''Allonsanfàn'' () is a 1974 Italian
historical drama film
A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction such as c ...
written and directed by
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Paolo Taviani (; 8 November 1931 – 29 February 2024) and Vittorio Taviani (; 20 September 1929 – 15 April 2018), collectively referred to as the Taviani brothers, were Italian film directors and screenwriters who collaborated on numerous fi ...
. The title of the film, which is also the name of a character, comes from the first words () of the
French Revolutionary anthem ''
La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. It was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by the First French Republic against Austria, and was originally titled "".
The French Na ...
''.
Set against the backdrop of the
Italian Unification
The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...
in early 19th-century Italy, it stars
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...
as an aging revolutionary who becomes disillusioned after the
Restoration and tries to betray his companions, who are organizing an insurrection in
Southern Italy
Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions.
The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...
.
Plot
During the
Restoration in 1816, middle-aged aristocrat Fulvio Imbriani, a
Jacobin
The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...
who served in the
Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars, is released from prison after authorities spread the rumor that he sold out the Master of his secret society of revolutionaries —the Sublime Brothers— in exchange for freedom. Promptly abducted by the latter, Fulvio is put on trial until they find out that their missing Master committed suicide days earlier, disheartened by the seemingly-final defeat of
revolutionary ideals. The Brothers disband, with Fulvio returning in disguise to his family
villa
A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...
for the first time in decades. After witnessing his relatives mourn his ostensible death, however, he reveals himself and is welcomed back.
Soon, he's joined by his lover and fellow revolutionary Charlotte, learning that she raised enough money abroad to fund an
expedition to liberate the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by popula ...
, currently weakened by
cholera
Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
. Fulvio, though, has grown weary of their seemingly endless and unfruitful political struggle, re-evaluating the eases of aristocratic life. He unsuccessfully offers Charlotte to go to America with their child Massimiliano, who until then had been raised by peasants to keep him safe. Fulvio's sister finds out that the reunited Brothers will come to the villa to organize the expedition and reports them to the authorities. When Fulvio learns that Austrian soldiers are about to ambush his companions, he sees the opportunity to get out of his commitment and doesn't warn them: most Brothers are killed in the ensuing skirmish, while Fulvio flees with a fatally wounded Charlotte.
The surviving Brothers —oblivious to his betrayal— track him down at her funeral, followed by the Master's young son, Allonsanfàn. Learning that the expedition is still going, Fulvio offers to buy himself the needed guns with Charlotte's money, with which he actually plans to escape to America along with a newly reunited Massimiliano, but first he has to get rid of Brothers Lionello and her partner Francesca. He goes boating with the former in
Lake Orta, where he claims smugglers will deliver the guns: Fulvio pretends to have been scammed and unsuccessfully tries to manipulate the
suicidal
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or acad ...
Lionello into killing himself to avoid facing failure, but he dies anyway when the boat capsizes during the argument. Fulvio seduces Francesca to avoid being denounced to the Brothers and, after placing Massimiliano in a boarding school and using the money to pay years of rent in the case of his death, self-injures to simulate a robbery.
Fulvio and Francesca arrive in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
, where the expedition should set off. Here, the Brothers are moved by the story of Southern exile Vanni, who tells them how
Two Sicilies soldiers buried alive his wife due to cholera, to the point of sailing for
Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
before the lack of guns can be revealed: while Fulvio is unconscious from an
opium
Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...
medicine for his injury, Francesca has him boarded with the others, much to his despair. After the Brothers decide to proceed with the expedition even without guns, an increasingly frantic Fulvio finds out that Vanni is infamous in Sicily for exacting revenge on many soldiers and fellow countrymen. As soon as they land, Fulvio once again betrays his fellow revolutionaries, reporting them to a priest in the nearby village of Grottole in exchange for his life. Fearing that the hungry and cholera-stricken peasants would easily join the rebellion, the priest stirs up them against the invaders, scapegoating them for the epidemic and highlighting Vanni's involvement. Easily recognizable because of
their red shirts, the unsuspecting Brothers and Vanni are all
lynched on the spot by the crowd.
Fulvio is leaving Grottole when he meets Allonsanfàn, the sole survivor of the massacre. Unable to accept the outcome of the expedition, he raves about a
utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...
n brotherhood established at first sight between peasants and revolutionaries. Fulvio is dismissive, but, after hearing Grottole's bells ringing, he believes the Brothers succeeded and wears the red shirt that Allonsanfàn left behind to join them, thus being noticed and shot dead by newly arrived soldiers.
