''Illustrious Corpses'' ( it, Cadaveri eccellenti) is a 1976 Italian-French

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Francesco Rosi Francesco Rosi (; 15 November 1922 – 10 January 2015) was an Italian film director. His film '' The Mattei Affair'' won the Palme d'Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Rosi's films, especially those of the 1960s and 1970s, often appeared to h ...

and starring Lino Ventura, based on the novel '' Equal Danger'' by

Leonardo Sciascia Leonardo Sciascia (; 8 January 1921 – 20 November 1989) was an Italian writer, novelist, essayist, playwright, and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including ''Porte Aperte'' (1990; ''Open Doors''), ''Cadaveri Eccellenti ...

(1971). The film was screened at the

1976 Cannes Film Festival The 29th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 28 May 1976. The Palme d'Or went to ''Taxi Driver'' by Martin Scorsese. In 1976, "L'Air du temps", a new section which was non-competitive and focused on contemporary subjects, was introduced. This ...

, but was not entered into the main competition. Its title refers to the surrealist game,

Cadavre Exquis Exquisite corpse (from the original French term ', literally exquisite cadaver), is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. ...

, invented by

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

, in which the participants draw consecutive sections of a figure without seeing what the previous person has drawn, leading to unpredictable results, and is meant to describe the meandering nature of the film with its unpredictable foray into the world of political manipulations, as well as the ("illustrous") corpses of the murdered judges. In 2008, the film was selected to enter the list of the 100 Italian films to be saved.

Plot

The film starts with the murder of Investigating Judge Vargas in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...

, amongst a climate of demonstrations, strikes and political tension between the Left and the

Christian Democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

government. The subsequent investigation failing, the police assign Inspector Rogas ( Lino Ventura), a man with a firm faith in the integrity of the judiciary, to solve the case. While he is starting his investigation, two judges are killed. All victims turn out to have worked together on several cases. After Rogas discovers evidence of corruption surrounding the three government officials, he is encouraged by superiors "not to forage after gossip," but to trail the "crazy lunatic who for no reason whatever is going about murdering judges." This near admission of guilt drives Rogas to seek out three men wrongfully convicted by the murdered judges. He is joined by a journalist friend working for a far-left newspaper, Cusan. Rogas finds his likely suspect in Cres, a man who was convicted of attempting to kill his wife. Mrs. Cres accused her husband of trying to kill her by poisoning her rice pudding, which she escaped only because she fed a small portion first to her cat, who died. Rogas concludes that he was probably framed by his wife, and seeks him out, only to find that he has disappeared from his house. Meanwhile another investigating judge is killed, and eyewitnesses see two young revolutionaries running away from the scene. Rogas, close to finding his man, is demoted, and told to work with the political division to pin the crimes on the revolutionary Leftist terrorist groups. Rogas discovers that his phone is tapped. He seeks out the Supreme Court's president (

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow ( , ; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

) in order to warn him that he is most likely the next victim. The president details a philosophy of justice wherein the court is incapable of error by definition. Music from a party in the same building leads to Rogas discovering the Minister of Justice (

Fernando Rey Fernando Casado Arambillet (La Coruña (Spain), 20 September 1917 – Madrid (Spain), 9 March 1994), best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States. A suave, i ...

) at the party with many revolutionary leaders, amongst them the editor of the revolutionary paper Cusan is working for, Galano, and Mrs. Cres. He and the Minister have a discussion, where the Minister reveals that sooner or later, his party will have to form a coalition with the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

, and that it will be their task to prosecute the far-leftist groups. The murder of the judges as well as Rogas's investigations help raise the tension and justify the prosecution of the far-left groups. Rogas also discovers that his suspect, Cres, is present at the party. Rogas meets with the Secretary-General of the Communist Party in a museum. Both of them are killed. Amongst rising tensions between revolutionaries and the government, which mobilizes the army, the murder of the Secretary-General is blamed on Rogas by the chief of police. The film ends with a discussion between Cusan and the vice-secretary of the Communist Party, who claims that the time is not yet ready for the revolution and the party will not react to the government's actions. "But then the people must never know the truth?", asks Cusan. The vice-secretary answers: "The truth is not always revolutionary." It is a sardonic concluding comment on the strategy at the time of the 'historic compromise' with

