the mysterious luminosity of the mirror.

Juliet, suddenly embarrassed, looks up and sees their two shapes, one next to the other, rendered almost supernatural and abstract by the mysterious perspective of the mirror.

Suddenly a huge flame flares up int he mirror and a burning wreath is superimposed on the reflected image, piercing it with lightning, almost obliterating it.

An enormous grating, in flames, with a mystical figure of a woman tied to it, occupies all the light of the mirror. 

With a cry of terror, Juliet runs away from the bed. 

 

THE TRANSCRIPTION & TRANSLATION OF THE FINAL FILM: 
- Again, Juliet goes to Susy's party.
- Instead of a trumpet player, Juliet is alone with Susy's godson.
- Earlier, Juliet went to a seance.  Iris is the spirit that they summoned.
- There is an opening in Susy's bedroom floor that becomes a slide directly into the pool downstairs.

Juliet is alone. She walks to the huge round bed and sits on its edge, looking down the slide to Susy's pool. She sips champagne.

CUT

Susy's godson stands on the balcony. He walks slowly toward Juliet and sits beside her on the bed.

CUT

Lola, the maids, Susy, and all the women Juliet passed on the stairs listen in the darkness outside the bedroom. [Fellini adds these eavesdroppers here, which are not in the script.]

CUT

The bedroom. The shell-shaped tunnel of the slide. We hear the voice of Iris.

IRIS: Juliet! Susy is your teacher. Listen to her; learn from her.

CUT

Susy's godson, close-up. His eyes and mouth are almost sweet and gentle, but his eyebrows are demonic. He looks at Juliet.

CUT

The camera shoots through the overhead mirror down onto the couple sitting on the edge of the bed. 

CUT

JULIET: Perhaps I drank too much.

Suddenly we hear the loud whisper of a little girl. [Here, Fellini starts to bring Juliet's subconscious fears into visual reality.]

LITTLE GIRL: Juliet! What are you doing?

CUT

The camera shoots up from the bed. Seen in the mirror above, as if standing on a balcony, is a young girl dressed in white nightgown and nightcap surrounded by leaping flames. Behind her are the upright iron bars of the grill. The girl stands slightly in front of the bars, her hands raised slightly from her sides, palms out - it is Elisabetta. Her hair is blond, but she is in exactly the same position and has the same facial expression she assumed when earlier she tried to communicate her sympathy to Juliet. Sound of wind blowing. [The script had an impersonal woman being burned. Here, Fellini sharpens the personal impact by having Juliet recognize Elisabetta.  I found it quite unsettling to have a recognizable acquaintance (but a virtual stranger) in such an intimate space.]

CUT

Juliet, terrified, jumps from the bed and runs to the wall. Slowly she edges along the wall, whimpering.

CUT 

Susy's godson sits on the bed watching Juliet, puzzled.

CUT

The martyr burns before the upright grill above the ceiling. Close up of her face - Elisabetta's. Wind.

CUT

The faces of Lola and Susy as Juliet runs past them, down the stairs. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I found the differences in script vs. final film interesting. 

The script version was rather expected, i.e., about fear of the unknown. 

However, the final version was wilder because it was a deeper exploration of her consciousness:  Juliet's fear of the unknown ("a human note");  fear of what people think (eavesdroppers); and fear of people in one's private spaces ("an undisciplined and indecipherable universe"). 

Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
by  Federico Fellini & Tullio Pinelli & Ennio Flaiano & Brunello Rondi
Story by Federico Fellini & Tullio Pinelli

TODAY'S NUGGET: The White Sheik (1952) - The Reaction When a Lie is Told During a Seduction

[Quick Summary: When Wanda goes to Rome to meet her new husband's relatives, she sneaks off to drop off a drawing to her film idol, the "White Sheik," and is swept up in a day of pretend on set.] 

I think one of the overarching themes in Fellini's work is the contrast between reality versus dreams and fantasies.  

