Investigation of a citizen above suspicion [DVD video]

Elio Petri's acclaimed Oscar-winning thriller. Petri maintains a tricky balance between absurdity and realism in telling the Kafkaesque tale of a Roman police inspector investigating a heinous crime-which he committed himself. Both a penetrating character study and a disturbing commentary on the draconian crackdowns by the Italian government in the late 1960s and early '70s, Petri's kinetic portrait of surreal bureaucracy is a perversely pleasurable rendering of controlled chaos.

General Note:

Originally released as a motion picture in 1970.

Special features: DVD Disc 1: Elio Petri (exercept from 1970 episode of Frech television program Le journal du cinéma, director Elio Petri talks to film critic Alexandre Astruc); On Investigation (interview with film scholar Camilla Zamboni about the film); Trailers. DVD Disc 2: Elio Petri: notes about a filmmaker (2005, an eighty-minute documentary on the director's career, featuring interviews with friends, collaborators, and filmmakers, including filmmakers Robert Altman, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Gillo Pontecorvo; production designer Dante Ferretti; screenwriter Tonino Guerra; composer Ennio Morricone; and actor Vanessa Redgrave; directed by Federico Bacci, Nicola Guarnei, and Stefano Leone), Investigation of a citizen named Volonté (2008, a sixty-minute documentary about actor Gian Maria Volenté); Music in his blood (2010, an interview with composer Ennio Morricone by Fabio Ferzetti).

Accompanying booklet lists the feature film's cast and credits, an essay by Evan Calder Williams, and excerpts from a 2001 book by screenwriter Ugo Pirro.

Performers:

Gian Maria Volonté, Florinda Bolkan, Gianni Santuccio, Orazio Orlando, Sergio Tramonti, Arturo Dominici, Aldo Rendine, Massimo Foschi, Aleka Paizi, Vittorio Duse, Pino Patti, Salvo Randone.

Technical Details:

DVD, region 1; 1.85:1 aspect ratio, enhanced for 16:9 widescreen TVs; monaural.

Subject Term:

Criminal investigation -- Italy -- Drama.

Genre:

Italian language films.

Language:

Italian