Porcile (1969)

Two dramatic stories. In an undetermined past, a young cannibal (who killed his own father) is condemned to be torn to pieces by some wild beasts. In the second story, Julian, the young son... See full summary »

Director:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Writer:

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Stars:

Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Alberto Lionello

Cast

Cast overview:
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

Storyline

Two dramatic stories. In an undetermined past, a young cannibal (who killed his own father) is condemned to be torn to pieces by some wild beasts. In the second story, Julian, the young son of a post-war German industrialist, is on the way to lie down with his farm's pigs, because he doesn't like human relationships.

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Plot Keywords:

cannibal | industrialist | pig | son murders father | controversy | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

distributor's official site for individuals Distributor's official site for professionals

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

10 September 1969 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Pigpen

Filming Locations:

Aci Castello, Catania, Sicily, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

I Film Dell'Orso,Internazionale Nembo Distribuzione Importazione Esportazione Film (INDIEF),IDI Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Follows Oedipus Rex (1967)

User Reviews

The pollution of ideas almost ruined this. Good film but hardly accessible.

"Porcile" is fine if you have the patience and the will to endure its lost and bizarre images or its strange deviate messages. Reactions about it will be mixed, rarely reaching some certainty, but the one that's definitely is that this is one of weakest films ever directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It's too pretentious, looks like his own version of Godard's "Week End" but less brutal, less gross yet more confusing in its speech. Both films deal with world going to its ending, total destruction all around and all hope lost, and Socialism seems to be the good alternative for our better sake. The directors of both films mixed their political speech in the middle of the controversial and shocking images.

Two stories form the whole: 1) one young man (Pierre Clementi) who has killed his parents and ate their flesh walks around from village to village after being sentenced to perish in the vast desert. The only thing he'll be able to do is to kill whoever show up on his way and then eat them too. That's the story of the young cannibal, marvelously presented without words (he only has one spoken line repeated towards the ending). Beautiful cinematography, scary and thrilling sequences in it. 2) this story, very talky and quite messy brings Jean-Pierre Léaud (who was also in "Week End") as the son of an German industrialist who can't connect with people, preferring the company of the pigs ("Porcile" translates to "Pigsty"). He tries some involvement with a girl (Anne Wiazemsky) but with no luck. And there's his father (Alberto Lionello) business deals with a former Nazi of name Herdhitze (Ugo Tognazzi) also businessman but a rival of his, who hasn't aged through the war years after successful plastic surgeries. Foggy speeches about life, politics, mankind are dissolved into this other story and it's very hard to form a whole idea.

They're apart in time but what they have in common? World going to an end, the destruction and corruption of societies, with everything out of control. Those are recurring themes in Pasolini works ("Teorema", "Salò" just to quote a few) but in here there isn't much going on to make them feel useful for all of us. This is a case that might look better in a book/screenplay/written work than filmed. The experience is distractive, confusing, rarely captivating even with the two known main stars, who had their voices strangely dubbed in Italian (I have my doubts about Pierre, I believe he really learned his lines in the other language). I like the film even though I can't connect with much of what's shown in it. The cannibal story is interesting; the one about the industrialist's son isn't all that much. The final result is chaos. Chaos in this problematic world that doesn't seem to get better. Well, at least in those predictions the master wasn't all that wrong.

Enjoyable but unsustainable for more than one view. 6/10