In this script, Wanda literally escapes reality for the chance to meet her dream man, "the White Sheik.  She's been seduced by the fantasy.   

My favorite scene in the script (below) is when the White Sheik/Fernando rudely awakens Wanda from her fantasy ("I'm married").   

Up until this point, Wanda disregards all the red flags (he's an actor, this is a production, etc.) because she desires her fantasy connection with him so much. 

Prior to the scene below:
- Wanda wrote to the "White Sheik" who said to "come visit him" if she was ever in Rome.
- Wanda takes this seriously and drops by the film office with a gift.
- She's swept up into the production and meets the "White Sheik" who is really Fernando, an actor and a big flirt. 
- She is given a costume and the production continues to film the Sheik.  
- Wanda is living out her pretend fantasy, but it is not as glamorous as it on the big screen.
- Fernando takes her out on a boat, despite delaying the shoot.
- Fernando tries to kiss Wanda. She avoids him. 
- He's annoyed, realizing what kind of woman he's now dealing with.
- To seduce her, he makes up a lie about his wife, which Wanda believes is true. 
- Note how Fernando keeps the lies coming in order to keep the seduction going.
- Also note how readily Wanda believes him because she wants to stay in the fantasy.
 

In the boat. Day.

Wanda starts. Evidently this fact is a total and extremely distressing revelation for her. She stares at Fernando as if all her illusions were about to collapse. 

WANDA (in a whisper): Married? 

FERNANDO (astonished, shrugging his shoulders): Married.

WANDA: Married?

The Sheik gazes at her in silence, somewhat annoyed at Wanda's dismay. Then, interpreting her reaction in his own vain fashion, he continues with a shadow of a smile.

SHEIK: That upsets you? Come on, you mustn't be jealous...I don't love her...

Wanda's face expresses an even more severe and thunderstruck dismay. She slowly shifts her position away from him.

The Sheik finally realizes that he has taken the wrong tack, and immediately sets about repairing the damage as his instinct suggests.

SHEIK (pathetic, embittered): Don't judge me harshly...You can't know...I laugh, I try to be gay. (Seeing that this is the right tone, he continues, emphasizing even more the histrionic pathos of the lie.)   That woman has ruined my life...

Wanda is now listening very intently, surprised and very much distressed and perturbed.

WANDA (in a whisper): Really? 

FERNANDO:And how!

WANDA: Tell me about it, Fernando.

FERNANDO: No, you mustn't ask. 

WANDA: Please...please...

FERNANDO (bitterly, with a faint smile): It's that I...(He drops his head in silence to gain time. He moves closer to Wanda, who makes no objection this time.) It's a long, unpleasant story...I was in love with someone else. Milena...She was beautiful...as beautiful as you... (Corrects himself.) You're much more beautiful. I was to marry her...but on the wedding day, with an underhanded trick, with a magic potion... 

WANDA: What?

FERNANDO: A magic potion. The woman who is now my wife drugged me.

WANDA: Oh good heavens!

FERNANDO: She made me lose my memory...I swear...I didn't know what was going on, and when I regained my senses, I found that Milena had disappeared.

WANDA: Disappeared?!

FERNANDO: Maybe she's dead...

WANDA: Dead!

FERNANDO: Who can say?

WANDA (dismayed and moved): Poor Milena...A magic potion...

Wanda cups her head in her hands and slowly slips to the floor of the boat. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I was interested to notice that I was more interested in Wanda's reaction than in Fernando's lie because it changed her (while he did not very much).

More than the method (lie), perhaps what we, the audience, seeks to see in a romantic scene is this change in our heroine? 

The White Sheik (1952)
by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli
From an original idea by Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli

TODAY'S NUGGET: Variety Lights (1950) - When Characters Fight in Fellini's World, There's Still a Unity to the Story

[Quick Summary: After meeting a pretty young dancer, a poor stage manager mortgages all his relationships to create a stage show around her.]

After you've had 19 of your scripts filmed by other directors, what would you write for yourself in your directing debut?  

