Carmelo Bene
Carmelo Bene is known for Oedipus Rex (1967), Our Lady of the Turks (1968), Salomé (1972).
Biography
The filmmaking career of Carmelo Bene (1937 - 2002) lasted from 1968 to 1973, six years out of a lengthy time spent in the theater that made Bene one of the most celebrated figures of the Italian avant-garde in the second half of the 20th century.
Bene first made a name for himself with a controversial production of Camus’ Caligula in Rome in 1959. Subsequent productions retained this sense of notoriety, and Bene (like Pasolini) quickly acquired a police record. Bene, however, would come to bemoan the controversy his work created, because it attracted an audience looking for shocks and titillation, while he himself was more concerned with reinventing the vocabulary of the theater: sets, gestures, texts.
Bene’s turn to cinema expanded that quest to reinvent. His films resist synopsis because, although they are often derived from narrative sources, Bene uses these sources against themselves and as a springboard for his critique of the stultifying traps of representation and interpretation. The films are wildly inventive and visually arresting on several levels: the performance styles of his actors, including eccentric movements, gestures and grimaces; the sets, costumes and makeup; the editing; and the use of the camera, with stable shots regularly punctuated by handheld camera work, extreme close ups and the occasional baroque use of zooms, dollies, cranes, elaborate pans and exaggerated camera angles. They resemble something like the work of Jack Smith crossed with the experimental Pasolini of Teorema and Pigsty.
One constant feature of Bene’s work is its satire of heterosexuality. The two sexes keep trying to communicate with each other, but always fail to do so. Bene’s work constantly deflates masculinist pretenses at mastery: his male characters tend to be hapless and often hysterical, while his female characters are alternately predatory and remote, and unknowable in either case. But this satire is merely the most visible form of Bene’s revolt against convention and communication. Over and over again in the films, everyday actions become hopelessly complicated or endlessly interrupted. His characters often end up staring quizzically offscreen or even into mirrors, as if they were no more sure than we are of the meaning of what they see. Indeed, identity and by extension agency seem to get suspended, along with meaning. What is left is glorious spectacle and enigmas for the eyes and ears: endless music; babbling, stuttering text; excessive and exciting images. – David Pendleton
Questions about Carmelo Bene
How many Carmelo Bene films are in the catalogue?
The CineQuiz catalogue has 10 films with Carmelo Bene, from 1967 to 2017.
What is the best rated Carmelo Bene film?
The best rated Carmelo Bene film in the catalogue is Oedipus Rex (1967), rated 6.8.
What was the first Carmelo Bene film?
The first Carmelo Bene film in the catalogue is Oedipus Rex, from 1967.
People data: TMDb.
Known for
Full filmography
43 films — 10 in the catalogue
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La parte maledetta. Viaggio ai confini del teatro - Carmelo Bene
2024 · Himself (archive footage)
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È severamente vietata la sosta in palcoscenico ai non autorizzati. Un documentario di meno su Carmelo Bene
2024 · Himself (archive footage)
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Rushes di Otello
2023
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6.8 BENE! Vita di Carmelo, la macchina attoriale
2022
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Tracce di Bene
2017 · Self
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Lorenzaccio, al di là di de Musset e Benedetto Varchi
2003
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Necro not(to b)e
2003 · Sé stesso
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1.0 Otello o la deficienza della donna
2002
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7.6 Pinocchio, ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza
1999 · Pinocchio / Geppetto / Mastro Ciliegia / Grillo Parlante / Mangiafuoco / Volpe / Lucignolo
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Voce dei Canti
1998
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Macbeth Horror Suite
1997
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In-vulnerabilità d'Achille (tra Sciro e Ilio)
1997
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Canti Orfici
1996 · Himself
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Ai Rotoli
1996 · Self
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Carmelo Bene: Uno contro tutti
1994
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Cos'è il teatro?!
1990 · Himself
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3.0 Hommelette for Hamlet, operetta inqualificabile (da J. Laforgue)
1990 · Amleto
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L'Adelchi di Alessandro Manzoni in forma di concerto
1985
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Le tecniche dell'assenza
1984 · Self
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Manfred, versione per concerto in forma di oratorio
1983
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La poesia dimenticata
1982
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Riccardo III
1981 · Riccardo III
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Modi di vivere - Giorgio Colli. Una conoscenza per cambiare la vita
1980
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5.7 Amleto di Carmelo Bene (da Shakespeare a Laforgue)
1978 · Amleto
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Bene! Quattro diversi modi di morire in versi: Majakovskij-Blok-Esènin-Pasternak
1977
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4.7 Claro
1975
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7.5 One Hamlet Less
1973 · Hamlet
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Ventriloquio
1973 · Jean des Esseintes
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6.7 Salomé
1972 · Erode Antipa / Onorio
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7.5 Tre nel mille
1971 · Pannocchia
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4.8 Necropolis
1970 · Man with leather jacket
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5.4 Don Giovanni
1970 · Don Giovanni
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4.2 Red Hot Shot
1970 · Billy Desco
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6.0 Capricci
1969 · Poet
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6.2 Umano Non Umano
1969 · Self
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6.6 Our Lady of the Turks
1968 · The Protagonist
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Il barocco leccese
1968 · Voice over
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7.2 Hermitage
1968 · The Man
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6.2 Catch As Catch Can
1967 · Prete
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6.8 Oedipus Rex
1967 · Creon
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Il canto d'amore di Alfred J. Prufrock
1967
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Bis
1966
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Un'ora prima di Amleto, più Pinocchio
1965 · Himself
People data: TMDb.
Cast
