Vincere (2009)

Director:

Marco Bellocchio

Writers:

Marco Bellocchio (story)
Marco Bellocchio (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 May 2009 (Italy)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

The story of Mussolini's secret lover, Ida Dalser, and their son Albino. |

Plot Keywords:

Mussolini | Archive Footage | Duel | Love Affair | WWI

Awards:

8 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Giovanna Mezzogiorno	...	Ida Dalser
Filippo Timi	...	Benito Mussolini / Benito Albino
Corrado Invernizzi	...	Dottor Cappelletti
Fausto Russo Alesi	...	Riccardo Paicher
Michela Cescon	...	Rachele Guidi
Pier Giorgio Bellocchio	...	Pietro Fedele
Paolo Pierobon	...	Giulio Bernardi
Bruno Cariello	...	Giudice
Francesca Picozza	...	Adelina
Simona Nobili	...	Madre Superiora
Giovanna Mori	...	Tedesca
Silvia Ferretti	...	Scarpette rosse
Corinne Castelli	...	Lacrime
Patrizia Bettini	...	Cantante
Fabrizio Costella	...	Benito Albino

Also Known As:

Vaincre (France)
Vincere (France)

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | German

Color:

Black and White (inserts only) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Italy:T | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

Savigliano, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy

Company:

Offside

Trivia:

It was one of the five Italian films pre-selected as the Best Foreign Film submission for the 82nd Academy Awards, along with Baarìa (2009), Fortapàsc (2009), Il grande sogno (2009) and Si può fare (2008).

Movie Connections:

Features The Kid (1921)

Initial energy dissipates into aimlessness

My brother was in attendance for this one, and we were pretty much in unison in opinion. The first act of Vincere ("Win!") is quite extraordinary. In fact we both had the spine chills for the credits which featured a display of enormous mounted ship cannons.

It's a film about the relationship between Benito Mussolini and Ida Dalser. The first act, where they are actually together, is extraordinary. Mussolini is a power hungry madman, incapable of a non-hyperbolic thought, he quotes Napoleon at will and ravishes Ida in the moonlight of their cavernous apartment. He's the ultimate political opportunist, and Ida falls in love with his pure thuggery, despite his obviously third-rate intellect. I then had a problem for the remainder of the film, because I was expected to sympathise with Ida, whom Mussolini pushes away, even though she is a brute-loving nincompoop.

Despite Giovanna Mezzogiorno's excellent acting as Ida Dalser, it's like Bellochio isn't sure where to take the story, as if life doesn't really fit into his narrative structure. I remembered reading Robert Graves' book Count Belisarius as a teen, which starts off as a stonking good read about the adventures of a general in the Byzantine Empire, but then becomes far to encumbered with an adherence to history, that almost makes the latter part of the experience like reading a textbook, a real chore.

As another reviewer has pointed out, the actor in the movie who plays Mussolini, Filippo Timi, is far more interesting and nuanced than the actual historical figure, and it's simply ridiculous when we see newsreel footage and have to see Mussolini the real man, followed by Timi in the next scene. I have to hand it to Italians that they certainly have a talent for electing verminous cretins to high office that has lasted to this very day. You see the newsreel footage and it's impossible not to titter.

The film in retrospect is simply a misadventure in my opinion.