The Assassin (1965)

"L'Assassino" was Elio Petri's remarkably assured debut. It's a Kafkaesque story of a man, (Marcello Mastrioanni), under investigation for the murder of his former mistress, (Micheline Presle), The film flits back and forth between the investigation and events in Mastrioanni's past life. It's clear from the outset that what interests Petri isn't so much the prospect of making a thriller but dissecting the protagonist's way of life. This is the Italy of La Dolce Vita or at least the sweet life that was emerging for people like Mastrioanni if they could only keep themselves free of accusations of murder. This is one of his greatest performances but the film itself disappeared soon after its release and is now something of a cult film. Carlo Di Palma was responsible for the superb black and white cinematography.

Alfredo Martelli (Marcello Mastroianni) is picked up by the police in his apartment without justification. In the precinct, he slowly discovers what is the investigation about as we find out details about his life.Director Elio Petri made a large handful of classic films. His best known, "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion" (1970), was about the police force. "The Working Class Goes to Heaven" (1971) focused on the worker's condition. And "Property Is No Longer a Theft" (1973) emphasized the role of money in our society and how power destroys the individual. But "The Assassin" (1961) was his first feature film, and for that fact alone deserves to be looked at more closely.Petri was able to land star Marcello Mastroianni at the perfect point in his career. Although he was already an award-winning actor, this pint had him just finishing up "La Dolce Vita" and about to start "8 1/2", quite possibly the two biggest Italian films of that era, and ones that would make him an international star.This film's legacy includes the story of cinematographer Carlo DiPalma, who went on to make some notable Italian films (including "Blowup"), and perhaps more interestingly, a dozen movies with Woody Allen in the 1980s. This was also an early film for composer Piero Piccioni and his jazzy piano, which really moves the film forward at every turn. He would eventually contribute to over 300 soundtracks at least up through 1990.Both the crisp black-and-white photography and the catchy, memorable score are key pieces of what make this film worthy of further inspection. But there is also the unusual narrative structure. Perhaps due to poor dubbing, some viewers have mistakenly wondered why the lead character seems to be living two lives. In fact, the answer is quite clear: much of the film is a flashback. While probably not unique, this structure does allow the audience to better understand the current predicament of our hero in little pieces... and then decide for themselves. This method also suggests that a second (or third) viewing might further elucidate the plot.The Arrow Blu-ray features a 2K digital restoration from the Cineteca di Bologna, and it looks stunning. We also get an introduction by Italian cinema expert Pasquale Iannone and a nearly hour-long documentary, "Tonino Guerra: A Poet in the Movies" by Nicola Tranquillino. While supplies last, each disc comes with a booklet featuring writing on the film by Petri expert Camilla Zamboni, Petri's own critical analysis of 1950s Italian cinema, plus a selection of contemporary reviews.

First film of Elio Petri and it is very well made. Bit confusing at first as we seem to be seeing two Marcello Mastroianni until we realise that we are. Flashbacks are well to the fore in this noir like, Kafka-esque tale of a antique dealer, man about town played by Mastroianni. He has an older than he, lover and benefactor and a younger girl as well although his older lover seems to encourage this. Unfortunately she gets killed, he gets called in and the police reckon they have an open and shut case. Terrible scenes in a bare prison cell where he awaits his fate and he's joined by a couple of guys to keep him company, or rough him up, or incriminate him or something not too good. We are constantly having to try and determine whether this guy is the killer or not and just how wretched a person he is with his healing and dealing and his womanising and cadging of money. Petri engages us throughout and also encourages us to attempt to evaluate goodness and to sample police justice in action.

This is a pretty good film overall, not an amazing classic, but definitely something solid and something you'd expect to find on DVD so i'm kind of surprised Criterion hasn't snapped it up as of yet.---Marcello Mastriani really really holds the film together with his performance. (he basically is the film here really) He hits all the notes that you would expect an innocent man in his predicament to hit but he throws in a lot of grace notes and a surprising amount of humor that kind of informs his character's mood changes from the general good humor to the understandably agitated and jumpy guy as well. Movie is about a guy who's mistress is found dead and well the cops really really really like him for it. Movie is essentially Marcello flashing back on his relationship as it progressed throughout the time he knew her until her death all while being interrupted by him being grilled by the lead detective, or in a jail cell being irritated by the other inmates, and so fourth. Even if it is your basic plot device--it still works well enough to get you to wonder which of these other people is the real killer...i mean it couldn't actually be Marcello Mastriani right? that'd be absolutely ridiculous! (thank god this movie wasn't made in the last decade---i think you could pretty much guarantee that that would be the "twist" if it were) Virtually the whole movie reminded me of Louis Malle's Elevator To The Gallows--itself a movie about a man innocent of murder trying to find out what happened to his love. That movie was set to a Miles Davis score--and this one is also set to a really good, really moody jazz score as well (altho if i read the credits right--the musician was Italian and not American) the constant repetition of the main theme as Marcello wanders around and around works wonderfully--i left the screening humming it---but it also mirrors Marcello's confusion about what he actually can remember---he spends the whole movie remembering stuff--but he can't seem to remember the actual details he badly needs to remember...you know you hear the song play on but you really couldn't hum anything other then the main theme. It all goes down really smoothly--but it is kinda forgettable unfortunately. I mean its a very good watch--but i don't know if i'm going to really remember that i saw this a day or two from now much less a week. Still it works really well and its got a beat you can dance to which is just fine for me. The only real flaw i think is that the wrap up to the murder case--is rather arbitrary (of course it is, it wouldn't be a true deadpan film if it weren't) but that's not that big a deal since it leads to one of the best lines of the movie spoken by the police detective who had been needling Marcello throughout the whole thing---and then the ending of the movie itself--which is like something out of a deadpan comedy and not the ice cool french noir we've been watching....actually scratch that its exactly like the movie we've been watching.