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Carmelo Bene‌

Gender

Male

Birthday

calendar1937-09-03

Popularity

star1.6

Carmelo Bene

Campi Salentina, Lecce, Italia

Carmelo Bene

Campi Salentina, Lecce, Italia

Gender

Male

Birthday

calendar1937-09-03

Popularity

star1.6

Biography

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

Movie Credits

Bis

Bis‌
star0.0
calendar 1966

Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex‌
star6.8
calendar 1967

Riccardo III

Riccardo III‌
star0.0
calendar 1981

Our Lady of the Turks

Our Lady of the Turks‌
star6.4
calendar 1968

Carmelo Bene, il canto d'amore di Alfred J. Prufrock

Carmelo Bene, il canto d'amore di Alfred J. Prufrock‌
star0.0
calendar 1967

La poesia dimenticata

La poesia dimenticata‌
star0.0
calendar 1982

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni‌
star5.1
calendar 1970

Necropolis

Necropolis‌
star4.7
calendar 1970

Catch As Catch Can

Catch As Catch Can‌
star5.8
calendar 1967

Red Hot Shot

Red Hot Shot‌
star4.0
calendar 1970

L'Adelchi di Alessandro Manzoni in forma di concerto

L'Adelchi di Alessandro Manzoni in forma di concerto‌
star0.0
calendar 1985

Otello o la deficienza della donna

Otello o la deficienza della donna‌
star1.0
calendar 2002

Capricci

Capricci‌
star5.8
calendar 1969

Tre nel mille

Tre nel mille‌
star6.0
calendar 1971

Modi di vivere - Giorgio Colli. Una conoscenza per cambiare la vita

Modi di vivere - Giorgio Colli. Una conoscenza per cambiare la vita‌
star0.0
calendar 1980

Hermitage

Hermitage‌
star7.2
calendar 1968

Salome

Salome‌
star7.0
calendar 1972

The Last Days of Humanity

The Last Days of Humanity‌
star7.4
calendar 2023

BENE! Vita di Carmelo, la macchina attoriale

BENE! Vita di Carmelo, la macchina attoriale‌
star7.5
calendar 2022

One Hamlet Less

One Hamlet Less‌
star7.3
calendar 1973

Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza

Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza‌
star7.7
calendar 1999

Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)

Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)‌
star6.5
calendar 1978

Manfred, versione per concerto in forma di oratorio

Manfred, versione per concerto in forma di oratorio‌
star0.0
calendar 1983

Macbeth Horror Suite

Macbeth Horror Suite‌
star0.0
calendar 1997

Bene! Quattro diversi modi di morire in versi: Majakovskij-Blok-Esènin-Pasternak

Bene! Quattro diversi modi di morire in versi: Majakovskij-Blok-Esènin-Pasternak‌
star0.0
calendar 1977

Hommelette for Hamlet, operetta inqualificabile (da J. Laforgue)

Hommelette for Hamlet, operetta inqualificabile (da J. Laforgue)‌
star4.0
calendar 1990

In-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)

In-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)‌
star0.0
calendar 1997

Umano non umano

Umano non umano‌
star6.5
calendar 1969

Ventriloquio

Ventriloquio‌
star0.0
calendar 1973

Cos'è il teatro?!

Cos'è il teatro?!‌
star0.0
calendar 1990

Ai Rotoli

Ai Rotoli‌
star0.0
calendar 1996

Lorenzaccio, al di là di de Musset e Benedetto Varchi

Lorenzaccio, al di là di de Musset e Benedetto Varchi‌
star0.0
calendar 2003

Voce dei Canti

Voce dei Canti‌
star0.0
calendar 1998

Carmelo nei Canti Orfici

Carmelo nei Canti Orfici‌
star0.0
calendar 1996

Un'ora prima di Amleto, più Pinocchio

Un'ora prima di Amleto, più Pinocchio‌
star0.0
calendar 1965

Tv Credits