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Pasolini visual poetry
Topic Started: Apr 17 2014, 10:38 AM (1,787 Views)
Mischa
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I rewatched Il vangelo secondo Matteo yesterday and the elegance of the visual storytelling and body language of the actors in the opening scene really resonated with me.

First a close-up of Mary wearing a veil with her head slightly bowed, looking up, and in my opinion she has the beauty of a Raphael Madonna or something.

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Cut to Joseph with furrowed brow, and cut back to Mary, looking down and bowing her head even further.

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Joseph's facial expression betrays shock as he looks her up and down before deepening his frown.

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Mischa
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Btw I have to break this post up into smaller posts because apparently we're only allowed to post a maximum of ten images in each post.

Now we have a full-body shot of Mary who appears pregnant, and cut to a full-body shot of Joseph who turns away from her, each framed centrally.

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Edited by Mischa, Apr 17 2014, 11:25 AM.
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Mischa
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Mary's sadness is expressed to me via her facial expression, posture and Pasolini's framing, cutting from Mary's face in the foreground in front of (presumably) her family...

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... Joseph's distant body abandoning her...

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... and an extreme close-up of Mary as she looks down in defeat.

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Joseph stops and surveys the scene in a panning shot, settling on some children playing together.

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Mischa
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It seems to me the children remind him of Mary's unexpected pregnancy, and so he falls down in sadness, forlorn, intercut a couple times with the playing children.

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Mischa
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Next, the Angel of the Lord reveals the truth to Joseph (the first dialogue in the film), causing him to smile in happiness and wonder. At first she is framed at a distance in opposition to Joseph's close-up, which feels to me as though her appearance is unexpected and perhaps a little frightening, before she comforts him with her words.

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Edited by Mischa, Apr 17 2014, 11:07 AM.
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Mischa
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Joseph returns along the road, confirming that Mary is a virgin (the last dialogue in the opening scene).

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Edited by Mischa, Apr 17 2014, 11:04 AM.
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Mischa
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In the final sequence of the opening scene, Pasolini cuts from Mary's full-body to her face in close-up, still looking sad. Joseph is shown in full-body as he returns, this shot mirroring his leave. To me this sequence seems to work in how Mary and Joseph are introduced full-body in this final sequence, but Mary's close-up is introduced before Joseph, perhaps expressing her vulnerability and expectancy in the face of Joseph's psychological distance here.

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Then a cut back to Mary's face in close-up as she smiles, and Joseph is then shown in close-up smiling also, before a final shot of Mary smiling, as though the two have spiritually and emotionally embraced.

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There are no extravagant or dramatic flourishes in the body language of the actors in this scene which I feel elicits within me a kind of calm and tender sensibility.

I'm interested to read any personal experiences of Il vangelo secondo Matteo as it is likely my favourite Pasolini and probably one of my favourite films in general. I'm also interested in exploring how Pasolini has handled the religious thematic material in this film.

Edited by Mischa, Apr 17 2014, 11:35 AM.
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AaronG
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g legs' bosom buddy
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Thanks for this. It's also one of my very favorite films.
I've got the lady pants.
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Mischa
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Thanks Aaron. I'd be interested to read any opinions on this film's treatment of Matthew's gospel if anyone is familiar with it as I haven't read it in some time and I need to get around to reading the New Testament again at some point.

Oh, and of course in the opening frame of this scene there is the religious iconography of the halo behind Mary's head... at least the top half anyway.
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Mischa
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Also, note that in the opening frame Mary is looking slightly up at Joseph with her head slightly bowed, as if expectantly, nervous as to what Joseph's response will be to her pregnancy, whereas in the final frame she is looking more level at Joseph, as if more relaxed and happy at his "embrace."

Edited by Mischa, Apr 17 2014, 11:39 AM.
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pabs
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A breathtaking sequence of images there, Mischa, reminding me why I love
this film so much. It has such a magnificent and noble simplicity. It awes me.

Pasolini's gentle, measured, deeply respectful visual treatment of Matthew's book elicits a moving spiritual reaction from its viewers.
For me, at least, watching this film is as close as I can get to a state of deep meditation.
You brought it back to me with these excerpts.

Thank you, too, for your (as usual) well-chosen, trance-inducing captures.

