Porcile (1969)

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writer:

Pier Paolo Pasolini (writer)

Release Date:

1969 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

I killed my father, I ate human flesh, and I quiver with joy.

Plot:

Two dramatic stories. In an undeterminated past, a young cannibal (who killed his own father) is condemned to be torn to pieces by some wild beasts...

Plot Keywords:

Pig | Cannibalism | Decapitation | Male Full Frontal Nudity | Female Frontal Nudity

Cast

Pierre Clémenti	...	Young cannibal (as Pierre Clementi)
Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	Julian Klotz (as Jean Pierre Leaud)
Alberto Lionello	...	Mr. Klotz
Ugo Tognazzi	...	Herdhitze
Anne Wiazemsky	...	Ida
Margarita Lozano	...	Madame Klotz (as Margherita Lozano)
Marco Ferreri	...	Hans Günther
Franco Citti	...	Cannibal
Ninetto Davoli	...	Maracchione

Also Known As:

Pigpen (USA)
Pigsty (UK)
Porcherie (France)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-15 (cinema release) (1970) | Finland:K-16 (VHS rating) (1993) | Spain:18 | UK:15 (DVD rating) | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16 | UK:X

Filming Locations:

Aci Castello, Catania, Sicily, Italy

Company:

I Film Dell'Orso

Trivia:

Third part of Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Mythical Cycle" also including Edipo re (1967), Teorema (1968) and Medea (1969).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In one of the shots related to the medieval cannibal plot, we see a dust cloud rising in the distance behind the characters. It is a car driving across the mountain landscape.

Quotes:

Young cannibal: I killed my father, I ate human flesh, and I quiver with joy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kurutta Butokai (1989)

Definitely NOT the Pasolini to begin with...

It's arguably his least accessible work.And probably his more boring too.Like in "Oedipe" ,or in "teorema" ,there is a mix of contemporary scenes and a tale of long ago ,which could happen anywhere ,in the Middle Ages or the antiquity -which Pasolini broached with his Gospel,Medea and Oedipe-.

"Porcile" bears the appropriate scars of the time .All the scenes between Jean-Pierre Léaud (fortunately,he is dubbed ,so the French -speaking do not have to hear his affected voice)and Anne Wiazemsky are terribly stodgy.The two "intellectual" "actors" epitomize ,as far as I'm concerned,the nadir of French acting.These interminable dialogs recall the dreadful rhetoric of GOdard's "La Chinoise" .

Things go better when Pasolini directs the fathers: one of them,a former Nazi has A skeleton in the closet and the other one's son is a zoophilist (check the title).As for the Pierre Clementi sequences -in an undefined past,which deal with cannibalism (I killed my father/I eat human flesh),the connection with the main plot escapes me,I fear.

A young person who wants to discover Pasolini should not begin with "Porcile" (or ,worse "Salo" )."Mamma Roma" "Il vangelo secondo Matteo" or "Medea" are wiser choices.