The interviewThe director and the set inspired by the essay by the physicist Carlo Rovelli. «On January 12 I will not celebrate anything» the interview
“But do we really have to talk about it?” Liliana Cavani’s gentle voice becomes a little resentful. This story of her 90 years doesn’t go down well. On January 12, the great lady of Italian cinema, appreciated everywhere for films such as “Night Porter”«Francesco»«The cannibals», «Skin”crosses an enviable finish line, in top form, with a new film in his pocket.
Is the age of peace not in your vocabulary?
«I prefer the working age. I have been working for 70 years, they are the ones that must be counted. And there are already too many. Up until last year no one cared about my years. Round numbers are insidious, everyone remembers them and they remind you».
But don’t you think about it?
«Of course yes, I know that the deadline is near. I think about it so much that my new film is about that, about time. The mysterious and elusive one of the new frontiers of physics, where past and future merge. A time that shatters and no longer exists. And therefore, in this perspective, my 90 years are not there at all».
So how appropriate is “The order of time” for you, a title inspired by the essay by Carlo Rovelli?
“We met at my house, talked for a long time. An essay is not a story, I wrote the story with Paolo Costella, Rovelli collaborated on the scientific part. And it also ended up in the film, played by Edoardo Leo, the protagonist of a choral story with really good actors such as Alessandro Gassman, Claudia Gerini, Ksenia Rappaport and a cameo by Angela Molina».
How do you turn a theory of physics into a cinematic story?
«The idea of a time that is about to end, of a humanity that is perhaps experiencing its last days, amidst wars, pandemics and climatic catastrophes, is something that is part of the collective feeling. My Apocalypse comes from the sky: an asteroid changes course and heads for Earth. It’s called Anaconda, like the snake that regenerates itself. An announced catastrophe that we try to keep hidden so as not to trigger panic. Among the few who are aware of it is our physicist, who meets with some friends at the beach to celebrate a birthday ».
And old friends are told the truth, even if it is shocking.
“Knowing that everything will soon be over triggers a thousand reactions. What to do in the last hours? Fix mistakes, say what I never said? Despair or react? It will be the life instinct that prevails: not knowing when we will die, we continue to live, holding onto our dearest affections. Until the last moment.”
Don’t think about the death that is coming. A choice that also applies to her?
“Nobody wants to die. For me, growing up in an atheist family, there is no afterlife. But while I was shooting Milarepa in Tibet, I met a Lama. When I confided to him that there was nothing for me afterwards, he burst out laughing irrepressibly. Then he said: how can you live with such an idea? He left me with the doubt that something will remain, maybe we will transform ourselves, live other lives… But I don’t care ».
What is it that matters to her?
«Loves, friendships. Only these give meaning to the short space that is called life».
And the cinema?
«It is at the top of my loves, like the love of culture. I’m rereading the‘Iliad. School time is far away, Homer’s time is very far away. Yet she is closer to me than ever. The time loop, the Rovelli loop, can change the flow of events. Time is memory. Being able to study gives me a deep sense of gratitude. Culture is the most beautiful gift that can be given to young people».
But the case, how much does it count in all this?
“Very very much. I graduated in linguistic philology, but then in Rome I enrolled at the Centro Sperimentale, I took part in a Rai competition, I won it, but I refused the contract because I didn’t want to be an internal director. I wanted to make documentaries. For three months I closed myself in the Rai archives to view the many materials on the extermination camps. And then I turned The history of the Third Reich. Night porter comes from what I saw then. When they tell me that deniers exist, I get a terrible rage. I have seen them all in those concentration camps».
She calls herself an atheist, but Francesco and Chiara are her patron saints, who have returned several times in her films.
“The first Francesco, 1966, I owe it to Angelo Guglielmi who gave me credit. In 2013 I toured My name is Francesco. Rai kept it in the drawer until, fate would have it, Bergoglio became pope and chose that name. The next day they put it on the schedule».
Francis, a name that marked his papacy.
“His voice is the only one raised for peace. Wars are all unjust, you just have to stop. The logic of weapons serves only those who manufacture them».
Returning to the new creature, at what point is the film?
“We finished filming in Sabaudia. I found the house by the sea I was looking for there, all of wood, a Noah’s Ark. Perfect for my universal flood. We are in the assembly phase. The film will be ready by spring.’
In the meantime, how will he celebrate his 90th birthday?
“I don’t want to celebrate them at all. Time doesn’t exist but wrinkles do. If they find out I have too many, who makes me work anymore?”
December 27, 2022 (change December 28, 2022 | 11:58 am)
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