And a very Happy Easter to you.
Edited by pabs, Apr 17 2014, 04:27 PM.
Letterbxd
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charulata
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That was a lovely evocative read. So thank you for that. I haven't seen that film in a while but got the blu-ray along with some other stuff over xmas and am now doubly anticipating the rewatch.
letterboxd
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Edges and Ridges
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Really thrilled to see these captures... Thanks for the nice initiative!
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rischka
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beautiful, mischa! i was just wondering yesterday when you'd be joining us again xD

this film has some of the most amazing faces. yes, even unibrow jesus!
Edited by rischka, Apr 17 2014, 09:59 PM.
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pabs
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rischka
Apr 17 2014, 09:57 PM
unibrow jesus!
It's there deliberately to symbolize the One-ness of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Letterbxd
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Mischa
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Thanks all and a happy Easter. Heh, yeah, I can dig the unibrow! I do really like Enrique Irazoqui's performance though, he has the right sort of persona for this role I feel, a sort of searing passion seething beneath a calm and warm exterior. Though it's not his own voice of course, being Spanish, but that of Enrico Maria Salerno.
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AaronG
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The angels face is just extraordinary. The messenger of God as so deeply, humanly beautiful. The sequence leading up to the adoration of the Magi with the soundtrack from the spiritual is one of my favorite sequences in film.
Edited by AaronG, Apr 18 2014, 05:05 PM.
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1965 Pier Paolo Pasolini Interview

An old interview with Pasolini, by James Blue, with some very interesting insights into his methods with regards to casting and working with (non-)actors (particularly when filming The Gospel According to St. Matthew).
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wba
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Looking at this thread again...

I'm not a fan of Pasolini's Jesus film, but I think its opening 15 to 20 minutes are the best thing he ever directed.

Sorry for my short reply Mischa, as your screenshot arrangement and your argument is really excellent, and I agree with most of what you say and how it made you feel (similar here). But I guess I don't have much to add as it's been so long since I saw it, and the whole opening "prologue" works for me in the way that it puts me in complete awe of the people that are shown and the way that they are shown.
(but as I said I don't care much for Jesus and all of the later stuff in the film, though)
Edited by wba, Aug 6 2014, 09:20 AM.
To please the majority is the requirement of the Planet Cinema. As far as I'm concerned, I don't make a concession to viewers, these victims of life, who think that a film is made only for their enjoyment, and who know nothing about their own existence.

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Mischa
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That's a fascinating interview, thank for linking it Vikram. I love to read about directors' methods in shooting. And the part about "actors as auteurs" would surely interest a few of us here!

WBA, I agree with you on the opening minutes as I immediately felt something special was happening, in a filmic sense. Maybe there are some other parts in the film which felt overly long and repetitive to me at times but I wouldn't dare make a definitive statement on this personal feeling just now as I haven't really taken a closer look at most of it yet and I only have a vague remembrance of Matthew's Gospel itself as I haven't read it in its entirety since high school I think. But it's perhaps worth noting here that I'm not a Christian myself only I come to this film with a deep interest in its history and culture in all respects and I like to read about the Abrahamic religions for this reason, perhaps also because I am friends with Christians and Muslims in real life as well. But anyway after I re-read Matthew's Gospel I would like to re-watch this film and come back to this thread.
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wba
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I have to admit I'm not Christian myself and have never read the bible outside of elementary school, so therefore I have never looked at "religious" films from a perspective of adaptation or faithfulness/disregard of certain values, but simply as films with characters in them and such (basically the same I would watch any other film).

I felt when Jesus appears in Pasolini's film the whole thing gets bogged down by speeches and agitation and such, making it a pointedly marxist/revolutionary work for me, which just didn't work or register well while I was watching it, while the opening is extreme visual/aural poetry (also very little talk) that spoke to me directly and told me so much more than the rest. I love Pasolini's cinema work, btw (my favorites being Mamma Roma and Teorema), but to me his Jesus film really transforms and becomes something else as it goes along (which isn't a bad thing per se), but left me unimpressed after the first 20 minutes. Maybe it's comparable to the fact that I think his "Decameron" (1971) is a masterpiece but believe his subsequent "Canterbury Tales" (1972) is one of his weakest workss. If you don't analyse it too deeply, both films could appear to be made in a similar spirit with similar issues in mind, but when you take a closer look, that's not the case (and his "Arabian Nights" is again something else).
Edited by wba, Aug 6 2014, 09:34 AM.
To please the majority is the requirement of the Planet Cinema. As far as I'm concerned, I don't make a concession to viewers, these victims of life, who think that a film is made only for their enjoyment, and who know nothing about their own existence.

letterboxd * tumblr * website

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pabs
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g legs' wife's lover
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Must have been from a different gospel, but, watching Pasolini's version, I fully expected to encounter a scene featuring those false prophets who hang around a particular gate in Jerusalem; those liars of whom Jesus warns his disciples. I admit it was the Monty Python gang that led me to expect them, but alack and alas! they never showed up in Pasolini's version...

Edited by pabs, Aug 6 2014, 11:22 AM.
Letterbxd
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