Ernesto (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Ernesto |
| Original title | Ernesto |
| Country of production | Italy |
| original language | Italian |
| Publishing year | 1979 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Salvatore Samperi |
| script | Salvatore Samperi, Barbara Alberti , Amedeo Pagani |
| production |
Marco Tamburella , Michael Fengler , José Frade |
| music | Carmelo Bernaola |
| camera | Camillo Bazzoni |
| cut | Sergio Montanari |
| occupation | |
| |
Ernesto is an Italian film drama by Salvatore Samperi from the year 1979 . It is based on the novel of the same name by the writer Umberto Saba , which was first published posthumously in 1975.
action
The to Austria-Hungary belonging Trieste in 1911 : The 17-year-old Ernesto lives with his widowed mother in the house of his Jewish uncle Giovanni and his wife Regina. Because of his socialist views, expressed as much out of defiance as out of genuine conviction, Ernesto often comes into conflict with his uncle. Through his relatives, Ernesto got a solid job in the trading office of Carlo Wilder, an aging businessman who, despite his professional success, is more interested in his attempts at writing and who is depressed by the monotony of his life. Wilder pays his employees rather poorly than rightly, which his secretary Ernesto notes with dissatisfaction. He has little enthusiasm for his job because he would rather be a violin player .
One day one of the workers who transport Wilder's goods in sacks for little wages expresses a sexual interest in Ernesto. He is curious about the offer of the worker, who remains anonymous, knowing very well what the meeting is about. An intense relationship develops between Ernesto and the worker, in which Ernesto has his first sexual experiences with the much older and more experienced worker. But he is tenderly considerate of Ernesto's feelings and falls seriously in love. Ernesto becomes increasingly demanding and condescending towards the worker after he had an encounter with a prostitute and says that he is now a real man himself. Through a public scandal that ends with the suicide of a homosexual, Ernesto becomes aware of the dangerousness of his relationship and he breaks it off.
In order to avoid the worker in the future, Ernesto writes a provocative fire letter to Wilder, who then dismisses him. Ernesto's mother cannot understand her son's wish for his dismissal, whereupon he desperately confesses his affair with the worker. The mother reacts in shock and wishes the worker dead, although Ernesto confesses to her that he shares responsibility for the affair.
Ernesto is now trying to become a professional violin player. At a concert he meets the music-loving Ilio, the 15-year-old offspring of the rich Luzzato family. Ernesto now gives Ilio private lessons and an intense friendship develops, which ends in a kiss between the boys, which is observed by Ilio's sister, Rachel, who looks almost the same. Ernesto's triangular relationship with the two siblings is increasingly marked by jealousy and obsession between them. Rachele cuts her hair to please Ernesto's taste, while Ilio uses make-up and dresses feminine. Finally, Ernesto, socially conventional, opts for Rachele. Ernesto's family is thrilled that they can marry into such an important family. Carlo Wilder is more thoughtful and believes that for Ernesto, playing the violin will now become something like writing for him: a passion that has never been fully fulfilled in middle-class adult life. Ernesto meets the worker again, but treats him like a stranger and gives him some change.
background
Umberto Saba wrote the novel Ernesto , which is said to have some autobiographical traits, as an old man from 1953. It was immediately clear to him that he would not publish the work because of its content - it was only published by his daughter in 1975. Saba never finished the novel completely until his death in 1957, the plot breaks off at the point when Ernesto and Ilio become friends. Other differences between film and book are that Ernesto is only 16 years old in the book and the plot is set in 1897. Samperi's film, however, relocates the action to 1911, a few years before the outbreak of World War I , after which Trieste became an Italian city. The tensions between the Austrian and Italian identity of Trieste are hinted at in some scenes.
The figure of Ilios-looking sister Rachele (the siblings are played by Lara Wendel in a double role) and the final ending, with which Ernesto fits into society, were designed by Salvatore Samperi and his co-authors. Samperi commented on the chosen ending in relation to the beginning of the film, where the romance between Ernesto and the worker begins with a handshake: "Ernesto is an egoist and his story certainly cannot end with a handshake."
The film, shot in Trieste and the surrounding area, was co-produced by the German Albatros Produktion (Munich) and the Spanish José Frade Producciones Cinematografica (Madrid) in addition to the Clesi Cinematografica (Rome), which is also reflected in the internationally selected cast of Italian, German and Spanish Acting reflects. Peter Berling was responsible for translating the script's Italian dialogues for the German-speaking actors. For Martin Halm , who is a regular performer on German television to this day, the portrayal of Ernesto was the first major film role. Despite the German production company, there is no German dubbed version of the film, so the German DVD version by Ernesto released in April 2019 therefore contains German and English subtitles.
Awards
Ernesto was shown in the competition at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1979 , but the Golden Bear was ultimately awarded to Peter Lilienthal's film David . Michele Placido was awarded the Silver Bear for his portrayal of the worker .
Reviews
The film service writes: "Daring mixture of homoerotic melodrama and ironic comedy, told in exaggerated beautiful pictures."
Thomas Waugh in his work The Fruit Machine on queer cinema was of the opinion that Ernesto succeeded in the rare combination of convincing representation of realism and romanticism. The film shows dynamics between social classes and generations in a love relationship as well as the "rites of a gay initiation" credibly. On a more political level, it is a profound film about family and social control .
Web links
- Ernesto in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ ERNESTO by Umberto Saba, Estelle Gilson | Kirkus Reviews . ( kirkusreviews.com [accessed May 7, 2019]).
- ↑ G. Cestaro: Queer Italia: Same-Sex Desire in Italian Literature and Film . Springer, 2004, ISBN 978-1-4039-8259-9 ( google.de [accessed May 7, 2019]).
- ^ Ernesto (1979) - IMDb. Retrieved April 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Ernesto. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 22, 2020 .
- ^ Thomas Waugh: The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema . Duke University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8223-2468-3 ( google.de [accessed May 7, 2019]).