Biography Double”, Cinema at the Prada Foundation

If you haven’t visited yetThe Personality of Bernardo Bertolucci: A Double BiographyThis is the time to do it, before the exhibition dedicated to the director Bernardo Bertoluccisponsored Prada FoundationClose its doors. You have until January 20 to enjoy a view that puts Bertolucci in dialogue with the most important directors and thinkers of the twentieth century, first and foremost. Pier Paolo Pasolini.

“Bernardo Bertolucci’s Autobiography: A Double Biography”, final chapter of “Autobiography”

With its “Soggettiva” series, Fondazione Prada has so far investigated the biographies, secret passions and imaginations of directors and artists.

With this final chapter titled “A Biography of Bernardo Bertolucci: A Double Biography,” a review curated by Francesco Cassetti and in collaboration with the Bernardo Bertolucci Foundation, the aim is to identify specific links and cross-references among nine Bertolucci films made between the 1960s and 1970s. 1970s and many feature films by Italian and international authors such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Mario Schifano, John Ford, Jean Renoir, Max Ophüls, Aleksandr Dovzhenko and Douglas Sirk.

In “My Personal Bernardo Bertolucci: A Double Biography,” each of the nine films by the Italian director, from his first work Grim Reaper (1962) A.J Moon (1979), in fact related to a film by another similar or co-director, even if farther back in time.

The project was presented through a meeting open to the public that took place at the Foundation’s cinema on Friday, December 16 and featured the participation of Francesco Cassetti, Sterling Professor of Humanities, Film and Media Studies at Yale University, Alberto Barbera, Director of the Art Cinema Gallery in Venice and Paola Malanga, Artistic Director of the Rome Film Festival.

“self” challenge

Bernardo Bertolucci (Parma, 1941 – Rome, 2018) was a filmmaker in depth, and for this reason his work can also be interpreted as the result of frequent exchanges and comparisons with certain authors whom he looked upon with enthusiasm, admiration and challenge. Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Subjectivity”, as the subtitle states, reveals a “double autobiography” that, according to Francesco Cassetti, “seeks to recreate otherwise subtle dynamics, postulating small borrowings, long-running dialogues, stylistic inversions and shared obsessions”.

Through a dense network of references, homages, credits and reflections, made up of the eighteen films selected for the project, viewers of “Soggettiva Bernardo Bertolucci: The Double Biography” are invited to get acquainted with the candid view of Bertolucci who, during his career, has created an evocative, powerful cinematography And full of suggestions.

Films shown in the gallery

The Personal Bernardo Bertolucci: A Dual Biography includes: Grim Reaper (Italy, 1962) by Bernardo Bertolucci with Mother Roma (Italy, 1962) by Pier Paolo Pasolini; Before the revolution (Italy, 1964) by Bernardo Bertolucci with À bout a soufflé (Breathless – France, 1960) by Jean-Luc Godard; Oil Road – II. Travel (Italy, 1967) by Bernardo Bertolucci with Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (Life Harvest – France, 2000) by Agnès Varda.

The exhibition also includes: a partner (Italy, 1968) by Bernardo Bertolucci with human, not human (Italy, 1969) by Mario Schifano; Spider strategy (Italy, 1970) by Bernardo Bertolucci with The man who shot Liberty Valance (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – US, 1962) by John Ford; compliant (Italy/France/Germany, 1970) by Bernardo Bertolucci with La règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game – France, 1939) by Jean Renoir.

Finally: Last Tango in Paris (Italy / France 1972) Bernardo Bertolucci with rotating (Pleasure and Love – France, 1950) by Max Opholz; Twentieth century (Italy/France/Germany 1976) by Bernardo Bertolucci with Zemlya (Earth – USSR, 1930) by Alexander Dovzhenko; Moon (Italy/USA 1979) by Bernardo Bertolucci with imitation of life (Mirror of Life – US, 1959) by Douglas Sirk.

Credits: Prada Foundation