2024-03-01 06:40:45
by Stefania Ulivi
The director from Bologna: «He wasn’t capable of staying away from the set, he was about to return»
«He was truly a friend, of unique sensitivity and depth. We often spoke to each other, finding ourselves living the season of life in which you feel that there are only uphills around you. A season that could be faced and lived, we agreed, just by working, breathing in the creative atmosphere.” In the memory of Pupi Avati, his friend and the director Paolo Taviani (who died at 92 after a short illness) overlap. «He wasn’t able to stay away from the set, he was about to go back».
To shoot «Il canto delle medusa», set in the pandemic plain, with Kasia Smutniak and music by Nicola Piovani.
«He had been ill but had recovered, the first person I call is you, he told me a few days ago. A film about modernity, he explained to me, with a singular cast, there was also Alessandro Gassmann. He was enthusiastic about it, he had done the inspections, he was thinking about the music. He would have shot it on a debut budget, which was absurd for the last of the masters like him. I helped him.”
In what sense?
«The first thing I said to Minister Sangiuliano when he took office was: now let Paolo Taviani make a film. And the ministry had taken action.”
A retrospective dedicated to the Tavianis’ cinema began on 1 February at the British Film Institute in London. Have you talked about it?
«He was happy about it, even though he couldn’t go to the inauguration. They were understood more abroad than by us. “Leonora addio” is a masterpiece, yet she hasn’t received any awards from us.”
Paolo and Vittorio’s cinema has always been very recognizable and at the same time difficult to categorize.
«They have always had a strong identity, like all great authors, with a close link with the Tuscan peasant culture of their origins».
Their favorite film?
«If I have to name one, “Master Father”: dazzling, rightfully Palme d’Or in Cannes».
Their way of working with actors was unique, from non-professionals, such as the inmates of “Caesar Must Die”, to stars such as Mastroianni, Volonté, Isabelle Huppert.
«When you enter an author’s world as an actor, you tend to resemble him. Their world was very personal and recognisable, with a handwriting, a tone of voice that everyone adapted to.”
Vittorio’s death in 2018 was a hard blow.
«Now it has reached him. And for me it’s another piece of my universe that goes away. I think I was really close to him in the right way. I have the feeling that we loved each other, that we understood each other. He has always been more attentive to social and political issues than me, while I have been more impatient. Now we were close on more existential issues.”
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February 29, 2024 (modified March 1, 2024 | 07:40)
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