Download (12MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository
Download (12MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository Download (12MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository
murderer together with his mentor and friend Italo, a blind former Fascist intellectual. Alone in the street, Clerici looks through the gate of a ruined house at a youth Lino whom had addressed. The final shot freezes his enigmatic stare behind the bars of the gate. Clerici's noir ambivalence and the viewer's cognitive confusion In the film Clerici is depicted as profoundly alienated; his aspirations to normality do not prevent him from despising the world around him, towards which he shows a mixture of contempt and ambiguity. Conditioned by his past, his actions constitute a sort of inertia that condemns him to a desperate solitude. This sort of male characterization derives from French critical writings on noir from the 1950s, when the surrealists' interpretations of its dreamlike ambience were complemented by existentialist analyses that focused on the male protagonist. Influential in this respect was Andre Bazin who identified in Humphrey Bogart's screen persona a character 'defined by fate whose raison d'etre of his existence was in some sense to survive' (Naremore, 1998: 24). Bazin's definition of Bogart as 'the triumph of interiorization and ambiguity' is explained by James Naremore as a combination of 'a radical isolation or individuality that forces the subject to create identity out of existential choice' and 'ethical complexity' respectively (Naremore, 1998: 26). Such statements can also be linked to analyses by Francois Truffaut and Jacques Rivette of films directed by Nicholas Ray,(l) Truffaut focusing on the 'moral solitude' of the male protagonist, while Rivette identified 'the interior demon of violence, which seems linked to man and his solitude' (Naremore, 1998: 26). Clerici closely embodies these theoretical features. His existence is heavily marked by fate, which has exposed him to abduction and led him towards murder, so his identity forms around the survival tactics he has used to overcome the deviations affecting his life's trajectory. He denies himself any existential choice by submitting himself to people he 186
despises, ranging from Fascist officials to his wife and her family. Driven by solitude, he releases his inner demon of violence to destroy the only people (Prof. Quadri, Anna, and Italo) for whom he had genuine affinity. The final shot framing Clerici's face behind 'bars', while staring enigmatically at the seductive youth (see image), epitomizes film noir traditions, and is a metaphor for the male protagonist remaining a hopeless prisoner of his own compromised destiny. From a cognitive perspective, the criteria which underpin the viewer's perception of Clerici's character inevitably engender negative expectations regarding the character s development. This evaluation also conditions the viewer's reconstruction of the story as the character's ambiguity inhibits the formulation of reliable hypotheses about his decision making. By anchoring the narrative to such an ambivalent protagonist, it is difficult for viewers to anticipate the character's behaviour; the viewers' 'top-down' perceptual processes based on their acquired knowledge and mental schemas, which are used to make hypotheses and create narrative expectations (Branigan, 1992: 37) are difficult to activate. The emotional implications of this will be discussed later in the chapter. Noir camerawork; isolation, disorientarion and disproportion The imposing character of the regime is conveyed in the film by its use of Fascist architecture with its gigantic, daunting spaces. In these settings, Clerici is often framed in extreme long shots that make him appear insignificant (see image). During his visit to the Fascist ministry, when he peers through the door of a minister's office, the distance between him and the official's desk seems abyssal, and later he 187
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- Page 223 and 224: References Bachmann, G. (1973) 'Eve
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murderer together with his mentor and friend Italo, a blind former Fascist intellectual. Alone<br />
in the street, Clerici looks through the gate <strong>of</strong> a ruined house at a youth Lino whom had<br />
addressed. The final shot freezes his enigmatic stare behind the bars <strong>of</strong> the gate.<br />
Clerici's noir ambivalence and the viewer's cognitive confusion<br />
In the film Clerici is depicted as pr<strong>of</strong>oundly alienated; his aspirations to normality do not<br />
prevent him from despising the world around him, towards which he shows a mixture <strong>of</strong><br />
contempt and ambiguity. Conditioned by his past, his actions constitute a sort <strong>of</strong> inertia that<br />
condemns him to a desperate solitude. This sort <strong>of</strong> male characterization derives from French<br />
critical writings on noir from the 1950s, when the surrealists' interpretations <strong>of</strong> its dreamlike<br />
ambience were complemented by existentialist analyses that focused on the male protagonist.<br />
Influential in this respect was Andre Bazin who identified in Humphrey Bogart's screen<br />
persona a character 'defined by fate whose raison d'etre <strong>of</strong> his existence was in some sense<br />
to survive' (Naremore, 1998: 24). Bazin's definition <strong>of</strong> Bogart as 'the triumph <strong>of</strong><br />
interiorization and ambiguity' is explained by James Naremore as a combination <strong>of</strong> 'a radical<br />
isolation or individuality that forces the subject to create identity out <strong>of</strong> existential choice'<br />
and 'ethical complexity' respectively (Naremore, 1998: 26). Such statements can also be<br />
linked to analyses by Francois Truffaut and Jacques Rivette <strong>of</strong> films directed by Nicholas<br />
Ray,(l) Truffaut focusing on the 'moral solitude' <strong>of</strong> the male protagonist, while Rivette<br />
identified 'the interior demon <strong>of</strong> violence, which seems linked to man and his solitude'<br />
(Naremore, 1998: 26).<br />
Clerici closely embodies these theoretical features. His existence is heavily marked by<br />
fate, which has exposed him to abduction and led him towards murder, so his identity forms<br />
around the survival tactics he has used to overcome the deviations affecting his life's<br />
trajectory. He denies himself any existential choice by submitting himself to people he<br />
186
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