A Book Review by William Blick.
In the true spirit of monomaniacal, egomaniacal, and nomadic film auteurs everywhere, Curti brings a vivaciousness to the text that immersed this reader into the brilliant and grotesquely absurdist world of Ferreri.”
In film scholar Roberto Curti’s new book Marco Ferreri: The Films of an Italian Provocateur (McFarland, 2024), the sardonically irreverent filmmaker’s work is put under a microscope and then pulled back to view from a distance. Curti examines almost every aspect of this provocateur/auteur. From the enigmatic director’s societal critique, to the fierce controversy surrounding each of his films, to the wide range of cultural and philosophical influences, Curti reminds us of how vital and disruptive a filmmaker Ferreri really was.
I had first come in contact with Ferreri’s work through the film, Tales of Ordinary Madness (1980), which was an attempt to bring the brutish and often simultaneously profane and profound writings of the “low-life laureate” himself, Charles Bukowski, to cinema. Being somewhat disappointed in the film, I did not think Ferreri worthy of note. However, as I read in Curti’s book, I gained a new appreciation for the filmmaker.
Ferreri’s first masterpiece, Dillinger is Dead (1969; see top image) calls on the Theatre of the Absurd and works of Beckett and Ionesco to achieve his goals. In Curti’s book, the author references these influences and everything from the writings of the great Cynic philosopher, Diogenes, to major theorist of the new left, Marcuse, and his book, One-Dimensional Man to examine the film. Just as Dillinger is Dead received apt attention in this book, so does Curti provide the discussion of the production, reception, and in-depth analysis of all of Ferreri’s films.
Ferreri’s perhaps most notable film is La Grande Bouffe (1973) starring Marcello Mastroianni and Ugo Tognazzi, which tells the satirical and allegorical tale of a group of upper-class bourgeoisie who intend to gather and eat themselves to death. The strange and savage film satirizes the appetites and wastefulness of the bourgeoisie values or lack thereof. It is a comical and uneasy viewing as are most of Ferreri’s films and Curti quotes Ferreri saying that in his film eating becomes “the last hope and desperation that men have.” Curti goes on to say that in Ferreri’s films, “to eat and to be eaten is man’s destiny in consumerist society.” Bunuel called the film, “a tragedy of the flesh and a monument to hedonism.” (p.156). According to Curti, Ferreri’s outrageous and deliberate skewering of mainstream society points to humanity’s voracious appetites. This theme repeats itself throughout Ferreri’s career.
From Ferreri’s early films in Spain, to his later films, as well as work with many of the industry’s most iconic stars and artists, Curti has provided a comprehensive, cogent, and cohesive piece of scholarship and resource here. He places Ferreri in the context of Italian neo-realism, and great auteurs such as Antonioni and Fellini. Issues like entanglements with censors everywhere, his complex criticism of Catholicism, and his oft-questioned relationship to feminism and misogyny are brought into the forefront in Curti’s book.
Ferreri described his own work as “solitary cinema. I do not have my roots in Italy, I don’t have any roots anywhere…I’m a nomad. Can a nomad have roots?” (p.9). His cinema is challenging, absurd, obscene, surreal, poignant, disturbing, beautiful, and earthy, and Curti makes the case that his work continues to be screened. In the true spirit of monomaniacal, egomaniacal, and nomadic film auteurs everywhere, Curti brings a vivaciousness to the text that immersed this reader into the brilliant and grotesquely absurdist world of Ferreri. This book is a serious read for film enthusiasts, scholars, and all manner of “ordinary mad people” everywhere.
William Blick is a film and literary/crime fiction critic; a librarian; and an academic scholar. His work has been featured in Senses of Cinema, Film Threat, Cineaction, and CinemaRetro, and he is a frequent contributor to Retreats from Oblivion: The Journal of Noircon. His crime fiction has been featured in Close to the Bone, Pulp Metal Magazine, Out of the Gutter, and others. He is an Assistant Professor/Librarian for the City University of New York.