- Born
- Height5′ 9¼″ (1.76 m)
- Marco Bellocchio is one of the most consistent and most adventurous of today's Italian directors-an achievement all the more remarkable given that he made his feature debut almost fifty years ago. Over those years, he has amassed a body of films that encompasses a large number of original screenplays, adaptations of the likes of Pirandello and Kleist and personal, quasi-autobiographical work. What unifies these films is the beauty and originality of Bellocchio's images and his unceasing quest to understand the place of the individual in contemporary Italy and contemporary cinema. After making a few shorts, Bellocchio announced himself with his ferocious first feature, the acclaimed Fists in the Pocket (1965). This caustic and anarchic look at an extremely troubled family launched him instantly to the first ranks of the Italian film scene, alongside Antonioni, Pasolini and Bertolucci. For the next several years, films such as China Is Near (1967) and In the Name of the Father (1971) found Bellocchio examining the turbulent world of leftist politics and revolutionary dreams with an eye both sympathetic and jaundiced. During the 1980s and 1990s, under the spell of unorthodox-and, to some, controversial-psychoanalyst Massimo Fagioli, Bellocchio's emphasis turned to examining the interweaving of family dynamics and sexual desire as they produce and undermine personal identities. Films such as A Leap in the Dark (1980) and Devil in the Flesh (1986) create complex allegories of an audacious originality. More recently, Bellocchio has turned to more straightforward narratives in a number of films that examine Italy's recent past and its present, from The Nanny (1999) to one of his most recent works, Dormant Beauty (2012). Shifting brilliantly from realist fiction to archival footage to the imagery of dream or fantasy, all within a single film, this recent period has returned Bellocchio to the forefront of contemporary cinema, while combining the lessons learned from both the previous political and allegorical work. What has remained constant is Bellocchio's searching critique of the institutions that control individuals and organize the flow of power: the army, political parties, schools, the state and its laws, the Church, and the family.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Harvard Film Archive
- SpouseGisella Burinato (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- RelativesLetizia Bellocchio(Sibling)Maria Luisa Bellocchio(Sibling)Alberto Bellocchio(Sibling)Piergiorgio Bellocchio(Sibling)
- Unexpected surreal elements in otherwise realistic contexts.
- Often works with Maya Sansa.
- Often works with Roberto Herlitzka.
- Often worked with psychoanalyst Massimo Fagioli in the 1980s and 1990s.
- Often works with composer Carlo Crivelli.
- Member of the Maoist group Unione dei Comunisti Italiani Marxisti-Leninisti (known as "Servire il Popolo") until 1969. The group also produced a few documentary movies of his.
- His first film, Fists in the Pocket (1965), was funded by family members and shot on family property.
- His feature debut, Fists in the Pocket (1965), was called "one of the most astonishing directorial debuts in the history of movies" by Pauline Kael.
- Tribute at the Thessaloniki Film Festival
- Retrospective at the Locarno International Film Festival.
- The great advantage of first films is that you're nobody and have no history, you've the freedom to risk everything.
- [on how he defines atheism] As a rejection of the metaphysical dimension. I deal only with the present and with man. For me, what counts above all are relationships with people, feelings.
- I always say that my cinema is not either avant-garde or New Wave as it happened during the '60s or the '70s, where many intended to imitate, for instance, Godard. I followed my pathway. And my path involved a story that directly communicated. I've always been faithful to my style, and I always try to tell things in a form that involves the audience.
- [on Fists in the Pocket (1965)] I had a sort of progressive pathway that I had to cover in order to free myself from that movie. I often say that ironically, maybe after my death, maybe people will remember me - just for that single movie.
- When I was 18 or 19, I was a painter, and I was not sure about what would I be in the future. That is the approach I adopted when making movies, in the sense that images are fundamental. I privileged images and liked working on images like painters did. I often criticized the Italian cinema tradition for using too many words.
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