If you were Fellini, it would be this script.  It's a polished story, though fairly linear and grounded, compared to his later work. 

I like that Fellini's scripts have a unity to them.  It's like a tethered coiled spring that sprawls out in various directions, then is pulled back to home base.

The fight scene below is an example of this unity of story: 
- Checco is a stage manager of a failing variety show.
- He is enthralled by Liliana, a dancer trying to get hired for his show.
- Despite the show failing, Cheecco is determined to cobble together a show to star Liliana. 
- While Checco is running around finding variety acts and funds, Liliana is out dating a rich man who promises her her own show. 
- Note how the scene is rather simple (Checco and Liliana fight) but it is HOW they fight that makes it entertaining. 
- The scene starts with "is there an us?" --> sprawls outwards in large emotions -->  but then comes back to answer the central question ("yes there is an us"). 
- Checco begins the scene jealous and wanting Liliana's praise ---> he gives his speech, rejects her --> she flatters him & talks about "us" --> he becomes so enthused, he's doubly committed to "us."

Liliana's pension. Outside. Night.

Checco reaches Liliana's pension and begins to pace fretfully up and down in the empty street.

Fade.

Liliana's pension. Outside. Dawn.

A car drops Liliana off near her pension. She is astonished and embarrassed to find Checco waiting at the door for her.

...She opens the door with her key; he steps inside with her.

LILIANA (dismissing him): Well, you'll call me. Goodnight.

CHECCO (not moving): Shall we go?

LILIANA (surprised): Go where? The landlady's asleep at this hour.

CHECCO (significantly): That's just as well... (Harshly.) Eh, my girl! What's got into your head, anyway? Just because I've always respected you, you think I'm a fool? Hah! ... (He angrily extracts a sheaf of photographs from his pocket and thrusts them into her hands.) Just look here, look here, there're thirty-two of them. Count them, count them: thirty-two women. Every one of them prettier than the next. And they were all in love with me. They loved me, they respected me! They thought I was the greatest thing int he world. But you... (Seizing the pictures.) Give 'em here! I've seen right through you, you know. You're a calculator, you add up your accounts in cold blood. All right. I'm adding up mine. I've done some favors for you, and since I do like you, whatever the reason...Then...tit for tat...let's go...

LILIANA (calmly): All right.

He starts to lead her up the stairs, but her ready response has astonished and painfully deluded him.

CHECCO (controlling his anger): So you...just like that, eh? You understand what I just said?  

LILIANA (calmly): Yes. 

CHECCO (turning on her): Goddammit! 

The humiliation revelation of Liliana's character is too much for Checco: he slaps her in jealous rage, then starts back down the stairs. Liliana cries after him.

LILIANA (mortified and alarmed): Checco...oh!...oh! ,,,Checco, Checco, wait, don't be like that!

Checco stops, already repenting his action. Liliana tries to mollify him.

LILIANA: Come, sit down a moment.

He sits down on the stairs but avoids looking at her.  

LILIANA (soothingly): All over? If it makes you feel any better, go right ahead and hit me. (In tender reproof.) You can't wear a beret with white tie! And you really shouldn't even have put on a white tie! (More confidently.) You know you're some funny fellow? Tell me, did you win all those thirty-two women with that beret on? (Seeing she has made a false step.) don't get mad, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding you like that because i like you. In my own way, of course. But you mustn't be jealous of everyone who'll want to help me. We two have so far to go. I know you've had bad luck and that you're good, very good. Just think of it, Checco...What success lies ahead!

CHECCO (still despairing): Where? 

LILIANA (gazing into the glamorous future): Everywhere! In every theater we'll play in. With huge colored posters...and my name this high (Gesturing.) ...and yours too, in lights up on the marquee...

Checco begins to be caught up in her vision; he lifts his head and follows her rapturous gaze.

LILIANA: ...flashing on and off...and the house full...all full...and me coming down the ramp...all dressed in plumes...(Turning to him.) Look, Checco, I'm all goose flesh just thinking of it!

