Elio Petri’s Cannes and Oscar-winning film is a riveting genre-bender—part pitch-black satire, part police-procedural, and part psychological thriller. A police chief murders his mistress, in an effort to prove that his position in society makes it impossible for him to be caught. The film is a scathing critique of the excesses of power, the distortion of truth, and the absurdity of absolute authority.
I remember watching the film in the middle of the Covid lockdown, as part of an exercise where I asked my filmmaker friends to recommend standouts from their national cinema. Investigation felt like a thunderbolt, inspiring me with Elio’s vivid ability to deftly combine complex themes with Hitchcockian suspense—as well as a richly perverse sense of humour. His roving camera transforms from close-ups to perspective shots, and is always on the move, giving the film a frenetic sense of pace. The close-ups on his characters as they grapple with authoritarian terror fuel this sense of urgency, making the film feel deeply contemporary. Power, sex, and politics—the film resonates with today’s political climate as significantly as it did when it debuted in 1970. The film inspired me to consider the personal as political, and the fundamental horror of unchecked power.
Zarrar Kahn, Leading Lights Curator
Supported by
Gian Maria Volontè, Florinda Bolkan, Gianni Santuccio, Orazio Orlando, Sergio Tramonti, Arturo Dominici
Italy
1970
In Italian with English subtitles
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Credits & Director
Producer
Marina Cicogna, Daniele Senatore
Screenwriter
Ugo Pirro, Elio Petri
Cinematography
Luigi Kuveiller
Editor
Ruggero Mastroianni
Production Design
Romano Cardarelli
Original Music
Ennio Morricone
Elio Petri
Elio Petri was an influential Italian filmmaker known for his provocative and socially critical works. Born in Rome in 1929, Petri gained acclaim with his films such as Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His body of work includes notable films like The 10th Victim (1965) and The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971), exploring themes of power, class, and societal norms until his death in 1982.
Filmography: His Days Are Numbered (1962); We Still Kill the Old Way (1967); The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971); Todo Modo (1976)
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