The Spider's Stratagem (1970)

Athos Magnani, a young researcher, returns to Tara, where his father was killed before his birth, at the request of Draifa. The father, also named Athos Magnani and looking exactly like the... See full summary »

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers:

Jorge Luis Borges (story "Tema del traidor y del héroe") (as J.L. Borges), Bernardo Bertolucci

Stars:

Giulio Brogi, Alida Valli, Pippo Campanini

Cast

Credited cast:
Giulio Brogi	...	Athos Magnani, father and son
Alida Valli	...	Draifa
Pippo Campanini	...	Gaibazzi
Franco Giovanelli	...	Rasori
Tino Scotti	...	Costa
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Allen Midgette	...	Sailor

Storyline

Athos Magnani, a young researcher, returns to Tara, where his father was killed before his birth, at the request of Draifa. The father, also named Athos Magnani and looking exactly like the son, was killed by a fascist in 1936 -- or so says Draifa (his mistress), the town statue, and everyone in town. As the son untangles the web of lies this story is constructed from, he finds himself ensnared in the same web.

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Plot Keywords:

mistress | partisan | picture | painting | italian partisan | 

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Taglines:

From Bernardo Bertolucci, the creator of "Before the Revolution," "The Conformist" and "Last Tango in Paris"

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

27 March 1973 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Spider's Stratagem

Filming Locations:

Sabbioneta, Mantua, Lombardia, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, Red Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

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Quotes

Athos Magnani, father and son: It's a town of madmen, old men and old madmen. Yesterday, they locked me in a stable with a horse. "We're all friends here." This morning when I was hardly awake, a punch in the face. "We're all friends here."
Draifa: I've not been able to sleep since he died. Insomnia, without dreams, without anything. Entire nights alert like a hunting dog. I've always known the murderer is a local man; now two of us know it. He's scared. He wants you to go.
Athos Magnani, father and son: Instead of leaving this morning, I'm still here. Among ...

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Connections

Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)

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Soundtracks

Rigoletto
Written by Giuseppe Verdi

User Reviews

Continuity That Sleeps

Bertoluci's film is often abundantly gorgeous to look at but while that may be the case, it doesn't keep us interested enough in the protagonist's development or the plight of the film. His early films were often too 'artistic' to be taken seriously and his pretentiousness is quite evident here; he borrowed soundly from Godard and it shows with the excess wearisomeness. The plot concerns a young man named Athos Magnani who visits a small village in Italy where his father was reputedly an "anti-fascist freedom fighter" in 1936, but from the flash backs, he was a pompous jerk who really didn't do much anti-fascist work. In one scene of a dance in the village, Athos' father is smoking his cigarette in defiance of the fascist thugs who are giving him vicious looks. It all seems so silly and mundane, like a challenge that never surfaces. His father was 'supposedly' murdered by the fascists and in the present is considered a hero, with the whole bit of martyrdom being evident in the erected statue that bears a striking resemblance to Athos. So steps his son, in search of what his father was. The town does not want to return to the past, they have heroes today for a reason and they hesitate to unravel anything about that long ago era. Bertolucci manages to bore us while piecing useless confabulations from the people who knew his father including the mistress and three close chums, who are played by the old actors in the flashbacks, and thus Bertolucci plays with the contextual memory of the plot. Athos is a character who seems pained and thus reducing our sympathy of him to distaste and animosity. I wanted to grab him and slap him a few times, he was such a chump! Is Athos his father or did his father ever exist? What we have in the end is an erection of exorbitant delineations that don't really matter at all to us. Bertolucci could have made a wonderful film that rivals some of the great directors of the time but somewhere along the line everything didn't get aggregated like it should have, what we have instead is an egotistical exercise in excess that is only ideal to a half drowsy art student.