 |
| Images courtesy of Radiance Films |
Multiple award-winning Italian filmmaking pair Paolo and
Vittorio Taviani (dubbed the Taviani Brothers) best known for their 1977 Palme
d’Or winner Padre Padrone and their 2012 Golden Bear winner Caesar
Must Die were originally paired up with Valentino Orsini as a trifecta on
two pictures before parting ways on their fifth film The Subversives in
1967. Building up a reputation for trenchant
socio-politically conscious historical dramas including but not limited to Under
the Sign of Scorpio and their 1972 Tolstoy adaptation St. Michael Had a
Rooster, the filmmakers began focusing on stories of revolution awash in
period detail and would soon embark on their first real star-powered historical
dramatic vehicle with the Marcello Mastroianni 19th century Italian
set Allonsanfàn.
Written and directed by the Taviani Brothers and following
in the footsteps of such revolutionary militarily infused Italian historical
epics as The Leopard and Viva L’Italia aka Garibaldi, the film
tracks a middle-aged aristocrat named Fulvio (a bearded Marcello Mastroianni)
who initially dedicated his life to the revolution before tucking his tail
between his legs in cowardice at the start of the Restoration and tries his
best to evade being drawn back into warfare and simply return home to his
family in quiet retirement. However, amid
navigating his evasive actions compounded with a cholera epidemic his friends
track him down and try their hardest to draw the man back into battle and soon
a spider web of betrayal and double crossings will force the film’s antihero to
choose between maintaining his ruse or joining his comrades.
Subtly snarky, occasionally nihilistic, richly detailed with
ornate set pieces and period costumes, this elegantly photographed piece shot
by recurring Pasolini cinematographer Giuseppe Ruzzolini and scored with sweeping
epic scope and loveliness by legendary composer Ennio Morricone and conducted
by Bruno Nicolai, Allonsanfàn like The Leopard and Garibaldi before
it is a sardonic tightrope walk through the past as a sly social commentary on
the present. Take for instance one of
the film’s grim mid-movie acts in which Fulvio eager to jump sides to save his
own ass reports a burgeoning rebellion to a local priest and unintentionally
triggers a full-scale massacre. Originally
written more sympathetically before real life events in Italy forced a change
of heart on the films réalisateurs, the film’s chronology echoes that of its
country of origin and winds up becoming a startling moment in political cinema.
Marcello Mastroianni is of course excellent as the film’s Barry
Lyndon evading and sleazing his way around gunfire and cannons, going from
scruffy long-haired bearded ruffian to clean cut dandy and he makes our central
protagonist (or antagonist?) more than a little unlikable. Aiding the ensemble proceedings are Lea
Massari, Mimsy Farmer, Laura Betti, Claudio Cassinelli and Stanko Molnar as the
titular Allonsanfàn who at first seems to be an incidental character but
winds up becoming a poster child for the populace of revolutionaries misled by
a scaredy cat aristocrat. The real stars,
however, are the extras in wide, expansive battle sequences who engage in
fierce mortal combat before the spineless Fulvio peeks out from the cluster of
dead bodies to see if it’s his chance to escape.
Released in Milan 1974 before making its way to the United
Kingdom in 1978 and the United States all the way up to 1985, Allonsanfàn became
one of the most talked about Italian movies by the Taviani Brothers which for
some reason was almost unfindable on home video or repertory screenings. Thankfully, as seems to be the ongoing case
with Radiance Films, the newly formed boutique label blu-ray releasing company
have given Allonsanfàn a new 2K restored deluxe limited edition set with
reversible sleeve art, a collectible booklet of essays and an archival
interview with the late Taviani Brothers reflecting on their style and life’s
work. Seen now, the film kind of forms a
loose unofficial trilogy with The Leopard and Garibaldi for
looking at a time in history when Italy was at political crossroads and some of
its key players simply didn’t have the fortitude to stand up for what they
believed in.
--Andrew Kotwicki
