101 years of Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini was born on March 5, 1922 in Bologna, Italy, in the family of infantry officer Carlo Alberto Pasolini and his wife Susanna Maria Colussi, a teacher. Carlo Alberto inherited from his father a pernicious passion for playing cards. Gambling caused the difficult financial situation of the Pasolini family, because of which she often had to move from place to place, hiding from debt. In 1927, the Pasolini family ended up in the city of Conegliano, where Pier Paolo, who was not yet 6 years old, was sent to school.

By the age of seven, Pier Paolo showed the ability to draw and write poetry. Despite the frequent change of schools due to the constant moving of the family, Pier Paolo graduated from high school with very high marks and at the age of 17 he entered the faculty of literature at the University of Bologna. While living in Bologna, Pier Paolo became a regular at the Bologna Film Club, where he became interested in the work of René Clair.

On September 1, 1943, Pier Paolo Pasolini was called up for military service, but just a week later he managed to desert. Hiding from raids, Pasolini and his mother changed several places of residence, until, finally, in October 1944, they settled in the village of Versuta, not far from Susanna's homeland, the city of Casarsa della Delicia. (The father of the future director at that time was in British captivity, in which he fell while participating in hostilities in North Africa.) There, mother and son decided to open a school in their house for children who, due to regular bombing and shelling, could not attend the usual school. It was also there that Pier Paolo met his first love, the Slovenian violinist Pina Kaltz.

Despite wandering and working as a teacher, Pasolini continued his studies. This allowed him, after the end of the war, in 1945 to brilliantly defend his diploma and graduate from the university with the highest marks. Shortly after graduating from university, Pasolini became deputy editor of the magazine "Il Setaccio", which was the official magazine of the Bologna Federal Command of Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL), the last youth organization of the Italian National Fascist Party. By this time, Pasolini began to form a negative attitude towards the fascist ideology, to which his father, a staunch supporter of Mussolini, taught him. (Carlo Alberto Pasolini in the pre-war years served in the protection of Mussolini and once even saved the Duce from an assassination attempt.) In many ways, the formation of such an attitude towards fascism was facilitated by his acquaintance and friendship with Giovanna Bemporad, a young poetess who, due to her Jewish origin, in the years The fascist dictatorship had to endure many persecutions and losses. Pasolini's anti-fascist sentiments led him to break with the head of the magazine and cease cooperation with him.

In 1946, Pier Paolo Pasolini began his own literary career as a prose writer. In one of his first works, the autobiographical "Il romanzo di Narciso", he described his first homosexual experience. Along with prose works, Pasolini created many poetic and dramatic works during this period. In 1947, Pasolini joined the Italian Communist Party.

In 1949, Pasolini was accused, and not without reason, of indecent behavior and molestation of a minor. The court sentenced the young writer to three months' imprisonment and forbade him to teach. Pasolini was expelled from the Communist Party for "moral and political unworthiness". Deprived of the opportunity to earn money by teaching, Pier Paolo moved to Rome in 1950 to live with his mother, who at that time worked as a waitress. Being very constrained in funds, Pasolini took on any job, including a proofreader in a newspaper, a participant in extras at a film studio, etc. In parallel, Pasolini continued his literary work: he wrote poems, articles, plays. Some of his works have been awarded literary prizes.

Thanks to quite numerous publications in magazines and newspapers and achievements in literary competitions, Pier Paolo Pasolini became known in intellectual circles of Italy, including among cinematographers. As a result, in 1954, the famous Italian director Mario Soldati invited Pasolini to take part in the creation of a script based on a story by Alberto Moravia and Ennio Flaiano. Besides Pasolini, 5 other people worked on this script, including Soldati himself. As a result, the film "La donna del fiume (The River Girl)" was shot with Sophia Loren in the title role. After that, Pasolini was invited to create scripts by other directors, in particular, Mauro Bolognini and Federico Fellini. Thus, Pier Paolo Pasolini took part in the creation of the scripts of Fellini's film masterpieces "Le notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria)" and "La Dolce Vita". Finally, in 1961, the 39-year-old Pasolini considered himself ripe for creating his own full-length feature film, "Accattone".

During his short life, and Pasolini died, or rather, was brutally murdered in 1975, he independently shot 12 full-length feature films, as well as short stories for four movie almanacs. 3 films by Pier Paolo Pasolini entered the Golden Thousand, including "Accattone", "Mamma Roma", "Il vangelo secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to St. Matthew)". Thanks to this indicator, he was included in the list of the 100 greatest directors of world cinema compiled by FilmGourmand. The directorial activity of Pier Paolo Pasolini has been awarded with 23 film awards, including such prestigious awards as the Golden and Silver Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival, the Grand Prix of the Cannes International Film Festival, the Main Prize of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Special Jury Prize of the Venice International Film Festival.

In honor of the 101th birthday of the great Master, I want to remind fans of his work of the frames from his best films included in the Golden Thousand.