Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
10 Episodes
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ability to simultaneously embrace conflicting philosophies—he drew from Marxism and Catholicism; and he lived a thoroughly modern, openly gay life while looking to the distant past for inspiration and comfort—was matched by the multifariousness of his artistic output as a filmmaker, poet, journalist, novelist, playwright, painter, actor, and all-around public intellectual. Outside Italy, though, he remains best known for his restless and subversive body of film work. After scripting the sly sexual satire IL BELL’ANTONIO, he soon moved to directing, applying Catholic iconography to gutter-level tales of street life like MAMMA ROMA, which gave Anna Magnani one of her greatest roles as a middle-aged sex worker. From there, the outspoken and always political Pasolini’s films became increasingly scandalous—even, to some minds, blasphemous—from the Orson Welles–starring short LA RICOTTA and the stark reimagining of the Christ story THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW to the shocking savagery of PORCILE and the extravagantly bawdy medieval tales in his Trilogy of Life (THE DECAMERON, THE CANTERBURY TALES, ARABIAN NIGHTS). Though Pasolini’s career was cut tragically short by his brutal, still-unsolved murder, he remains—one hundred years after his birth—one of the most revered and controversial artists of the twentieth century.
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01:03Episode 1
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini Teaser
Episode 1
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1:43:02Episode 2
Il bell’Antonio
Episode 2
Directed by Mauro Bolognini • 1960 • Italy, France
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Pierre BrasseurScripted by Pier Paolo Pasolini, IL BELL’ANTONIO is a barbed, melodramatic satire of religion, sex, and society that gives Marcello Mastroianni a chance to play slyly against his ...
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Accattone
Episode 3
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1961 • Italy
Starring Franco Citti, Franca Pasut, Silvana CorsiniPier Paolo Pasolini proved himself a radical with his very first feature, in which he courted controversy by applying Catholic iconography and the liturgical music of Bach to a grim neorealist sto...
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1:46:42Episode 4
Mamma Roma
Episode 4
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1962 • Italy
Starring Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco CittiAnna Magnani is Mamma Roma, a middle-aged prostitute who attempts to extricate herself from her sordid past for the sake of her son. Filmed in the great tradition of Italian neorealism, MAMMA ROMA...
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1:33:12Episode 5
Love Meetings
Episode 5
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1964 • Italy
Starring Pier Paolo Pasolini, Lello BersaniIn 1964, Pier Paolo Pasolini took to the streets of Italy, armed with a camera and microphone, to interview a cross section of ordinary Italians about their attitudes towards sex and sexuality. Interrogati...
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2:17:36Episode 6
The Gospel According to Matthew
Episode 6
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1964 • Italy, France
Starring Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna PasoliniA biblical film that only the Marxist, atheist Pier Paolo Pasolini could make, this starkly beautiful cinematic Passion play takes its dialogue directly from the titular holy tex...
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1:29:43Episode 7
The Hawks and the Sparrows
Episode 7
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1966 • Italy
Starring Totò, Ninetto Davoli, Femi BenussiPier Paolo Pasolini deconstructs his twin interests—Catholicism and Marxism—in this subversive, fable-like comedy. Italian-cinema icon Totò (in his final starring role) and Pasolini muse Ninetto Davoli sta...
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Teorema
Episode 8
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1968 • Italy
Starring Terence Stamp, Silvana Mangano, Massimo GirottiOne of the iconoclastic Pier Paolo Pasolini’s most radical provocations finds the auteur moving beyond the poetic, proletarian earthiness that first won him renown and notoriety with a coolly ...
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Porcile
Episode 9
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1969 • Italy, France
Starring Pierre Clémenti, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Alberto LionelloOne of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s most startling works, PORCILE (“Pigsty”) explores humanity’s capacity for barbarism through two parallel stories. In the first, Pierre Clémenti stars ...
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34:46Episode 10
La ricotta
Episode 10
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini • 1962 • Italy
Starring Orson WellesPier Paolo Pasolini’s contribution to the omnibus film RO.GO.PA.G casts Orson Welles as a director attempting to make a film of the crucifixion of Jesus—all while he, the cast, and crew behave in the most un-Christlike ways ima...