Watching Salò
By August 25, 2008
Is the true measure of a film’s greatness its unforgettability? Conjured up in darkened rooms that mimic the intimate circumstances of our normally private dreams and fantasies Read more »
- Italy
- 1975
- 112 minutes
- Color
- 1.85:1
- Italian
SYNOPSIS: Pier Paolo Pasolini’s notorious final film, Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom, has been called nauseating, shocking, depraved, pornographic . . . it’s also a masterpiece. The controversial poet, novelist, and filmmaker’s transposition of the Marquis de Sade’s eighteenth-century opus of torture and degradation to 1944 Fascist Italy remains one of the most passionately debated films of all time, a thought-provoking inquiry into the political, social, and sexual dynamics that define the world we live in.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| The Duke | Paolo Bonacelli |
| The Bishop | Giorgio Cataldi |
| The Magistrate | Umberto P. Quintavalle |
| Durcet | Aldo Valletti |
| Signora Castelli | Caterina Boratto |
| Signora Maggi | Elsa De Giorgi |
| Signora Vaccari | Helene Surgere |
| Pianist | Sonia Saviange |
Credits
| Director | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Written and directed by | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Music | Ennio Morricone |
| Director of photography | Tonino Delli Colli |
| Editing | Nino Baragli |
| Sets | Dante Ferretti |
| Costumes | Danilo Donati |
| Screenplay collaboration | Sergio Citti |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- “Salò”: Yesterday and Today, a 33-minute documentary featuring interviews with director Pier Paolo Pasolini, actor-filmmaker Jean-Claude Biette, and Pasolini friend Nineto Davoli
- Fade to Black, a 23-minute documentary featuring directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, and John Maybury, as well as scholar David Forgacs
- The End of “Salò”, a 40-minute documentary about the film’s production
- New interviews with set designer Dante Ferretti and director and film scholar Jean-Pierre Gorin
- Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Neil Bartlett, Catherine Breillat, Naomi Greene, Sam Rohdie, Roberto Chiesi, and Gary Indiana, and excerpts from Gideon Bachmann’s on-set diary
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
Salò: A Cinema of Poetry
By August 25, 2008
In Pasolini’s last interview, just before his murder, and prior to the release of Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom, he identified himself simply as a poet. His most well Read more »
Salò: The Present as Hell
By August 25, 2008
“In the trilogy, I evoked the ghosts of characters from my earlier, realist films. Not to denounce them, obviously, but out of such a violent love for ‘lost time’ that Read more »
Salò: The Written Movie
By August 25, 2008
The title card that appears in the opening credits of Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom, Pasolini’s “Recommended Bibliography,” seems to signal to the viewer that the filmmaker’s Read more »
Salò: I, Monster
By August 25, 2008
It’s always the same when I tackle Pasolini—the first encounter escapes me. Pasolini doesn’t come at you head-on; it’s more like embroidery, which can seem simple, unrelentingly Read more »
Salò: Breaking the Rules
By August 25, 2008
The year before he made Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom, Pasolini hinted at the scandalous contours his last film would assume. In the course of a 1974 debate, he declared Read more »
Salò
By July 21, 1998
On November 2, 1975, the Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini was found dead—murdered, police said, by a young male prostitute. However lurid its details (the Roman tabloids ran huge front Read more »
Videos
Press Notes
Press notes: Laughing Till It Hurts
October 07, 2008
It seems Pier Paolo Pasolini’s infamous Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom hasn’t lost any of its horrifying power. “The 1970s was a hotbed of scandalous art cinema Read more »
