Carmelo Bene
The filmmaking career of Carmelo Bene (1937 - 2002) lasted from 1968 to 1973, six years out of a lengthy time spent in the theater that made Bene one of the most celebrated figures of the Italian avant-garde in the second half of the 20th century. Bene first made a name for himself with a controversial production of Camus’ Caligula in Rome in 1959. Subsequent productions retained this sense of notoriety, and Bene (like Pasolini) quickly acquired a police record. Bene, however, would come to bemoan the controversy his work created, because it attracted an audience looking for shocks and titillation, while he himself was more concerned with reinventing the vocabulary of the theater: sets, gestures, texts. Bene’s turn to cinema expanded that quest to reinvent. His films resist synopsis because, although they are often derived from narrative sources, Bene uses these sources against themselves and as a springboard for his critique of the stultifying traps of representation and interpretation. The films are wildly inventive and visually arresting on several levels: the performance styles of his actors, including eccentric movements, gestures and grimaces; the sets, costumes and makeup; the editing; and the use of the camera, with stable shots regularly punctuated by handheld camera work, extreme close ups and the occasional baroque use of zooms, dollies, cranes, elaborate pans and exaggerated camera angles. They resemble something like the work of Jack Smith crossed with the experimental Pasolini of Teorema and Pigsty. One constant feature of Bene’s work is its satire of heterosexuality. The two sexes keep trying to communicate with each other, but always fail to do so. Bene’s work constantly deflates masculinist pretenses at mastery: his male characters tend to be hapless and often hysterical, while his female characters are alternately predatory and remote, and unknowable in either case. But this satire is merely the most visible form of Bene’s revolt against convention and communication. Over and over again in the films, everyday actions become hopelessly complicated or endlessly interrupted. His characters often end up staring quizzically offscreen or even into mirrors, as if they were no more sure than we are of the meaning of what they see. Indeed, identity and by extension agency seem to get suspended, along with meaning. What is left is glorious spectacle and enigmas for the eyes and ears: endless music; babbling, stuttering text; excessive and exciting images. – David Pendleton
Known for
ActingBirthday
September 3, 1937Deathday
March 16, 2002Gender
MaleKnown Movie Credits
58Place of birth
Campi Salentina, Lecce, ItaliaCast credits
Bis
Oedipus Rex
CreonteRiccardo III
Riccardo IIIOur Lady of the Turks
The ProtagonistLa poesia dimenticata
Necropolis
Catch As Catch Can
PreteRed Hot Shot
Billy DescoL'Adelchi di Alessandro Manzoni in forma di concerto
Otello o la deficienza della donna
Capricci
PoetTre nel mille
PannocchiaModi di vivere - Giorgio Colli. Una conoscenza per cambiare la vita
Hermitage
The ManSalome
Erode Antipa / OnorioThe Last Days of Humanity
Self (archive footage)BENE! Vita di Carmelo, la macchina attoriale
One Hamlet Less
HamletPinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
Pinocchio / Geppetto / Mastro Ciliegia / Grillo Parlante / Mangiafuoco / Volpe / LucignoloCrew credits
Riccardo III
Director, AdaptationOur Lady of the Turks
Director, Writer, Novel, Producer, Costume Design, Production DesignAmleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)
Screenplay, Director, Art Direction, Costume Design, ProducerPinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
Director, Art Direction, Producer, Makeup Designer, Costume Design, WriterOne Hamlet Less
Director, Writer, Art Direction, Music Coordinator, Costume DesignSalome
Director, Writer, ProducerCapricci
Director, Producer, WriterHermitage
Director, Writer, NovelL'Adelchi di Alessandro Manzoni in forma di concerto
DirectorLa poesia dimenticata
DirectorOtello o la deficienza della donna
DirectorManfred, versione per concerto in forma di oratorio
Writer, DirectorMacbeth Horror Suite
Director, WriterHommelette for Hamlet, operetta inqualificabile (da J. Laforgue)
Writer, Producer, DirectorIn-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)
Director, Costume Design, Art Direction, AdaptationBene! Quattro diversi modi di morire in versi: Majakovskij-Blok-Esènin-Pasternak
Adaptation, DirectorCos'è il teatro?!
DirectorQuattro momenti su tutto il nulla
DirectorLorenzaccio, al di là di de Musset e Benedetto Varchi
Director