In the opening scene of ‘La corruzione‘, the 1963 film by director Mauro Bolognini, the director of an elite Italian high school, he separates from the graduates with a speech in which he exposes a Manichean vision of the world. According to him, the society of the time has two options: the moral one represented by the Catholic faith and the materialist one embodied by the Marxist ideology. For the school graduates, children of the Italian bourgeoisie, the option seems clear. The hero of the film, Stefano Mattoli (Jacques Perrin), heir to an editorial empire in Milan, takes the moral option very seriously and plans to enter a life of priesthood. His father (Alain Cuny) opposes, wishing that his son takes over the business. Can there be a third way? Or perhaps in a crooked world, where principles are violated by everyone, just one, third alternative exists, that of compromise? ‘La corruzione‘ describes a moral drama in simple terms and with a perfect cinematic execution, due to which this apparently minor film, survives very well the almost six decades since it was made.
In the conflict between the father’s materialism (not at all Marxist, on the contrary, very capitalist) and the son’s idealism there is a third character – Adriana (played by Rosanna Schiaffino), the father’s much younger mistress, whom he uses as bait to distract the young Stefano from his priestly thoughts. The woman fascinates with her beauty but is she in control, or is she just another victim of a corrupt world, in which moral integrity and honor have no place? This is not about a love triangle but about an immoral triangle.
Mauro Bolognini‘s cinematic talent and professionalism manage to prevent this film from being a boring debate of ideas despite its serious substance. What we see on screen is a coming to age and family drama, with credible characters and a psychologically charged atmosphere due to the relationship between father and son, and sexual tension due to the presence of Adriana. At one point I wondered whether the story was moving towards the thriller genre. The story has a very modern open ending. Jacques Perrin intensely plays the role of the teenager whose dreams fall apart in the face of reality. Alain Cuny is distant and cold, as the father’s role demands. Rosanna Schiaffino radiates beauty and magnetism. It is also worth mentioning the character of Morandi, the left-wing intellectual and the fallen idol of Stefano, a traitor to the ideals of the anti-fascist resistance. The role is played by Ennio Balbo. Leonida Barboni‘s cinematography is excellent, both when filming outdoors, at sea or on the streets of the early ’60s Milan, but also when he takes us inside the functional headquarters of the editorial corporation or through the lavish but tasteful rooms of the Italian tycoon’s villa. Giovanni Fusco‘s music combines jazz with contemporary classical tones, under the clear and positive influence of the soundtracks of contemporary films produced by the New French Wave. The acting and the cinematic quality make ‘La corruzione‘ a film worth watching or re-watching.