Directed by:
Marco BellocchioCinematography:
Daniele CiprìComposer:
Carlo CrivelliCast:
Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo Timi, Corrado Invernizzi, Fausto Russo Alesi, Michela Cescon, Gianni Schicchi Gabrieli, Paolo Pierobon, Carlo Crivelli (more)Plots(1)
Acclaimed Italian director Marco Bellocchio (Fists in the Pocket; Devil in the Flesh) delivers his boldest work yet, an audacious, visually stunning film that the Village Voice calls a stylistic knockout about fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and the woman he loved, scorned, denounced and then wrote out of history. Rising actor Filippo Timi is magnetic in a dual role as both the steamrolling dictator and the son he refuses to acknowledge. And Giovanna Mezzogiorno (Love In The Time Of Cholera) delivers a career-making, award-winning performance as Ida Dalser, the lover who wouldn t go away. Bellocchio is a master of eroticism and their scenes of abandon are so powerful and reckless, it s easy to understand why Dalser could never give him up. His rise to power and her descent into an insane asylum are tragic counterpoints in a doomed romance. Dalser may have been written off at the time, but Bellocchio and Mezzogiorno allow her a final, unexpected triumph in this cinematic masterwork. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Italy
Best movies:
Les Misérables (2000) (series)
Facing Windows (2003)
The Dinner (2014)
Filippo Timi
Italy
Best movies:
Les Huit Montagnes (2022)
Kidnapped (2023)
The Double Hour (2009)
Corrado Invernizzi
Italy
Best movies:
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Kidnapped (2023)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Fausto Russo Alesi
Best movies:
The Traitor (2019)
Kidnapped (2023)
The Double Hour (2009)
Michela Cescon
Italy
Best movies:
Maltese (2017) (series)
Long Live Freedom (2013)
David's Birthday (2009)
Gianni Schicchi Gabrieli
Best movies:
Fists in the Pocket (1965)
Good Morning, Night (2003)
Vincere (2009)
Carlo Crivelli
Italy
Best movies:
Vincere (2009)
Giovanni Vettorazzo
Italy
Best movies:
Heaven (2002)
The Consequences of Love (2004)
La storia spezzata (1990) (series)
Pier Giorgio Bellocchio
Italy
Best movies:
Good Morning, Night (2003)
The Traitor (2019)
La figlia di Elisa - Ritorno a Rivombrosa (2007) (series)
Vanessa Scalera
Italy
Best movies:
A Girl Returned (2021)
Lea (2015)
Squadra antimafia - Palermo oggi (2009) (series)
Bruno Cariello
Best movies:
Giuseppe Moscati: L'amore che guarisce (2007) (TV movie)
Padre Pio: Miracle Man (2000) (TV movie)
Non è mai troppo tardi (2014) (TV movie)
Alberto Cracco
Best movies:
Il Divo (2008)
Maria Montessori: una vita per i bambini (2007) (TV movie)
Good Morning, Night (2003)
Francesca Picozza
Best movies:
Vincere (2009)
Elena Presti
Italy
Best movies:
Vincere (2009)
Gilda Postiglione Turco
Best movies:
Il Divo (2008)
The Double Hour (2009)
A/R andata+ritorno (2004)