Liliana Cavani (1933)
Biography
Liliana Cavani (Carpi (Modena), 1933) is an Italian director and screenwriter, most famous for her 1974 feature film The Night Porter. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liliana_Cavani [Oct 2005]Selected filmography
Francesco (1989) - Liliana Cavani
Francesco (1989) - Liliana Cavani [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Amazon.co.uk Review
Francesco is Liliana Cavani's second biopic of St. Francis, appearing two decades after Francesco d'Assisi (1966), evidence of the director's enduring fascination with the 13th-century Italian noble who gave up a life of privilege to serve God. Once over the surprise of Hollywood hard man Mickey Rourke as Francesco, the actor gives a creditable performance; cast aside memories of Franco Zeffirelli's ethereal Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1973) and remember that before his calling Francesco was a professional soldier, and afterwards led a life of poverty. This is the full European version--though Rourke and an excellent Helena Bonham Carter have their own voices, some of the supporting players are dubbed to distracting effect--running 128 minutes and proving much more coherent than the cut American print. It's obviously low budget, concentrating on character and story rather than production values and spectacle, though the stark beauty of the cinematography and atmospheric score by Vangelis call to mind Ridley Scott's later 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). For all its limitations Francesco successfully conveys a sense of place and time, of a different world with different values, giving the impression that medieval Italy might really have been something like this. --Gary S.Dalkin via Amazon.co.uk
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Helena Bonham Carter
See also: Italian cinema
The Night Porter (1974) - Liliana Cavani
The Night Porter (1974) - Liliana Cavani [FR] [DE] [UK]
The Night Porter (Il Portiere di notte) is a 1974 film starring Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling. The film was made by the Italian director Liliana Cavani.
Dirk Bogarde plays Maximilian Theo Aldorfer, a former Nazi SS officer, and Charlotte Rampling plays Lucia Atherton, a concentration camp survivor. The two accidentally meet after World War II in a Vienna hotel and fall back into their sadomasochistic relationship.
Liliana Cavani (the film's director) is a filmmaker whose work has provoked strong reaction from critics and public alike. For The Night Porter she was both celebrated for her courage in dealing with the disturbing theme of sexual transgression and, simultaneously, castigated for the startlingly controversial manner in which she presented that transgression – within the scandalising context of a Nazi Holocaust narrative. It is this film for which she is still best-known. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Porter [Oct 2005]
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