Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979)

A doctor in Fascist Italy is exiled to a remote village for his political views.

Director:

Francesco Rosi

Writers:

Francesco Rosi (story), Tonino Guerra (story)

Stars:

Gian Maria Volontè, Paolo Bonacelli, Alain Cuny

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gian Maria Volontè	...	Carlo Levi
Paolo Bonacelli	...	Don Luigi Magalone
Alain Cuny	...	Barone Nicola Rotunno
Lea Massari	...	Luisa Levi
Irene Papas	...	Giulia Venere
François Simon	...	Don Traiella
Luigi Infantino
Accursio Di Leo	...	Joiner
Francesco Callari
Enzo Vitale	...	Dottore Milillo (as Vincenzo Vitale)
Antonio Allocca	...	Don Cosimino
Vincenzo Licata	...	L'italo-americano
Muzzi Loffredo
Lidia Bavusi
Francesco Capotorto

Storyline

In the fascist Italy of 1935, a painter trained as a doctor is exiled to a remote region near Eboli. Over time, he learns to appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the peasants, and to overcome his isolation.

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Plot Keywords:

interwar period | kingdom of italy | fascist italy | campania | lucania italy | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

23 February 1979 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Christ Stopped at Eboli

Filming Locations:

Gravina di Puglia, Bari, Apulia, Italy

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,006, 7 April 2019

Gross USA:

$78,736

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$78,736

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rai 2, Vides Cinematografica, Action Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

150 min 224 min (TV) 213 min (video) 120 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title of the film and its source novel comes from an expression by the people of Gagliano who say of themselves, "Christ stopped short of here, at Eboli" which means, in effect, that they feel they have been bypassed by Christianity, by morality, by history itself-that they have somehow been excluded from the full human experience.

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Goofs

On the bus, the way Carlo holds the dog changes.

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Quotes

Luisa Levi: You'd need a woman here.
Carlo Levi: Yes, I would. But it's not easy.
Luisa Levi: Come on, don't exaggerate. Don't tell me that here even finding a cleaning lady is impossible.
Carlo Levi: Here a woman wouldn't go in the house of a single man. Just spending time together implies sleeping together.
Luisa Levi: You can't be serious.
Carlo Levi: Oh, yes I am.

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Alternate Versions

There are many versions ranging from 120 minutes to 224 minutes. The longest version available in the U.S. is 145 minutes and is available from Facets Video.

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Connections

Featured in The Filmmaker and the Labyrinth (2004)

User Reviews

Two (or more) Italies

The transposition of Levi's autobiographical novel can recreate with effectiveness the atmosphere of absolute immobilism out of the history on which the novel really insists. Basilicata's and Southern Italy's setting helps to find a place absolutely uncontaminated by the modernity and the recent history. We wear the dresses of main character that works as a modern sonde in an anti-modern world: in this dimension we see all the contradictions of fascist Italy (of Italy tout court), divided by languages and geographies, where fight the fascism's rhetoric paroxysm against a world deaf to every modern rhythm. The farmer's world is a world based on the slow and circular rhythm of the nature, still impregnated with the sense of the superstitious of the events and of a mythology more ingrained than every fascist super-action.

The sedate interpretation of Volonté contributes to the assumption of a point of view curious, sensible, that can find the deep reasons of the presence of two (or more) Italies and reveal so easy and silent abuses that the potestà and others can carry on on farmers' shoulder. But the main strength of the movie is in a luminous and montalian photography, in a sensual and no overload pittoricism that makes a chromatic and geometric spectacle every single frame.