CHECCO (reciting from D'Annunzio): "The rain...the rain falls on the tamerisks, salty and sun-scorched; the rain falls on the myrtle divine..." (Again inspired with self-confidence.)  Ah! I'm an artist, you know, and you're one too; you've still got rough edges...but you'll see, we two, together always...always...(Turning ecstatically to her.) I'll put together a company myself, I don't need anybody else...(Overjoyed at this inspired solution.) I'll set up my own company... I promise you.

Their reverie is interrupted as another lodger passes them on the stairs, forcing them to rise. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This fight scene runs rampant with twisty, turning emotions, but is tethered by the unity of story.  It didn't leave the central conflict up in the air but answered it. 

City Lights (1950) 
by  Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Alberto Lattuada, Tullio Pinelli
Story by Federico Fellini

TODAY'S NUGGET: Il Lavoro, "The Job" (1962; part of the Boccaccio '70 anthology) - The "Bids" in Small Moments Show the Marriage is Not Dead

[Quick Summary: A couple argue after the husband is caught with a prostitute by the press.]

In this short film, writer/director Luchino Visconti is interested in the small moments of marital dynamics.

But how does he keep the "small" from being boring?

He has his characters make interesting choices, i.e., lingering when most people would move on, or moving on when others would linger.

For example, in today's scene below:
- Visconti seems interested here in how normal people do connect, even in crisis.
- Here, Pupe is married to Ottavio, a count who has cheated on her. 
- The newspapers are hounding them about the scandal.
- They come home one evening and do not really speak about the scandal.
- Pupe is mad at Ottavio but still wants him to notice her.
- She doesn't do the normal thing and insult or provoke him.  
- There must be some feeling on each side because they pay attention to each other. She puts out a "bid" for attention by asking a question. He does the same. 
- They start to establish a rhythm and it furthers a connection.

Pupe's apartment.

...No answer. Ottavio decides to go into the bedroom. Pupe is standing in front of the mirror in her slip. Her hair has been arranged differently.

COUNT: What're you doing? (Pupe spreads out her hands as if to say, "You can see'; then she opens the wardrobe.) Do you want to go out? Let's go to the Rock.

Pupe has taken a dress from the wardrobe and puts it on. It is a very elegant evening dress.

PUPE: I'm going out.

COUNT (irritated): You mean you're going out on your own?

PUPE (nodding affirmatively): Uh huh. (Pupe finishes arranging her dress; she is in a hurry.) I'm going to La Scala for a minute; I have an appointment with Wally. (Brusquely) These kinds of things don't interest you, dear. It's for my work. I'm late now, and ...

COUNT (offended): Excuse me, excuse me. Then I'll go to the club. 

Pupe is not listening; and Ottavio, ever more offended, leaves the room. Alone, Pupe looks at herself in the mirror one last time. She completes her toilette and picks up her accessories, then leaves the apartment and crosses the drawing room. 

Ottavio is alone in the drawing room, sitting in an armchair almost in the dark.

PUPE: Night. 

Ottavio does not answer. Pupe continues across the drawing room. She is about to go out when she slows her steps. 

PUPE (to Ottavio, without turning to him): Didn't you say you were going out? [This is her "bid."]

COUNT: Yes. No. I don't know. I want to read. [He answers the bid.]

PUPE: Oh.

She is about to start off again, but she stops once more to look in the mirror. 

Actually she is watching her husband stealthily. Then she looks again at her own image. 

PUPE (impatient): Damn.

Pupe turns back with resolute step. As she passes before the count he asks her lazily: 

COUNT: Forget something? [This is his "bid."]

PUPE: All wrong. [She answers.]

COUNT: All what?

Pupe stops and turns to him. She seems very edgy and impatient.

PUPE: This dress, can't you see?

COUNT: What's wrong with it?  

Pupe comes over to Ottavio.

PUPE: The tone's wrong. A person looking for a job...How would you dress?

