Review of La Commare Secca (1962) by Sherry . — 12 Jan 2008

So Bertolucci's a weird guy. This is the third of his movies that we've done here, though it's his first. However, while there are a few similarities of plot to [i]The Last Emperor[/i] and [i]Last Tango in Paris[/i], there are some pretty major differences among the three. As you no doubt know if you've read many of my reviews, I didn't finish [i]Last Tango in Paris[/i]; the fact that I finished this one means this is clearly a superior film. It also feels less forced than [i]The Last Emperor[/i], though it's by no means as lovely. Indeed, it's a film of which you're compelled to use the word "gritty.".

[i]La Commare secca[/i] means "the Grim Reaper," a title that will be made meaningful only at the end. We are not told at the outset why our characters are being interrogated by the police, but it is pretty apparent right away that this is something serious. Each is being asked to relate their experiences in a park the previous night--the enforcer, the pickpocket, the soldier. Any of them may well be the criminal; we the audience do not find out--do not even really find out the crime--until the end. Bertolucci is toying with us, but it works beautifully.

This is yet another film that shows us how wonderful B&W can be. The pattern of shadows in the park that night would not be at all the same in colour. Further, since this was 1962, it would have been pretty obvious that this was not truly night, that it was filtered. While B&W cannot keep them completely hidden, it would be awfully transparent in colour. B&W renders the Tiber sinister in ways that colour would not.

I must admit that I don't remember most of the characters' names, a common failing of mine in subtitled movies. I do not know which female is which. Francolicchio I remember because he does have a pretty interesting name. Teodoro is actually credited as "Teodoro the soldier." "Esperia" gets her name said repeatedly. Further, many of these people seem only to have been in the one movie, so IMDB has no pictures of pretty much anybody for me to examine to try to figure out who any of the other people are. However, I do not think their names are the important part. The enforcer. The pickpocket. The soldier.

I would not have seen this movie if I were not doing this project. This is part of my answer as to why I'm doing it in the first place. It's true that I haven't gotten to, say, [i]The Godfather[/i] yet because I'm only about to reach "D." However, if I started skipping ahead to every movie that someone told me I had to see now, I know I would never get back to doing this my way, and I would miss movies like this.