Carmelo Bene
The filmmaking career of Carmelo Bene (1937 - 2002) lasted from 1968 to 1973, six years out of a lengthy time spent in the theater that made Bene one of the most celebrated figures of the Italian avant-garde in the second half of the 20th century. Bene first made a name for himself with a controversial production of Camus’ Caligula in Rome in 1959. Subsequent productions retained this sense of notoriety, and Bene (like Pasolini) quickly acquired a police record. Bene, however, would come to bemoan the controversy his work created, because it attracted an audience looking for shocks and titillation, while he himself was more concerned with reinventing the vocabulary of the theater: sets, gestures, texts. Bene’s turn to cinema expanded that quest to reinvent. His films resist synopsis because, although they are often derived from narrative sources, Bene uses these sources against themselves and as a springboard for his critique of the stultifying traps of representation and interpretation. The films are wildly inventive and visually arresting on several levels: the performance styles of his actors, including eccentric movements, gestures and grimaces; the sets, costumes and makeup; the editing; and the use of the camera, with stable shots regularly punctuated by handheld camera work, extreme close ups and the occasional baroque use of zooms, dollies, cranes, elaborate pans and exaggerated camera angles. They resemble something like the work of Jack Smith crossed with the experimental Pasolini of Teorema and Pigsty. One constant feature of Bene’s work is its satire of heterosexuality. The two sexes keep trying to communicate with each other, but always fail to do so. Bene’s work constantly deflates masculinist pretenses at mastery: his male characters tend to be hapless and often hysterical, while his female characters are alternately predatory and remote, and unknowable in either case. But this satire is merely the most visible form of Bene’s revolt against convention and communication. Over and over again in the films, everyday actions become hopelessly complicated or endlessly interrupted. His characters often end up staring quizzically offscreen or even into mirrors, as if they were no more sure than we are of the meaning of what they see. Indeed, identity and by extension agency seem to get suspended, along with meaning. What is left is glorious spectacle and enigmas for the eyes and ears: endless music; babbling, stuttering text; excessive and exciting images. – David Pendleton
Bis
Oedipus Rex
(Creonte)
Riccardo III
(Riccardo III)
Our Lady of the Turks
(The Protagonist)
Carmelo Bene, il canto d'amore di Alfred J. Prufrock
La poesia dimenticata
Don Giovanni
(Don Giovanni)
Necropolis
Catch As Catch Can
(Prete)
Red Hot Shot
(Billy Desco)
L'Adelchi di Alessandro Manzoni in forma di concerto
Otello o la deficienza della donna
Capricci
(Poet)
Tre nel mille
(Pannocchia)
Modi di vivere - Giorgio Colli. Una conoscenza per cambiare la vita
Hermitage
(The Man)
Salomé
(Erode Antipa / Onorio)
The Last Days of Humanity
(Self (archive footage))
BENE! Vita di Carmelo, la macchina attoriale
One Hamlet Less
(Hamlet)
Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
(Pinocchio / Geppetto / Mastro Ciliegia / Grillo Parlante / Mangiafuoco / Volpe / Lucignolo)
Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)
(Amleto)
Manfred, versione per concerto in forma di oratorio
Macbeth Horror Suite
In-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)
Hommelette for Hamlet, operetta inqualificabile (da J. Laforgue)
(Amleto)
Bene! Quattro diversi modi di morire in versi: Majakovskij-Blok-Esènin-Pasternak
Umano non umano
(Self)
Ventriloquio
(Jean des Esseintes)
Cos'è il teatro?!
(Himself)
Ai Rotoli
(Self)
Lorenzaccio, al di là di de Musset e Benedetto Varchi
Voce dei Canti
Carmelo nei Canti Orfici
(Himself)
Un'ora prima di Amleto, più Pinocchio
(Himself)
Claro
Riccardo III
(Adaptation)
Riccardo III
(Director)
Our Lady of the Turks
(Director)
Don Giovanni
(Director)
Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)
(Screenplay)
Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)
(Director)
Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
(Director)
One Hamlet Less
(Director)
Salomé
(Director)
Capricci
(Director)
Hermitage
(Director)
L'Adelchi di Alessandro Manzoni in forma di concerto
(Director)
Salomé
(Producer)
Salomé
(Writer)
La poesia dimenticata
(Director)
Otello o la deficienza della donna
(Director)
One Hamlet Less
(Writer)
Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
(Costume Design)
Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
(Art Direction)
Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
(Makeup Designer)
Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
(Producer)
Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
(Writer)
Our Lady of the Turks
(Production Design)
Our Lady of the Turks
(Costume Design)
Our Lady of the Turks
(Writer)
Our Lady of the Turks
(Producer)
Our Lady of the Turks
(Novel)
Hermitage
(Novel)
Hermitage
(Writer)
Don Giovanni
(Writer)
Capricci
(Writer)
Don Giovanni
(Producer)
Capricci
(Producer)
Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)
(Art Direction)
Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)
(Costume Design)
Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)
(Producer)
Manfred, versione per concerto in forma di oratorio
(Director)
Manfred, versione per concerto in forma di oratorio
(Writer)
Macbeth Horror Suite
(Director)
Macbeth Horror Suite
(Writer)
One Hamlet Less
(Art Direction)
One Hamlet Less
(Music Coordinator)
One Hamlet Less
(Costume Design)
Bene! Quattro diversi modi di morire in versi: Majakovskij-Blok-Esènin-Pasternak
(Director)
Bene! Quattro diversi modi di morire in versi: Majakovskij-Blok-Esènin-Pasternak
(Adaptation)
Hommelette for Hamlet, operetta inqualificabile (da J. Laforgue)
(Producer)
In-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)
(Director)
In-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)
(Adaptation)
Hommelette for Hamlet, operetta inqualificabile (da J. Laforgue)
(Director)
Hommelette for Hamlet, operetta inqualificabile (da J. Laforgue)
(Writer)
In-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)
(Art Direction)
In-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)
(Costume Design)
Ventriloquio
(Director)
Ventriloquio
(Adaptation)
Cos'è il teatro?!
(Director)
Quattro momenti su tutto il nulla
(Director)
Lorenzaccio, al di là di de Musset e Benedetto Varchi
(Director)
Voce dei Canti
(Director)
Carmelo nei Canti Orfici
(Director)