Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion: A Film Screening at CIMA
April 11, 2024, 7:00 PM
General Admission: $15, Members & Students: FREE
In Italian with English subtitles (1 hr and 55 min)
In conjunction with CIMA’s current exhibition Nanni Balestrini: Art as Political Action – One Thousand and One Voices, we are hosting an in-person screening of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), the Oscar-winning film directed by Elio Petri, starring Gian Maria Volonté and Florinda Bolkan, with music by Ennio Morricone.
A suspense melodrama with the moral concerns of angry satire […] — The New York Times
Synopsis (via Wikipedia): A recently promoted police inspector kills his mistress, and then covers up his involvement in the crime. He insinuates himself into the investigation, planting clues to steer his subordinate officers toward a series of other suspects, including the woman’s gay husband and a student leftist radical. He then exonerates the other suspects and leads the investigators toward himself to prove that he is “above suspicion” and can get away with anything, even while being investigated.
The film will be introduced by Giancarlo Lombardi, Professor of Comparative Literature at CUNY Graduate Center. Prof. Lombardi came to the United States in 1990, and obtained a Ph.D. in Romance Studies at Cornell University, where he pursued his interests in 19th and 20th century Italian, French, English, and American literature, literary theory, film studies, and cultural studies.
