Abstract
This article assesses the coexistence of the practices of profanation and re-sacralization in one of Marco Bellocchio’s most understudied films: Nel nome del padre (In the Name of the Father, 1971). Indeed, such practices rarely situate themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum but rather are integrated within other works by the same director, and even within the same film. By providing a content and stylistic analysis of episodes of profanation and re-sacralization, this article highlights how Bellocchio profanes traditional Roman Catholic elements through the employment of parody and satire as well as how he re-sacralizes unorthodox characters and situations using narrative, symbolism, and iconography. This integration allows him to deliver his criticism of pre-conciliar Roman Catholicism (its folk manifestations at grassroots level, empty rituals, and sexuophobic education), on the one hand, and identify possible alternatives, characterized by a more progressive, tolerant, and forgiving religious sentiment, on the other. What emerges is Bellocchio’s essentially ambivalent attitude toward religion, characterized by the simultaneous and apparently contradictory need for both more and less Catholicism.
Highlights
The BFI Southbank recently dedicated a retrospective to the work of Marco Bellocchio titled, “Satire and Morality: The Cinema of Marco Bellocchio”—a title that highlights the two extremes between which the work of the Italian director has oscillated throughout his career
Bellocchio is a self-professed atheist1 who has engaged with Roman Catholicism (
While it would be tempting to ascribe the director’s animosity toward the Roman Catholic Church ( “Catholic Church”) to the strict education he received in his family and at the Catholic boarding schools he attended (Bellocchio and Fofi 1971), this would be extremely reductive
Summary
The BFI Southbank recently dedicated a retrospective to the work of Marco Bellocchio titled,. In her aptly titled article “The Spectacle of the Unseen: Marco Bellocchio and Lure of the Catholic Church,” Brook states: “Catholicism’s iconography provides Bellocchio’s cinema with a set of images without which his camera would lose its object. Fantuzzi (2005) senses a deeper meaning underlying Bellocchio’s practice of what he calls “desecration” and “sacrality,” namely an expression of regret for the loss of true values Building on these readings, this article argues that Bellocchio does not limit himself to negative criticisms of Catholicism, but that he suggests possible alternatives to the religious status quo, outlining a more tolerant and genuine dimension. The analysis of these elements in the film reveals how the practices of profanation and re-sacralization are often combined to accomplish an otherwise unobtainable provocative and challenging effect as well as encourage deeper reflection in the audience
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