Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini (March 5, 1922 – November 2, 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, and writer, who often made films about the social outcast and rebels. He is known for casting actors with little or no acting experience.

Work

His first novel, Ragazzi di Vita (1955), dealt with male prostitutes, pimps and thieves, resulting in obscenity charges against him, the first of many instances where his art caused him legal problems.

Related Topics:
Ragazzi di Vita - 1955 - Prostitutes - Obscenity - Art

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Accattone! (1961), his first movie, also about the Roman underworld, likewise brought him into conflict with conservatives, who demanded stricter censorship. Strangely, supported by the Catholic Church, he directed the black-and-white The Gospel According To St. Matthew (1964), widely hailed the best cinematic adaptation of the life of Jesus, who was portrayed by Enrique Irazoqui. While making the film, Pasolini vowed to direct it from the "believer's point of view," but later, upon viewing the completed work, realized that he had expressed his own beliefs instead.

Related Topics:
Accattone! - 1961 - Movie - Roman - Censorship - Catholic Church - The Gospel According To St. Matthew - 1964 - Jesus

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In Theorem (1968), starring Terence Stamp as a mysterious stranger, he depicted the sexual coming-apart of a bourgeois family (later to be repeated by Francois Ozon in Sitcom).

Related Topics:
Theorem - 1968 - Terence Stamp - Francois Ozon - Sitcom

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Later movies centered on sex-laden folklore, such as Il fiore delle mille una notte (Arabian Nights, 1974), Boccaccio's Decamerone (1970) and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1972), own to the Trilogy of life. His final work, the only one from the expected Trilogy of death, Salò (1975), went far beyond what most movie-goers could stomach at the time, because of its scenes of intensely sado-masochistic graphic violence. Based on the novel by the Marquis de Sade, it continues to be his most controversial film.

Related Topics:
Folklore - Arabian Nights - 1974 - Boccaccio - Decamerone - 1970 - Chaucer - Canterbury Tales - 1972 - Salò - 1975 - Marquis de Sade

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In his 1966 film, Uccellacci e Uccellini, a sort of picaresque - and at the same time mystic - fable, he wanted the great Italian comedian Totò, to work with one of his preferred "naif" actors, Ninetto Davoli. It was a unique opportunity for Totò to demonstrate that he was a great dramatic actor.

Related Topics:
Comedian - Totò - Ninetto Davoli

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