It was back in March that the first images from Abel Ferrera’s Pasolini emerged, but it’s only now that the first people have got to see the film, with screenings at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, and a trailer that you can watch right here.
The film concentrates of the final days of director, writer and provocateur Pier Paolo Pasolini (Willem Dafoe), with the film trying to piece together who this complicated figure was in the lead up to his murder.
Pasolini grew up Mussolini’s Italy (his father actually saved the dictator’s life), before becoming a communist. However he was thrown out of the Party after being charged with committing lewd acts in a public place, which was the first of several legal battles, partly based on the Italian government’s initial antipathy to him.
Those lewd act charges also meant that he was out as gay whether he wanted to be or not.
Pasolini became a renowned but controversial director, helming films such as The Decameron, The Gospel According to Matthew and Salo Or The 120 Days Of Sodom. Although he had a rather complex relationship with his sexuality and his work, he was known for liking to cruise the streets of Italy looking for furtive sex.
Tragically in 1975 he was murdered. A 17-year-old rent boy was convicted of the crime, but in recent years there has been speculation he was killed as part of an extortion plot or due to anger at his communist leanings.
Take a look at the trailer below.
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