Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) Authoritarian Italian Gonzo Satire with a musical score from the Heavens (Review)

Italian cinema isn’t much to write about these days, their industry fell to pieces in the 90s which isn’t just a shame its downright criminal that a national cinema full of eccentrics, innovators and masters could go the way of the dodo. The same sentiment can be shared by the Czech Republic, post-Czech New Wave – it’s an all too common story, sadly. The thing that makes the collapse of Italian cinema all the sourer is it only truly got the audience it deserved after the fact, outside of their native Italy, Italian cinema has been more cult curio than breakout success. One of the core facets of Criterion’s success has come off the back of highlighting the gold produced by Italy between the 60s and late 70s. Few films in the Criterion archive has benefitted from this status as much as Elio Petri’s ‘best foreign-language film’ Oscar winner, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion – which now, in 2021, is finally getting a release on UK shores.

As Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion opens we are met by a scene that wouldn’t be too out of place in any 70s Giallo. A man, Dottore (Gian Maria Volonte), and a beautiful woman, Augusta Terzi (Florinda Bolkan), are having sex in a lavish Roman flat until the man stops and stabs the woman to death. What happens next is what really marks out Petri’s film as something of a gonzo, maniac satire of the Italian state. Instead of trying to hide the evidence, Dottore casually puts his fingerprints all over the scene, has a shower, stamps bloody footprints on the carpet, and pulls a thread out of his tie and place it in the victim’s fingernail. As minority report put it, Dottore left an “orgy of evidence”, and what makes this worse is the killer is the chief of the homicide department. As he explains later, he is doing this to prove whether there is such a thing as being a citizen “above suspicion” even when all the evidence points towards one man.

As a title like Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion implies, every scene is spent in the company of Gian Maria Volonte – an investigation, or character study, into why a man would be driven to make a political thesis of himself as well as pointing the murder investigation in the right direction whenever required. At his work, we are privy to his transfer from the homicide department to the political crime division and as he is introduced to the full force of that department we are introduced to the weight of his beliefs. Dottore is an advocate of a deeply authoritarian state, his success as a detective has granted him control and great power over people, which explains away why he would carry out his plan or utter phrases like “repression is civilisation!”. It’s not just his speeches that reveals the man, his interrogation technique also unveils much, it’s less ‘intense questioning’ more emotional torture until the perp gives in; think a less murder-y version of the witch trials. The vision of Dottore seen by the police is completely different than the man who spends time with Augusta Terzi, that man makes Augusta recreate poses he has found murder victims in for his amateur photography hobby. The more time we spend in flashback, the more we see this paragon of authoritarianism and professional bullying is a petty, childish man.

Not to left-turn this review into unwanted political commentary, but, it is funny how an exaggerated vision of a fascist totalitarian state from 1970 has become increasingly indistinguishable from modern-day reality. Not just Italy either, who have an open relationship with fascism – Petri & Ugo Pirro’s script has a frightening prescience when weighted against events in America over the past 4 years. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion has grown to have a wider relevance by it being the perfect anti-police procedural in an age where TV screens are drowning in every imaginable deviation on the law. The god worship displayed in the contemporary TV police drama makes Petri’s film the perfect foil.

Without beating around the bush, I am of the opinion that Italian cinema has produced not only some of the best directors to ever work and some of the most accomplished cinematographers but I also believe that all of that pails in comparison to the footprint of one man, Ennio Morricone. He is the best composer cinema will ever have. Prior to watching this, Dario Argento’s Tenebrae was making its case for being my favourite film score, with its mad marriage of synth and brooding disco. With Ennio Morricone on the job, I may well have to readdress that opinion. Before I had seen the film, I knew I liked the theme as it’s my favourite track from Mike Patton’s Director Cut Fantômas record (an LP of film themes repurposed by the Mr Bungle & Faith No More man). Hearing the original composition pushed that love a little further, with its mix of brooding, low bass and tinkling keys it does a near-perfect job of expressing the state of mind of the citizen in question. Musically it’s like nothing I’ve ever heard and its role in the film is to further characterise a fractured persona – as I said, few will ever do it as good as Morricone. Plus, there’s a documentary for all us Morricone fans called “Music in His Blood“. Win-Win.

To scrub back a moment, I remarked that Italy has some of the best cinematographers ever – the only consistent competition comes from South Korea. For Investigation of a Citizen Under Suspicion, Luigi Kuveiller (Petri regular, plus Deep Red & Lizard in a Woman’s Skin) offers another avenue to Italy’s collective mastery of cinematography. While the flowing lines and visages of ancient cities are still there, he also uses the extreme close up to bring a level of scrutiny that this ‘citizen above suspicion’ is expecting from his colleagues and uses that to inform the camera’s movements. Consequently, this narrator becomes an unreliable one and turns his crime into something a little more morally complex; without the extreme close-ups from Kuveiller’s lens, this just wouldn’t work as intended.

Italy has a complex political history to the extent that this film could only really be Italian, any potential remake like the one proposed in the 1980s by Cannon with Paul Schrader or the attempt made in the 90s with Sidney Lumet. Given the context and history that Petri is playing with, the details around the edges could’ve stumped any prospective remake. There’s a scene in which Dottore is being walked through the political, or ‘subversive’ images, around Rome with his new underlings detailing the number of Mao, Stalin and Guevara tags from one year to the next and their future predictions. Elegant world-building. Furthermore, when greeted by the technology afforded by his new department, he shouts “America is coming!” with an odd sense of pride. Mental gymnastics would be required to make this work as an American film.

A film that plays off Italian history and genre language, melding together satire and a subversive characterisation of 1960s crime cinema into one marvellous whole. For me, there is only one way to process this new Criterion release and that is as an influential masterwork. So then, it puzzles how Elio Petri has remained mostly unknown, he has a career full of films that bend and twist popular genres, splicing in savage satires that only seems to grow in relevance the more time passes. This, being his masterpiece, then there’s the Working Class Go to Heaven and the even weirder [the] 10th Victim. Elio Petri is the Italian director who has never got his due, yes, he might’ve won an oscar but long past best “foreign language film” winners are nought but whispers in the wind.

All told, this is an excellent release from Criterion and a fantastic way to kick-off 2021. Whether its the glorious restoration or the set of extras (Elio Petri: Notes About a Filmmaker (2005), Investigation of a Citizen Named Volonté (2008), and Music in His Blood (2010)), it’s all killer no filler on this release. A film of such stature should be making its UK Blu-ray debut no other way.

Thank you for reading Rob’s Review of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

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