BEFORE THE REVOLUTION (PRIMA della REVOLUZIONE)
Italy, 1963, 112 minutes, Black and White.
Adriana Asti, Francesco Barilli.
Directed by Bernardo Bertollucci.
Before the Revolution made an impact on its audiences. Critics were surprised at the skill of the 22 year old Italian director who had taken on a social theme and made a technically excellent film. Direction, mood and, especially, a varied musical score and strong use of music for mood, were all praised.
The film is for a sophisticated audience which likes to discuss questions of society, Marxism, personalism, change etc. The solution is open-ended. Who knows what will happen to Fabrizio, the hero? However, it looks as though he will be reabsorbed into his bourgeois society in Parma and his individuality lost in the status quo. The film shows many things wrong with Italian society, but, while it suggests that there are solutions, it seems to say that nothing will really happen.
Bertollucci has gone on to success with The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris and 1900.
1. What impression of Italy and Italians did this film give? What impression of social classes, Marxism and the Catholic Church did you receive?
2. Was the hero, Fabrizio, a strong character? Why had he rebelled against his upbringing? How serious was he as a Marxist? Was he merely a theoretician?
3. How emotional was Fabrizio? How was he affected by ? his friendship with Agostino, Agostino's death, his affair with Gina, his loyalty to Cesare?
4. What does the title mean? What is implied about the period before a revolution in terms of joy and suffering? Was there any revolution in the film? or the likelihood of any revolution?
5. How normal was Gina? How neurotic (she was under medical care)? Was she possessive in her love for Fabrizio or an intruder or an anchor for his uncertain emotions?
6. Why did Fabrizio stop loving Gina? Was he too much like a textbook (neither understanding the social concern and feeling of Cesare nor living the complete individuality advocated by Gina)?
7. What was the significance of the sequence at the property of Puck and his speech on the passing away of his old world?
8. Comment on the opera scene and the wedding scene.
9. Fabrizio said that ultimately people never change. Was he right? Had he changed after his experiences? Why did he return to Clelia? Do you think that this couple would have taken their place easily as part of the status quo?
10. Was this a socially-minded film? Did it try to make comment on Italian society? The direction was done by a man of 22 years - is this obvious in its treatment of its theme? The technical skill with which it is made?
11. What was the meaning of the ending? Fabrizio returning to bourgeois life; Cesare continuing to influence the children he teaches (but will they all grow up to be Fabrizios and, therefore, failures ? like Ahab chasing Moby Dick, the story he tells his class)? Gina kissing, and looking as if she wants to possess, Fabrizio’s younger brother.
