The Assassin AKA The Ladykiller of Rome
(L’assassino)
Screening on Film
Directed by Elio Petri.
With Marcello Mastroianni, Micheline Presle, Salvo Randone.
Italy, 1961, 35mm, black & white, 105 min.
Italian with English subtitles.
With Marcello Mastroianni, Micheline Presle, Salvo Randone.
Italy, 1961, 35mm, black & white, 105 min.
Italian with English subtitles.
A Kafkaesque crime film that showcases the great Marcello Mastroianni in peak form, Petri’s acclaimed first feature is still often cited as one of his best. Mastroianni plays Nello Poletti, a stylish Roman antiques dealer accused of murdering his mistress (Presle). Punctuated with frequent flashbacks, the film details the game of investigatory cat-and-mouse that plays out between the suspect and a deviously crafty police inspector (Randone). Petri renders this "anti-realist thriller" with a highly convincing atmosphere of claustrophobia, corruption, moral doubt, and dread. Whether the hero is innocent of murder, he is, in Petri’s words, "guilty of inhumanity."
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
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The Films of Elio Petri
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion / Sin in the Afternoon
Screening on Film
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The Films of Elio Petri
Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember
Directed by Anna Maria Tat, 1997
Screening on Film
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The Films of Elio Petri
Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember
Directed by Anna Maria Tat, 1997
Screening on Film
Read more
The Films of Elio Petri
Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember
Directed by Anna Maria Tat, 1997
Screening on Film
Read more
The Films of Elio Petri
Property Is No Longer a Theft
Directed by Elio Petri, 1973
Screening on Film