COUNT (still half-sprawled out in the armchair): If you're going to La Scala...

PUPE: But I'm not going for the opera!

COUNT: Who ever goes for the opera?

PUPE (out of patience): Ooooh!

She hurries out of the room.

Delighted to have found something to do, Ottavio gets up too, throws his book to the floor, and follows his wife.

COUNT: Pupe. Wait, Pupe. I'll help you choose something.  

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Writers have to find that fine line in which characters make interesting decisions, but not false ones. 

"Bids" for attention is a good entry point for writers to consider.  What does the character want to happen?

Il Lavoro (1962) 
by Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Luchino Visconti
From an idea by Cesare Zavattini, based on Maupassant's short story, Au Bord du Lit

TODAY'S NUGGET: Rocco and His Brothers (1960) - How Pacing Helps to Flesh Out a Character

[Quick Summary: Rocco and his brothers are uprooted to Milan, where a prostitute comes between him and his brother Simone.]

I appreciate that Visconti scripts are very naturalistic, but disciplined.

It takes a lot of rewriting:
a)  to make sure that the right pacing gives characters and scenes time to breathe, but not dawdle; and
b)  to boil down characters and scenes to their essences.

For example, in the scene below: 
- Rosaria is the mother of Rocco and his brothers.
- Vincenzo is one of her sons.
- They are quite poor and live squashed together in housing for the evicted. 
- Notice how the writers take the time to show Rosario's mental calculations through her reactions: She hears Vincenzo, freezes, carries on wrapping, expresses her thoughts to Ciro, then addresses Vincenzo. 
- This fleshes out Rosaria into a three dimensional character. She has a life outside this scene and concerns other than Vincenzo.  The writers give her time to finish what she was doing (wrapping) then turn to Vincenzo's problem.  

 

Rosaria's room at the housing for the evicted.

...As Luca runs to rummage through some drawers, a heavy silence settles over the room, as if something is about to happen. Rosaria clears the table. The others get up. Luca bring the paper and Rosaria begins to wrap up the remaining sweets.  Vincenzo and Ginetta gaze at each other for mutual support. Then Vincenzo speaks.

VINCENZO (suddenly taking courage): Mama, Ginetta and I have to get married! 

Rosario freezes for a moment. Then she continues wrapping up the sweets in silence. She seems not to have heard.

ROSARIA: Tell Ciro to eat them, and that I'm sending them to him.

A very expressive glance passes between Vincenzo and Ginetta.

VINCENZO: Ma, did you hear what I said?

Rosaria turns and hand him the package. She is cold as stone.

ROSARIA: (her voice trembling): Vince, what are you asking me? (Louder) What are you telling me? (She indicates Ginetta for the first time, alluding to the Ginnellis.) After what happened with them, if you want me consent...(Melodramatically) you'll have to bury me first. (She gestures broadly toward Ginetta.) It's just a pity for this poor girl who doesn't have much to do with it.

 But Vincenzo touches Ginetta's head and finds the strength to go on.

VINCENZO: No, I'm marrying her, Mama. I'm telling you I'm going to marry her.

Rosaria shrieks in answer.

ROSARIA (shouting): You're treating me this way? My sons treat me this way? Can a person stand such injustice?

She strides up and down the room, prey to an exaggerated agitation.

ROCCO (trying to stop her): Calm down, Mama. Ginetta's a good girl. Why shouldn't Vincenzo marry her?  

ROSARIA (impersonally): If Vincenzo wants to do just what he wants to, it means he hasn't got a mother any more. (She throws herself on her home-town saints - blooming there for Easter - and groans.) I've brought them up, I've taken care of them, I've watched over them, these sons of mine...And now must they raise their heads? (She continues to address the saints, as everyone listens in an atmosphere charged with apprehension; looking at the saints.) Vince, open your eyes, open your eyes. "Two eyes have gazed upon you -- three want to help you - Saint Anne, Saint Lena, Saint Mary Magdalen..."

