Silent Echoes
Unveiling Puccini's Hidden Truths in the Wordless Film Puccini e la fanciulla (2008) by Paolo Benvenuti
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2747701 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Barbara Salani (Florida Atlantic University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 101 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 592-624 |
| Publication date | 2024-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Italica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-3020 • E-ISSN: 2325-6672 |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.5406/23256672.101.4.06 |
| OpenAlex | W4411172144 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
A recent yet overlooked Italian film-Puccini e la fanciulla (Puccini and the Girl) by Paolo Benvenuti-delves into the life of national icon and renowned composer Giacomo Puccini. This cinematic exploration presents a fresh perspective on the composer's biography, balancing fiction and historical representation, prompting questions about the essence of film historiography. Can movies genuinely reflect historical events, or do they inevitably drift into the realm of fiction? Benvenuti's discovery of a secret suitcase containing letters, original photos, and the documentary film Un Giorno con Puccini (A Day with Puccini, 1915) enriches the narrative, revealing Puccini's real life in Torre del Lago. Drawing inspiration from silent films of Puccini's era, Puccini e la fanciulla uniquely narrates without traditional dialogue. Instead, it relies on the newly found genuine letters exchanged among characters, including those written by the composer. This article offers a profound exploration of the innovative storytelling techniques used by Benvenuti to portray a critical moment in the life of Puccini: the tragic and controversial episode involving the suicide of his maid, Doria Manfredi, in January 1909. Benvenuti, renowned for his dedication to cinematic purity, presents a groundbreaking silent film, engaging with film techniques reminiscent of the composer's own era. This feature is innovative in contemporary Italian cinema, creating a modern historical film completely devoid of dialogue. This method aligns with Benvenuti's belief that cinema's universal language was compromised with the advent of sound. Consequently, while a conventional script containing spoken dialogue is notably absent, a meticulously crafted screenplay guides the sequence of scenes, serving as a framework for post-production editing. This article will describe the movie by grounding it on recent discussions on historiography, while delineating the figure of the filmmaker as historian
Art · Italian Literature and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Visual Culture and Art Theory
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |