Armand a story like an old jewelery. parts of silver, gold and touch of silk. isles of ash and colors of a history page. a secret as seed for a movie about power and its price, sacrifice and its nuances, a too long time of fall, shadows and hypocrisy. a movie about Mussolini but more that. because it is an universal tale. about past and need of masks. about fragility of truth. about small battles. about woman as letter of letter of love, hope and hate. a movie as meditation. and occasion to Giovanna Mezzogiorno to create a subtle, powerful role. exploration of profound secret, recreation of a real drama, it is just trip to definition of basic feelings in precise mode.

runamokprods Some amazing, poetic imagery, a rich, almost operatic score, and a hyper-emotional yet always grounded lead performance by Giovanna Mezzogiomo make this film work.The story of Mussolini's cruelly rejected and forgotten wife and son (they were a problem politically, since it turned out he was already married) is certainly interesting, and a glimpse at the toll of dictatorship on a much more human scale. It was also gripping to see Mussolini portrayed as more complex and dangerously charismatic than the buffoonish cartoon he has become in the public's mind.That said, for me the film felt long at 125 minutes. The repetition with which Ida Dalser is locked away in various mental institutions and studiously ignored is at first powerful, but ultimately wearying. Perhaps I was over prepared, as so many critics declared this Bellocchio's best film in years, perhaps ever. But then, I was always a bit out of sync with the critical establishment re Bollocchio. I'm also not obsessed with "Fists in Pocket" his first film, widely regarded as a masterpiece. As with "Vincere" I liked it, but felt it milked one tone too long. I'm more drawn to his more subtle and complex work like "Good Morning, Night" and "Henry IV". But I will re-watch this, and I'm happy to have discovered this director's wonderful, unique, slightly surreal, yet still emotional work, even if it took me too many years to do so.

Rizar "Vincere" is an artful biopic that tells the story of Benito Mussolini's mistress and perhaps first wife, Ida Dalser (Giovanna Mezzogiorno). The film jumps around the time line, mainly from the point of view of Ida, with a mixture of heated political rallies and shout fests, intense love scenes (mostly early in the movie, hidden in darkness), real footage of a pompous Mussolini, and operatic melodrama.It's not a biopic of Mussolini, but we see glimpses of his early socialist and atheist convictions, his conversion to fascism, and his eventual support for the church (for politically expedient purposes until old age, judging from the history). We hear Mussolini dream of an Italy that surpasses morality and brings about fundamental changes. He's not specific, but he doesn't want to become like average folk. He wants to outdo even Napoleon.The film follows a TV documentary and two books about Ida, based on reporting by Marco Zeni. In the reports, Ida Dalser claims she married Benito Mussolini in 1914. She also had a son with him, named Benito Albino Mussolini. Historians don't have direct evidence she married Mussolini, but they have evidence he accepted responsibility for their son. For unknown reasons, he left her a year later and married Rachele Guidi after returning from the war.According to the history (not the film), his last mistress, Clara Petacci, was executed (by firing squad) and hung upside down in the Piazza Loreto (Milan) along with him. Ida might have had that to look forward to if she had been by his side (she doesn't seem like a stay at home or turn a blind eye type of wife – she would have been with him). Tragic madness is a common theme in drama, and Ida Dalser arguably has a touch of madness. Her love affair with Benito Mussolini (Filippo Timi) operatically moves from intense devotion to angry feud. She sells everything to fund his newspaper, gives him a son, and attempts to force him to divorce his wife and return her to her rightful place by his side. She won't even think of another man. Is it love, true devotion, or revenge?Most of the film tracks Ida Dalser in extremes of emotion, especially as corrupt Fascists suppress her and take her to a madhouse. She writes to everyone to try to publicize her marriage, including the pope, and she drags her son to Mussolini to dramatically express her outrage. My first thought in trying to describe Ida was, well, at least she didn't kill her son to get back at him. The movie doesn't explicitly depict her doing anything this mischievous, or perhaps the unthinkable is possible.Did she succeed in sacrificing her son to get back at Mussolini? It's possible she embellished her relationship with Mussolini and her extreme conviction rubbed off on her son. The odd thing is that this interpretation fits with Giovanna Mezzogiorno's compelling performance of Ida throughout the film. She seems in love with more than Mussolini. She wants to stand by his side and be the public wife of a dictator. For example, she won't consider signing a power of attorney to help provide financially for her son because it might be seen by (her imagined) Mussolini as disloyalty. She refuses to lie about her marriage to return home for the sake of her son.At a minimum, she was adamant in trying to embarrass Mussolini, and she did so despite the welfare of her son. (History is less fair to Ida than the film since it also implicates her publicly denouncing Mussolini as a traitor.) She's noble in her resoluteness to truth (if the marriage is true, of course). But why wouldn't she move on when Mussolini has already married someone else? Is a country better off when political scandals come out about a politician's personal love affairs? Is her resoluteness to truth really a resoluteness to power and status, or revenge?It's easier to feel sympathy for her since the Fascists also abused their power beyond any respect for justice. The film doesn't necessarily demonize Mussolini. But only someone as powerful and ruthless as a dictator is able to persecute and silence his accusers (whether wife and son, or otherwise) rather than face them in court. It's a clear case of corruption and abuse of power.We could go back and forth between the two sides eternally. If she had remained silent, she wouldn't have been in an asylum in the first place, and Fascist doctors wouldn't have been around to try to force her to lie about her marriage. However, she wouldn't have ended up in an asylum in a just and moral country. But sometimes it's best to remain silent about some truths if they aren't in your (or your son's) best interest. And so on. The film allows you to make your own interpretation and to spread the blame around as you like. The musical score has a beautiful (and loud) recurring piece that builds up dramatically and ends in low scratchy strings. The film begins and transitions emphatically, almost mimicking Mussolini's exclamation of "boom, boom, boom" as he praises a painting. It plays like a silent film in some sequences, such as a comical scene of political advocates fighting with one another as silhouettes in front of a classic movie projector.Some of the sets nicely recreate Italy of the time period (Mussolini's duel, with factories in the background, is one of the best), but you don't get a chance to linger on them and the lighting is dark. It would be interesting to compare the film on DVD to the version played at theaters to see if the DVD is any darker than intended. As it is, it's best to view the film in complete darkness to get the benefit of its subtle lighting.Note: The subtitles translate "Vincere" as a verb, meaning "to win".