VINCENZO: Mama, what are you exorcising for? (Embarrassed pause) It's too late... (Resolutely) now. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I don't trust the audience like these writers do.  

I worry I'm boring the audience, so jump to answering the question too quickly.  

Here, the writers observe reality, which is that Rosaria has a lot on her mind and would be juggling in her head how to respond.  They allow the question to linger (will Rosaria give her approval) and give her time to finish what she was doing.  This fleshes out the character because Rosaria's actions are not about getting to the next plot point, but about what she'd really do as a mother living her life. 

Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
by Luchino Visconti, Suso Cocchi d'Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, Enrico Medioli
Based on the book Il Ponte della Ghisolfa, by Giovanni Testori 

TODAY'S NUGGET: White Nights (1957) - How to Make Your Point by Visually Sequencing a Scene

[Quick Summary: One lonely night, a lonely guy connects with a lonely girl, though she is waiting for her boyfriend who left her a year ago.]

This is my first exposure to the neo-realistic, post-war, Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti (best known for The Leopard).  

One of the things Visconti does well is plumbing the depths of character with the sequencing of his visuals. 

This is an element of cinema that has been difficult for me to learn, i.e., that the sequencing of pictures can convey to the audience more about the character's internal feelings even than plot alone. 

A good example is the scene below. Prior to this scene: 
- Mario wanders around at night and doesn't want to go home.
- He's come to work in this small town a few months ago.
- He sees Natalia on a bridge, waiting for someone. 
- He follows her, but she disappears.
- He eventually finds her and they engage in a conversation.
- She tells him the story, that she lives with her anxious, protective grandmother, and that they had a Lodger in the house.
- She and the Lodger fell in love, but he has had to go away for business for a year.. 
- She promised  to wait for him, with no guarantees.  Mario thinks she's absurd.
- The sequencing of the visuals (FLASHBACK, PRESENT, JUXTAPOSITION) does tell the story, but the purpose of the scene is more about conveying the emotional impact on Mario.
- Notice how Mario's abrupt objection changes the dynamic (and how the audience feels as well).
- Also notice the effective juxtaposition at the end.  The visual contrast of  the situations (Mario and Natalia apart and upset vs. a kissing couple close and happy) makes us feel even more for Mario.

Outside, along the canals. Night. 

NATALIA'S VOICE: We came here too. He told me again that he couldn't take me with him then...he couldn't marry me then... but he swore I was the only woman who could make him happy.

The lodger and Natalia walk along the canal in a nocturnal setting very similar to the present scene.

LODGER: Listen to me, Natalia. I have to go away for a year. And I can't ask you to promise me anything. I don't want you to promise me anything. I don't want you to be unhappy because of me. You have to be free. When I come back next year, if you still love me then, I swear to you, we'll be happy.

NATALIA"S VOICE: You want to test me, I told him. But I'm not afraid. I'll wait for you.

Outside. Night.

Natalia speaks to the young man, whose back is to the camera.

NATALIA: I'll be here to meet you a year from now...at this very time...and you'll still love me... and I'll be yours... yours forever... 

With those words, Natalia has drawn closer to Mario, almost as if she were addressing them to him, with the same intensity that she mist have had with the other man. Mario at once moved and uncomfortable, moves a bit away from her.  

NATALIA: He left the next morning... and.. I'm here to wait for him.

There is a long silence. Natalia bows her head.

MARIO (violently): But this story is absurd! 

To recover from the emotion the girl's closeness and her confessions have provoked in him, Mario raises his voice and speaks with irritation and extreme agitation.

A pair of lovers who have been kissing in a dark corner not far from them. Mario and the girl turn in alarm.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  My fear in my own writing is that the audience won't connect the dots in my sequences. It helps to see here how the visual sequencing flows with the clear purpose of making a point (hearing Natalia's story --> results in an impact on Mario). 

