Italian Urban Malaise

Dillinger is Dead (1969)
Directed by: Marco Ferreri
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Anita Pallenberg, Annie Giradot

Marco Ferreri seemed quite fascinated with the notion of the gluttony that the people in the industrialized world exhibited on a day to day basis. And displaying it as brashly as possible seems to be his goal with his two most famous works: La Grande Bouffe (1973) and its precursor, Dillinger is Dead. Both are showing the lengths that people must go to in order to rid themselves of their existence, in Bouffe this is literal, while in Dillinger is metaphorical.
The movie tells the story of Glauco, a upper middle class chemist who returns home from work to find his wife sick in bed. He proceeds to cook himself a remarkably large gourmet meal, seduce his maid, and then shoot his wife. After doing all of these things he swims to a boat headed to Tahiti and finds employment as a chef.
While the story itself seems quite ludicrous even for something that is meant to work as metaphor, Ferreri somehow manages to make the story both compelling and at the same time quite difficult to watch. He employs techniques not used very often in movies today. His camera sits for what seems like hours, watching as Piccoli cooks his meal. The characters say very little and his character does not develop to any great effect. Ferreri seems to want to show the lengths that his character must go to in order to free himself from his existence. He is trapped and these great expressions of gluttony are the only way for him to proceed onward into his next existence.
While he is successful, the movie also plays to such a pretentious level that at times it is unwatchable. There are people that will sit and expound upon the details of this movie, but the movie lacks one thing : a soul. Movies, stories in general- they are about people. Even movies that intended to break the mold- something like Breathless (1959) still was a story about people. The characters change and grow, this is important to the viewer, we need someone to identify with- or at least something. However, the movie is so void of a center that it does not allow for the viewer to identify with Glauco, or anyone else in the movie for that matter. It is an interesting exercise in the medium. However, it fails with its primary goal- gaining interest from the audience.