Devil in the Flesh (1985)
NoShame DVD (region 1)
d. Marco Bellochio; pr. Leo Percarolo; scr. Ennio De Concini, Marco Bellochio, Enrico Palandri; ph. Giuseppe Lanci; m. Carlo Crivelli; ed. Mirco Garrone; cast. Marushka Detmers, Federico Pitzalis, Anita Laurenzi, Alberto Di Stasio, Riccardo De Torrebruna (114 mins)
Marco Bellochio’s film of Devil in the Flesh proved one of the most controversial films of the mid-1980s. Updating the Raymond Radiguet novel to contemporary Italy in the grip of the Red Brigade terrorists, the film was an immediate talking point for its combination of politics and sex. In its native Italy, the producer feared Bellochio’s explicit eroticism and so took the film negative away, hoping to re-cut the film to satisfy nervous financers. The matter was taken to court, where authorities sided with Bellochio who was allowed to release his film in the version he intended, with eroticism intact. This eroticism included an explicit fellatio scene involving actress Maruschka Detmers, effectively the first time a name actress participated in an actual sex scene on film. When the film came to the USA it caused a new wave of protest based on this explicitness and was duly rated “X”, synonymous with hardcore pornography even though Bellochio’s film was more of an art-house venture. Indeed, the US distributor, Orion, decided to distribute the film in art-house circuits with its X-rating, the first time an X-rated film had been so unnervingly distributed. It was from there that its cult reputation grew steadily, Bellochio acknowledging the collaborative support of noted psycho-analyst Massimo Fagioli for the sex scenes: indeed, Bellochio and Fagioli would work together on several other films – The Witches’ Sabbath, The Conviction and The Butterfly’s Dream.
Devil in the Flesh concerns a young woman (Maruschka Detmers) who is the lover of a radical youth currently on trial on terrorism charges. She attracts the attention of a student (Federico Pitzalis) who watches her from the school complex opposite the large apartment she occupies. The apartment is to be a gift to Detmers when she eventually marries the youth on trial. Pitzalis follows Detmers to the trial and she soon approaches him, the two of them noting the sexual liaisons of the youthful terrorists kept in a cage in the center of the courtroom. The two of them develop a sexual interest in one another. Pitzalis is observed with her by a man who reports back to Pitzalis’ father, a noted psychiatrist who has previously treated Detmers and considers her crazy. Pitzalis seems unconcerned by his studies and more and more fixated by Detmers, even though she may not want to see him. The father fears for the worse as Detmers and Pitzalis embark on a passionate affair. Pitzalis’ body is seen in her bed by Detmer’s future mother-in-law who now fears for her son’s fate in Detmers’ hands. The father warns his son against continuing the affair and is soon contacted by the mother in law. As the pressure mounts, the lovers continue their encounters although both feel the tension as the trial verdict nears its conclusion and Detmers must face the choice between two men just as Pitzalis must face his exams. read more