Cast
Production
The Taviani brothers wrote the screenplay for the film, originally titled ''Terza dimensione'' (), while listening to 19th-century Italian operas such as ''
Lucia di Lammermoor'' by
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic music, Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''be ...
and
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...
's ''
Macbeth
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
''.
It has been noted that the events of the film mirror the ill-fated 1857 revolutionary expedition led by
Carlo Pisacane, while the surname of the main character is an homage to the Italian author of the period .
The first version of the screenplay ended with Fulvio choosing not to betray his companions, surviving and coming back to bury them; the change was caused by the Tavianis' disillusionment with the outcome of
May 1968.
The directors originally planned to shoot the film in 1965 with
Gian Maria Volonté in the main role.
Following ''
St. Michael Had a Rooster'' (1972), the film ended up being produced by a
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...
financed by the State-owned company Italnoleggio Cinematografico.
Mastroianni accepted the role of Fulvio since he perceived it as "the typical
antihero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...
character I enjoy playing" and wanted to return to work in Italy after shooting ''
A Slightly Pregnant Man'' (1973) in Paris.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
took place between October and December 1973.
Among the locations were
Matera
Matera (, ; Neapolitan language, Materano: ) is a city and the capital of the Province of Matera in the regions of Italy, region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. With a history of continuous occupation dating back to the Palaeolithic (10th mi ...
,
Basilicata
Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...
, and the
Altopiano delle Murge in
Apulia
Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
, at
Pulo di Altamura and
Castel del Monte. Scenes set at the Imbriani's family villa were shot at Villa Amalia in
Erba, Lombardy
Erba (previously Erba-Incino, as it was formed by the union of these two places, together with some smaller districts) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of some 16,000 inhabitants in the Province of Como in the Italy, Italian region Lombardy. It is lo ...
.
Both the opening scene and the violin scene between Fulvio and his son were shot in
Brescia
Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
, at the
Broletto
A ''broletto'' in Italy in the Middle Ages, medieval Italy communes was the place where the whole population met for democratic assemblies, and where the elected men lived and administered justice.
''Broletto'' is an ancient Italian language, It ...
and
Teatro Grande. The scene where the Sublime Brothers kidnap Fulvio was shot in
Bergamo
Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...
, between Piazza Vecchia and Palazzo della Ragione.
Singer and songwriter
Lucio Dalla
Lucio Dalla (; 4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He also played clarinet and keyboards.
Dalla was the composer of "Caruso (song), Caruso" (1986), a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor Enri ...
was set to play Tito and some scenes were shot with him in the role, but was hospitalized during filming and had to be replaced by
Bruno Cirino.
Soundtrack
The score was composed by
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...
and directed by
Bruno Nicolai, with chorus by
Alessandro Alessandroni's and solo violin by Giorgio Mönch.
Tavianis' previous composer
Giovanni Fusco introduced Morricone to the directors, who originally didn't want to use any original music for the film.
A
soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...
was released in Italy by
RCA Italiana
RCA Italiana was an Italian record company founded in 1949 and active until 1987, the date on which, together with the parent company RCA Records, it was bought by BMG Entertainment.
History
Founded in Rome in 1949 under the Vatican's protec ...
.
"Rabbia e tarantella", the main theme of the film, was used during the closing credits of
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
's ''
Inglourious Basterds
''Inglourious Basterds'' is a 2009 epic film, epic war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars an ensemble cast including Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger ...
'' (2009).
Release
''Allonsanfàn'' premiered at the
Cinema Arcadia in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
on 5 September 1974,
before being theatrically released the following day by Italnoleggio Cinematografico.
It was subsequently screened at various international film festivals, including the
Directors' Fortnight of the
1975 Cannes Film Festival,
the
Moscow International Film Festival
The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...
,
the
BFI London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October.
In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...
and the
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
.
It was released in the United Kingdom in 1978 and in the United States by Italtoons Corporation on 1 March 1985.
Accolades
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allonsanfàn
1974 films
Italian historical drama films
1970s historical drama films
Films set in Lombardy
Films set in Genoa
Films set in Sicily
Films directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Films scored by Ennio Morricone
Films set in 1816
Films shot in Matera
Films shot in Italy
Films about revolutionaries
1970s Italian-language films
1970s Italian films
Italian-language historical drama films