IL REGISTA DI MATRIMONI (IL REGISTRA DI MATRIMONI)

Italy, 2006, 103 minutes, Colour.
Sergio Castellitto, Sami Frey.
Directed by Marco Bellocchio.

Marco Bellocchio is one of the veterans of Italian cinema. He has a worldwide reputation and has been directing since the 1960s. He is still an energetic director with his recent probe into the causes for canonisation in L’ Ora della Religione and his re-creation of the times of Italian terrorism in the 1970s and the abduction and murder of Prime Minister, Aldo Moro, Good Morning, Night (Buongiorno, Notte).

This time he is having a bit of a rest and has his eyes firmly on Italian audiences and Italian themes. This is one that would not travel beyond Italy too well.

The story of a director (the always interesting Sergio Castelliti) who is planning a new version of Italy’s classic novel, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed) and whose daughter is married with videocameras and all make of cameras flashing, the film starts to fantasise when he helps a wedding photographer with ideas for a video and is then hired by the local prince in Sicily to make an art movie of his daughter’s wedding. For those in the know, there are parallels with I Promessi Sposi as well as excerpts from the older classic film version. There is also a beach discussion between the hero and a director who was allegedly drowned, whose films never one awards but who is a celebrity and a winner as soon as he dies – much satirical dialogue at the expense of Italian cinema, academia and politics.

There are several versions of the wedding – in the director’s imagination. So, there are accessible details in the film, but the tone is resolutely local with local references and satire.

1.A film for Italians? About Italian literature? Italian cinema? The beginning of the 21st century and cinema? Marriage, traditions?

2.The background of I Promessi Sposi? The classic novel? The classic film version? The excerpts shown throughout the film? Reinterpreting it for a 21st century audience? The director, his involvement? The auditions – and the strange presence of the young woman, her being pursued, the police? The prince, his daughter? The rescue?

3.Roman locations, the opening wedding sequence? The transition to Sicily? The beaches, the town, the beauty? Nature? The old and classical buildings? The musical score, the songs?

4.The title? Elica at his daughter’s wedding? The ceremony, the joyfulness of the group, the beat with the singing? The priests and their enjoyment? The photographers, the video cameras? Elica and his involvement? The aftermath, the celebration?

5.Franco Elica, in himself, his plans for the film? His assistant? The auditions? The performance – for the princess, for the nun? The strange woman, her pushing in? The assistant, his talk about sex? Her hiding under the table when the pursuers came? The mystery of this intrusion? The aftermath, the guard at the door, the police, the search? Elica and his feeling bewildered?

6.The transition to Sicily? The train ride? His getting off the train, on the beach? Watching the director make the video of the marriage? The mother, the couple, the crew? Performance? The director recognising Elica, asking his advice? The fantasy of how a video, art style, involving nudity, could be made out of this situation?

7.Elica, his staying in Sicily, the director and his admiration, taking him home, the director’s wife, her hospitality? The family? The wife mending the clothes, putting the camera in his jacket – and his later exchanging the jacket with the beggar?

8.The encounter with the prince, the prince and his regal manner? His disdain? His interest in having a video of his daughter’s wedding, his watching Elica’s video, making the contract with him?

9.Elica and the encounter with the director, the news of his death? The meeting on the beach, the discussions about the Italian film industry, the arts, Academia? The fact that you had to be dead to get acclaim? The news of his death – and all the nominations for the awards? The irony of his faking his own death – and his encounters with Elica, their conversations, despising him yet admiring him?

10.Elica and his imagining the wedding? The fiascos, the killings? His meeting with Bona and his admiration for her, falling in love? Her response to him?

11.The preparation for the wedding, the rehearsals – and the imagination again? The prince, his domination? Bona and her going to the convent, her being protected?

12.Elica and his rescuing the princess? Taking her on the train – and even the alternate wedding imaginations on the train?

13.A portrait of a director in crisis? A portrait of Sicily – and a modern version of E Promesse Esposi? Princes, princesses? The film industry, amateurs and their skills? The enthusiasm of the wedding photographers? The commentary on the industry? For an Italian audience? Worldwide – or not?