Mussolini, Son of the Century: a masterpiece of Biopic (Critique)
The rise of fascism in Italy according to World War II, told with an incredible style and strength by Joe Wright.
At first glance, it is the kind of series that may confuse. Its hyper-wet aesthetic, its theatrical tone, its staging biases … It takes a slight time to adapt, but once plunged in Mussolini: Son of the Centurydifficult to get your head out of the water. Joe Wright We keep in apnea in a fascinating Fresco with the tunes of Commedia dell’Arte terrifying.
Adapted from the first volume of Antonio Scurati’s tetralogy, this series in eight episodes – broadcast in a French preview at Séries Mania – is not content to trace the story and unroll the Wiki de Musso. It immerses us in an era, a climate, an ideology in gestation. We are in 1919, after the First World War. Italy also counts its broken mouths. And it is on their anger, the frustration of defeat and the fear of climbing socialism, that Benito Mussolinia small press boss, will found the basics of fascism, taking shape quickly within the society of the time, until walking on Rome in 1922. The series traces the relentless ascent of the Duce, between political manipulations, street violence and alliances of circumstances, to highlight the progressive tilting of Italy towards fascism.
But there is no question of making it a cold and dogmatic reading. Joe Wrightexcellent English filmmaker revealed by Pride and prejudices in 2005 – and which has somewhat disappeared from radars since its adaptation missed by Cyrano With Peter Dinklage – signs an exceptionally passionate work, nourished by a resolutely daring, strange and assumed realization, conferring on the whole a hypnotic and oppressive atmosphere. Its putting in pictures – in breathtaking sets – offers a disturbing meeting with Benito Mussolini himself.
Because the other asset of the series is the phenomenal performance of Luca Marinelli (Interpretation Prize in Venice for Martin Eden) which electrifies the screen. His incarnation of the Duce, madly furious with ferocious charisma, devoid of principles, capable of dumbling and manipulating his time, is both disturbing and magnetic. The series manages to restore the complexity of the character, while ridiculing it maliciously, but without ever pouring into the caricature. Terrifying and elusive, this Mussolini sometimes recalls the unpredictable rage of Joe Pesci In The freed and the ruthless coldness of Robert de Niro In al Capone in The incorruptible. There are also a lot of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey in House of Cards) in this version of the Duce in creation.
Very often in the first episodes, Benito breaks the fourth wall, as if to guide the spectator in the meanders of his disturbing spirit. We enter the head of the future leader of Italy, with the idea, of course, to understand. How ? For what ? What led Italy to switch to fascism, to give in to the worship of the supreme leader? Mussolini, Son of the Centuryit is the perfect work to alert the present by dissecting the past. Or how to make the biopic essential.
Mussolini, Son of the Century, season 1 in 8 episodes. No diffuser in France yet.