White Nights (1957)
Story and script by Suso CecchiD'Amico & Luchino Visconti
Based on the novel by Fedor Dostoevski

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Temptations of Doctor Antonio (1962; part of the Boccaccio '70 anthology) - When Hypocrisy is Revealed in a Satire

[Quick Summary: Outraged Dr. Mazzuolo tries to get a provocative billboard of a woman removed, but is shocked when the billboard woman literally speaks to him.]

In this short film, Dr. Mazzuolo lives a "very moral" life and has definite ideas of how women should behave and dress. 

When a billboard goes up with a provocative woman drinking milk, Dr. Mazzuolo is outraged.  He causes a loud commotion to get it taken down. 

The satire is his obsession over a paper billboard and the over-the-top lengths he'll go to get rid of it.  It's hypocritical because his motives are not particularly virtuous. 

This is best seen in the scene below:   
- Dr. Mazzuolo has gotten the billboard woman covered up with a covering, but the rain has brought it down.
- Anita, the gigantic billboard woman, comes to life and speaks to Mazzuolo.
- Her sheer size is so exaggerated vs. Mazzuolo.  It's a good visual of how he feels; of her vs. him; of one man trying to fight against a larger idea. 
- I really liked the irony of this scene too. Anita's unexpected reaction to Mazzuolo's verbal abuse (shower of tears) brings home to me that he could deal with the billboard woman as an idea but had difficulty dealing with a real woman.

 E.U.R. quarter. Night.

... He laughs once more, harshly and somewhat hysterically. His laughter is suddenly echoed by Anita's, which explodes unexpectedly, bloodcurdling despite her cordial tone. Mazzuolo shudders in horror.

MAZZUOLO (with mixed aggressiveness and terror): What's so funny? ...

ANITA: You laughed, so I laughed too. What's the matter, can't I even laugh? I have a cheerful disposition, you know ...

To overcome his terror, Mazzuolo now explodes in violent abuse, all a-tremor with sanctimonious indignation.

MAZZUOLO: No! ... I can laugh. Not you? Your laugh is cynical or irresponsible! ... You haven't any right to laugh at decent people! You think it's so easy to be decent and pure? It's much easier to be licentious, like you are! For shame! ... Do you have any idea of the ruinous effect you have on people? on the family? on Society? ... Ah, you're just taking the sun, eh? ... Enjoying the scenery? ... You liar! ... I'll shout it right to your face: liar, hypocrite, corrupter of morals! ... You're sowing ruin and scandal! ... If so many decent people go wrong ... if there's so much evil in this world of ours, so wanting in faith and hope, it's your fault! ...

An enormous tear plunges down from on high, forming a little puddle on the ground beside Mazzuolo. Then another, and another. Sidestepping to avoid them, Mazzuolo goes on, his face flushed with wrath.

MAZZUOLO: ... You're crying? ... Cry, cry, it'll do you good! ... I'm glad I made you cry! ... At last I've been able to confront you face to face ... give you a moral whipping ... Weep, weep! 

He opens his umbrella as the huge tears continue to shower down around him. 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked that the writers didn't try to soften the hypocrisy and make Dr. Mazzuolo more likeable. Satire requires that characters are unrepentant as they go hard after what they want in order to lampoon them.

The Temptations of Doctor Antonio (1962) 
by Federico Fellini & Ennio Flaiano & Tullio Pinelli

TODAY'S NUGGET: Il Bidone (The Swindle)(1955) - Don't Be Afraid of the Discomfort of a Confrontation

[Quick Summary: Three con men must deal with the job and family pressures.]

In reading this second of three scripts by Fellini et al.,  I am reminded:
a) that great conflict confronts something the character values (stakes).  
b) do not to shy away when the confrontation gets uncomfortable.  In fact, it's the writer's job is to lead the audience through the discomfort. 

