Call#: Van Pelt Library DG467 .D84 1994
Call#: Van Pelt Library cat on bib 4043492

 

Duggan, Christopher. A Concise History of Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

 

The Republic, a chapter in A Concise History of Italy, serves to understand the time period in which Divorzio all’Italiana was filmed. In the 1960s, Italy was caught between an economic miracle and the rise of social protests. However, this miracle was not achieved without severe costs – the South was “left almost untouched,” and the gap between the two halves of the peninsula widened (264). Duggan states that part of the problem for why the South benefited so little from the attempts at industrialization was due to the “corrupt character of much of the Southern society” (269). Economic modernization is many times accompanied with social unrest. The Church helped the government by denouncing modern culture, and waging a propaganda war against the left. The Church’s influence in politics was soon to end. John XXIII’s death in 1963 “marked the start of a profound reappraisal of the Church’s character and role in society […] and the Vatican looked to distance itself from party politics”(266).  Finally, revolts in the late 1960s “were the judgment of a generation on the Republic and specifically on the failure of politicians to meet the needs and expectations of a society that had undergone such rapid changes in the preceding decade” (269). According to Duggan, these represented a critique of the whole of Italian society and its values.

 

Understanding Italy in the 1960s is crucial for understanding the backdrop of in which Pietro Germi’s Divorzio all’Italiana was filmed. Characteristics of the poor, agricultural and corrupt South are observed in the movie. The Cefalu family is a rich, traditional Sicilian family, and when the main character, Baron Fefè Cefalu, first introduces himself, he makes the distinction between his family’s social class and the proletariat quite obvious. Fefè also points out who is who in Agramonte: he alludes to the fact that his father was corrupt and squandered money, and he introduces Don Ciccilo Matara, the head of the mafia, as well as the priest and some members of the Gentleman’s club. Furthermore, the audience notices at once how the Sicilian society circles around the church. Throughout the movies, we listen to snippets of sermons in which not only are the leftist parties denounced, but Fellini's La Dolce Vita is criticized as well. Lastly, Germi was among the first directors to voice the desires and struggles of the public through film. By making a comedy centered on the fact that divorce is not yet allowed in Italy, Germi truly offered a critique of traditional Italian society in Divorzio all’Italiana.

Zorzi, Alvise. Venice: The Golden Age, 697-1797. Trans. Nicoletta Simborowski and Simon Mackenzie. New York: Abbeville Press, 1980.

Zorzi gives a vivid account of the rise of the Venetian Empire and its eleven-hundred year ‘Golden Age,’ using historical quotations, pictures, diagrams, etc.  He traces the history of Venice, from its beginnings as a refuge for Romans, escaping from the barbarians that destroyed their Empire, to its own imperial dominance and mastery of overseas trade.  Venice has an almost mythic quality to it, which it why Daphne du Maurier chose to set her short story, Don’t Look Now, in Venice.  Zorzi writes of Venice’s beginnings, “Tradition and legend […] surrounds the founding of Venice in a mythology which is almost reminiscent of the Biblical account of the origins of the world” (10).  The mysterious quality of the city makes it a perfect setting for Don’t Look Now, which toys with reality and makes us question our historical vision.  Zorzi explains that Venice was seen as an “overbearing entity, which aroused hatred suspicion, worry and fear” (7).  He describes Venice as an ominous figure, menacing those around it.  Roeg captures this negative character of Venice in the film, making the city complicit in the death of John Baxter.
Zorzi explains that the Venetians were “descendants of the Romans that had opted for the freedom of the seas and lagoons rather than bend to the will of barbarian monarchs” (68).  Venice is described as a safe-haven, a place for people to escape to (from the crumbling Roman Empire).  Don’t Look Now captures this aspect of Venice, because John and Laura are refugees in a way.  They are attempting to escape from their pain and sorrow over the death of their daughter by ‘escaping’ to Venice.
Understanding the history of Venice also illuminates certain moments of dialogue in the film.  For example, when John says, “The deeper I go, the more Byzantine it gets,” he is referring both to the difficulties that arise as his renovation of the church progresses and the fact that Venice was built by Byzantines (i.e. citizens of the Roman Empire).  The devotion of the police officers is also better understood, because, “An extremely strong sense of justice permeates Venetian civilization right from its beginnings” (137)...