Director: Mauro Bolognini
Screenplay: Fulvio Gicca Palli, Ugo Liberatore
Starring: Alain Cuny, Jacques Perrin, Rosanna Schiaffino
Country: Italy
Running Time: 82 minutes
Year: 1963
BBFC Certificate: 12
Corruption in all its forms is a theme is as old as cinema itself. This particular variation on this age-old scourge was brought forth by the director Mauro Bolignini, one of the great figures of post-war Italian cinema. His work spanned more than three decades on both stage and screen, and he worked with many luminaries of this golden period including Claudia Cardinale and Marcello Mastroianni (for his best regarded film Il bell’Antonio/Handsome Antonio in 1960), and frequently collaborated with Pier Paolo Pasolini during his early days as screenwriter. However, most of not all of Bolognini’s work remains unknown outside of Italy, and so this limited edition blu ray release by Radiance Films of Corruption, one of his finest works, will hopefully bring his filmography to a wider audience.
Stefano (Jacques Perrin) is a young man on the verge of graduating from a Catholic-run boarding school in Switzerland, but before he and his classmates graduate from their secluded surroundings, they receive a lecture from their schoolmaster on the dangers that await them outside. He firmly informs them that they are now part of a battle between capitalism and ‘Marxism’, and that they are assuredly on the side of the bourgeoisie in this class struggle. This is quite an extraordinary beginning to what is an excoriating dive into the emerging battlegrounds within Italian society in the early to mid 1960s. Stefano’s earnest aim is to become a priest, and whilst he seems to have the world before him as he prepares to return home to Milan, in reality he is actually stood on the verge of a precipice. Stefano’s father Leonardo (played with supreme confidence by veteran actor Alain Cuny) is a highly successful media magnate, who welcomes his son home with a vision of his son loyally at his side whilst his empire continues to expand. His palatial home is stuffed with the material signs of prestige and success, although all is not what it seems. His estranged wife (Isa Miranda) is locked away in a private clinic and clearly kept drugged up and paranoid. Nothing, seemingly stands in the way of Leonardo’s position as a power broker in Milan – except his son’s desire to disavow everything that he has built.
Corruption is a searing indictment of a society at the cusp of momentous change, with a brilliantly charged screenplay delivering up scabrous dialogue that crackles with cynicism; at one point an author admired by Stefano and employed by Leonardo announces that ‘Italy has no place for ideas, but is full of household goods’. Practically every word uttered by Leonardo is a ruthless platitude about the importance of money, whilst Stefano offers his own withering assessment to Adriana (Rosanna Schiaffino): ‘any world where my father is right cannot be good’. The ideological pressure and sheer overwhelming cognitive dissonance that Stefano has to endure gives this film a prescience that is all too relevant to the 21st century, not just 1963. No wonder film goers spurned this bracing film at the time. This battle between the generations could easily become caricatured, but Bolognini’s assured direction, Leonida Barboni’s skilled cinematography and the quality of the actors’ performances give this tale real depth and emotional resonance, despite a lean runtime of just 82 minutes. Special mention must be made of former model Rosanna Schiaffino’s irresistible performance as Adriana; her smoky voice and spectacular beauty are absolutely critical to this essence of what the film is about.
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
- 2K restoration
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- New interview with critic and programmer Adrian Wootton (2026, 25 mins)
- Archival interview with producers Alfredo Bini and Manolo Bolognini (2007, 17 mins)
- Newly improved English subtitle translation
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by film scholar Marco Natoli
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
The special features for this release are few but are essential additions. When someone as important as Adrian Wooton, Chief Executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, goes to bat for a film, you know that you in for something very special, which Corruption undoubtedly is. He rightly describes the film as ‘a vicious morality play’, and delves with enthusiasm into the themes within the film, whilst also providing an excellent overview of Mauro Bolognini’s career in Italian cinema. This is a superb special feature that will hopefully open the gateway to more of his films being released for home cinema.
The archive feature with Alfredo Bini and Manolo Bologinin provide more testimonies to both Corruption and their other collaborations with Mauro. Bini is the epitome of an old school film producer, egotistical and crude but also a man of immense charm and a perceptive eye for trends.
The accompanying booklet sadly was not made available for me to review.
Of all of Radiance’s upcoming September releases. Corruption is the pitch-black jewel hiding in plain sight.