Christian Democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

adopted by the Communist party, referring back to the motto 'To tell the truth is revolutionary' adopted from

Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a Prussian-German Confederation, German jurist, philosopher, Socialism, socialist and political activist best remembered as the initiator of the social democracy, social democratic move ...

Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a ...

, the party's most famous former leader and author of the

Prison Notebooks The ''Prison Notebooks'' ( it, Quaderni del carcere ) are a series of essays written by the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci was imprisoned by the Italian Fascist regime in 1926. The notebooks were written between 1929 and 1935, whe ...

Cast

* Lino Ventura as Inspector Amerigo Rogas * Tino Carraro as Chief of Police * Marcel Bozzuffi as The lazy *

Paolo Bonacelli Paolo Bonacelli (born 28 February 1937) is an Italian actor. He is best known for his performance as the Duke de Blangis in Pier Paolo Pasolini's final film, '' Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' (1975). He was in '' Midnight Express'' (1978) as ...

as Dr. Maxia *

Alain Cuny René Xavier Marie Alain Cuny (12 July 1908 – 16 May 1994) was a French actor of stage and screen. He was closely linked with the works of Paul Claudel and Antonin Artaud, and for his performances for the Théâtre national populaire and Od ...

as Judge Rasto *

Maria Carta Maria Carta (24 June 1934 – 22 September 1994) was a Sardinian folk music singer-songwriter. She also performed in film and theatre. In 1975 she wrote a book of poetry, ''Canto rituale'' (Ritual Song). Throughout her 25-year career she cove ...

as Madame Cres * Luigi Pistilli as Cusan *

Tina Aumont Maria Christina "Tina" Aumont (February 14, 1946 – October 28, 2006) was an American actress. She was the daughter of French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont and Dominican actress Maria Montez. She made her acting debut in the British film ''Modesty Bl ...

as The prostitute * Renato Salvatori as Police Commissary *

Paolo Graziosi Paolo Graziosi (25 January 1940 – 1 February 2022) was an Italian stage and film actor. Biography Born in Rimini, Graziosi was rejected for the admission exams at the Academy of Dramatic Arts Silvio D'Amico in 1961. He then enrolled at the ...

as Galano *

Anna Proclemer Anna Proclemer, sometimes credited Anna Vivaldi (30 May 1923 – 25 April 2013), was an Italian stage, film and television actress and voice actress. Born in Trento, Proclemer was the daughter of an engineer and a housewife. She debuted on stag ...

as Nocio's wife *

as Security Minister *

as Supreme Court president *

Charles Vanel Charles-Marie Vanel (21 August 1892 – 15 April 1989) was a French actor and director. During his 76-year film career, which began in 1912, he appeared in more than 200 films and worked with many prominent directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, ...

as Varga

Release

Critical response

The film triggered a lot of controversy at its release, especially for the joke pronounced in the last part of the film by the communist party secretary "''Truth is not always revolutionary''", which is used by Rosi to denote the silence of the opposition to the prevailing and much often unpunished corruption. ''Illustrious Corpses'' was presented, out of competition, at the

. The same year, it received the

David di Donatello for Best Film The David di Donatello Award for Best Film ( Italian: ''David di Donatello per il miglior film'') is one of the David di Donatello awards presented annually by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (ACI). The award recognizes the most outstanding I ...

, at the same time as

was awarded the

David di Donatello for Best Director The David di Donatello Award for Best Director ( Italian: ''David di Donatello per il miglior regista'') is a film award presented annually by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (ACI, ''Academy of Italian Cinema'') to recognize the outstanding di ...

References

External links