The scene below is an excellent example of a character who tries to "save face" during an uncomfortable confrontation: 
- Roberto, Picasso, and Augusto are con men together.
- Picasso is married to Iris. She has no idea he's a con man.
- Augusto brings Roberto, Picasso, and Iris to Rinaldo's house for a party. 
- Rinaldo is a competing con man and an acquaintance.
- Rinaldo suspects Roberto has stolen a guest's cigarette lighter and pressures him to confess. 
- The stakes are about status.
- Notice how Roberto tries to evade the confrontation and how Rinaldo will not allow him to dodge it (tension).
- Note also that it's the writer's job to put these characters through the situation, not avoid or lessen the discomfort.

Rinaldo's apartment. Night.  

At the door, Iris, Picasso, and Roberto are preparing to leave. Roberto winds a silk scarf around his neck; as he sees Rinaldo, he addresses him with his usual bantering voice and brazen assurance.

ROBERTO:  Oh, here's our hospitable host! ... I was looking for you to thank you for this magnificent evening, and to wish you the very best for the coming year.

IRIS: Thank you.

PICASSO: We really thank you.

RINALDO (staring into Roberto's eyes): Listen ... There's a girl in there that's lost her cigarette case ...

ROBERTO (displaying regret): Really? The poor girl ... I'm sorry ... Of course it's what you'd expect, with all this confusion.

RINALDO: The cigarette case happens to be gold.

ROBERTO: Sorry, I don't understand.

Picasso and Iris hold their breath. Iris still does not fully understand. Picasso looks at Roberto in alarm. Augusto appears just behind Rinaldo, and other people are gathering about. Roberto's bearing is still self-assured.

RINALDO: You don't understand! You didn't happen to find it, did you?  You know, lots of times a person might be thinking of something else and doesn't remember. And then, when they get home, they find it.

He laughs as he stares at Roberto.

ROBERTO: You know, I still don't understand.

Rinaldo laughs again. Another man whispers to him.

MAN: You know this guy's really a scream? 

RINALDO: You know what I'd do if I were you?

ROBERTO: No, what?

RINALDO: I'd start looking for it and I'd find it.

LADY (to the swarthy little man): What's going on?

LITTLE MAN: I have the impression, dear Countess, that somebody's pinched something.

ROBERTO: Listen, the thing is ...  Of course I'd be very glad to do it, but you know, I ... (Augusto is staring severely at Roberto. Roberto glances at him and then feigns aggressive astonishment) What is this anyway? ... What do you want from me? ... Excuse me, what kind of a way to talk is that?

RINALDO (calm, sure of himself): My friend, you got a long way to go ... before you can come play around in here ... The lady wants to smoke - offer her a cigarette, no?

ROBERTO (trying to react once more): You mind telling me what you're driving at?

RINALDO (with icy calm): Come on, make believe you were just joking, no? You say you were joking and everybody'll be happy. (Shouting angrily) Well, you going to tell us you were joking, yes or no?

Roberto looks around. There is an icy pause; then, with a slight smile, he goes over to the woman Rinaldo has indicated, takes the gold cigarette case out of his pocket, opens it and holds it out to her.

ROBERTO: Well, yes, I was joking. (To the lady) You got scared, didn't you? I was just joking.

The lady takes the cigarette case; Rinaldo throws an ironic kiss to Roberto and opens the door.

LADY: Thanks.

ROBERTO: You're welcome. (To Rinaldo) Satisfied?

Rinaldo: My God!

Only slightly embarrassed, Roberto waves broadly to the crowd.

ROBERTO: Happy New Year to everybody!

He departs

RINALDO (turning to Augusto): Augusto, what the hell kind of friends do you have anyway?! And you go around with them too?

Augusto is standing stock-still.

Iris is pale as death.

Picasso is mortified.

They hurry out.

Rinaldo begins to dance with Luciana.

RINALDO: Hey, Lucy, sew up your pockets! 

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This scene reminds me that real confrontation is messy and takes time to explain the stakes and tension, i.e., I need to give it more room on the page to breathe than I think. 

Il Bidone (1955)
by  Federico Fellini & Tullio Pinelli
Story by Federico Fellini & Ennio Flaiano & Tullio Pinelli