lasttimeisaw The film is about Mussolini's secret lover Ida Dalser's tragic story. I know it is an important Italian film last year, but for me, before watching it, I even haven't seen a picture of Mussolini (fortunately enough at least I know who he is), and now, I think he looks a little bit like Robert Duvall (hope it is not an offense, to Signor Duvall). The well-recognized director Marco Bellocchio just passed 70, and as a disciple of Pasolini, through half a century, his films mainly are somewhat political-related, which explains very much why I haven't watched his other films yet. But after this one, I am more than happily to appreciate his other works, to name a few FISTS IN THE POCKET (PUGNI IN TASCA) (1965) his debut, HENRY IV (1984).It's a dark film, not only because of its palette (mainly depressive blue and purple, with scenes mostly happen in the night and later, inside a mental hospital), but also infused by the fate of our protagonist Ida Dalser (a marvelous Giovanna Mezzogiorno, whom I often mistake as Sarah McLanchlan). The reason why people (at least myself) love to watch tragic or dramatic films is because generally speaking, our own lives are not so turbulent, we need to see something to exercise or release our emotions, to make them move a little bit in case they will become numb. And I believe that dramatic films are much easier to make as often, the story itself has already been tantalizing enough so what the worst could it be? We have already prepared the tissue paper before the screen is lightening. I have to admit this film handled the sensitive topic skillfully, which proves that while aging, Marco is improving his skills too (which is so rare as we all know, 70s is definitely not a golden-era for directors), most obviously by substituting Filippo Timi's performance with black-white footages of real Mussolini in the latter part of the film, make sure the focus is Ida herself, as a man becomes the leader of a nation, he no longer belongs to any single person, at the same time any single person becomes trivial to him as well. I think Ida couldn't get through this, her love is blind, hormone-driven, but we feel sympathy for her because this is what we believe true love should be.It is a pity I'm not an Italian or I could have known more about Mussolini, otherwise I could enjoy more (or maybe not!). Anyway I am happy to see the surviving Italian directors from golden age still strive for making excellent films at a time when even Nanni Moretti has become legendary.http://xingshizuomeng.blogspot.com/