Having searched deep into the
catacombs of the internet to find a complete stream of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Spider’s Stratagem (1970) I must say
that I’m disappointed with what I found.
Like all Bertolucci pictures, this film (made the year after his The Conformist (1969)) has a structure
that flies in the face of any notion of traditional cinematic plot, opting
instead for a somewhat beguiling narrative composition that attempts to
disregard time altogether. While this
technique is effective in some of the director’s pictures, here it feels more
like a mere exercise in defiance rather than an approach that enhances the somewhat
simplistic story.
Giulio Brogi takes on a double role
here as Athos Magnani, a man searching for the truth about the death of his
father, and also as that father, a political radical, who is seen in flashback. Magnani Jr. arrives in the town of Tara by
train, somewhat uncertain about why he’s been called there. He’s been summoned by an older woman, Draifa
(Alida Valli), who says she was his father’s mistress. When they meet, she immediately (and
predictably) notes that he looks just like her former lover, and it’s no
surprise in a Bertolucci film that romantic tension will build between them
throughout. She’s always suspected that
the father Magnani was murdered by a local and not by the government to prevent
him from assassinating Mussolini as was concluded, and now she wants the son to
help her investigate the killing.
The senior Magnani has become a
local legend in death, and his status as a freedom fighter is noted on a statue
that stands at the center of town.
Through sweeping camera movements, Bertolucci floats through various
parts of the village, transitioning between the present and the past. These shots and sequences unveil elements of Magnani’s
rise in the fascist-resistance movement, and the development of his
relationship with Draifa. This approach
is not wholly ineffective in advancing the story of the present and giving it
depth in the flashbacks, but because the same technique has been used to much
greater effect by subsequent filmmakers, here it ultimately feels stale to a
viewer born in the age of home video.
Still, I feel that The Spider’s Stratagem suffers from a
much greater narrative weakness. Even if
Bertolucci isn’t primarily concerned with story, this film is ostensibly a
mystery. To engage audiences it
therefore should at least attempt to keep them guessing as to whom the killer
might be. What this film doesn’t have is
any red hearings. We’re only introduced
to a small number of characters, and because it must be one of them, there aren’t
many possibilities. In fact, it’s almost
painfully obvious who actually killed the father. Great directors can get away with this circumstance
in noirs (sometimes) because that genre is always about style over substance,
but here I didn’t quite care enough about how
Bertolucci was leading me on this journey to completely disregard the inevitable
destination. Some reviews I’ve read
contend that there is a twist within the “twist,” but it may have been lost in
translation.
That said, what we are left with is
a film that avoids its own obvious conclusion, simply feeling like it is
staving it off only to meet some runtime requirement. The interplay between Draifa and the jr.
Magnani isn’t magnetic enough to keep the scenes in the present compelling, and
the flashbacks become formulaic at best.
Perhaps seeing a better print of the film might change my feelings, as
several write-ups that I read noted the beautiful cinematography which I likely
lost to pixelization, but I can’t foresee wanting to view this movie again for
some time. After all, some sacrifices,
even bad quality, have to be made if I have any hope of ever completing the 1001
list.
This
morning, my wife asked me what this film was about. When I gave her a plot synopsis she said
simply, “that sounds generic.” She
nailed it. Even the title, which sounds intriguing,
is ultimately lackluster. Apparently, it’s
going unexplained in the film drove some viewers crazy. But with every online mention of the film
noting the “web of lies” at its center, it seems rather…well, yep, generic is
the word. Here’s hoping the next film is
better.
Language:
Italian
Runtime:
98 Minutes
Available
@veoh.com
Grade:
1 Hat Off
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