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of Caterina discovering Joe's drug addiction. Their confrontation is interrupted twice, with
Caterina being distracted by the unexpected presence of a decorator comically manoeuvring a
large red curtain, a colour to which she takes a strong dislike. Therefore the film's
exploration of the mother and son's existential reality is marginalized by the dual distraction
of Caterina being sidetracked by interior decor (another mise-en-scene that highlights the
mother/diva's demanding self-centredness) and by the director's inclusion of a comic
moment featuring Roberto Benigni within this sequence. This dissipates much of the scene's
tension, because laughter encourages a sense of relaxation and creates pleasure by 'a
reduction of a tense object-world-directed [...] attitude' (Grodal, 1997: 187). The decorator's
sudden appearance behind the curtain reflects Grodal's observation that 'the most basic form
of comic surprise in visual fiction is the appearance of a person [...] at an unexpected time'
(Grodal, 1997: 190). However, the result in viewing terms, as a result of Caterina's behaviour
and the comic tone in this and in other moments of the film, is incongruousness, given the
film's sensitive subject matter and of the lack of an identifiable design in Bertolucci's generic
and stylistic choices.
Minor characters and incongruous intellectual references
Intellectually, the film lacks clarity with its perplexing inclusion of two-dimensional
characters and scenarios which resemble a superficial, sub-Godardian manipulation of viewer
expectations as they deconstruct the legacy of Italian cinema, notably 'committed' socio­
political cinema. This occurs in the scene featuring a cynical individual who attempts a
homosexual seduction of Joe by offering him ice cream and trying to exploit his fragility.
This role is played by Franco Citti who, by acting in Pasolini's films (including Oedipus
Rex), had become synonymous with the director's committed film-making and tragic death.
Therefore his role of an irredeemable predator in a scenario evacuated of any socio-political
resonance is a disconcerting intellectual reversal which appears incongruous given Citti's
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