THE FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS, SAINT FRANCIS, GOD’S JESTER
Italy, 1950
Original title: Francesco giullare di Dio
Director: Roberto Rossellini. Story: Roberto Rossellini, from ‘The flowers of St Francis’ by Ugolino da Brunforte and from ‘The life of Brother Ginepro’ (XIV century). Screenplay: Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, Brunello Rondi, father Antonio Lisandrini, father Félix Morlion. Director of Photography: Otello Martelli. Editor: Jolanda Benvenuti. Art director: Virgilio Marchi. Music: Renzo Rossellini. Cast and characters: Nazario Gerardi (Saint Francis), Aldo Fabrizi (the tyrant Nicolaio), Peparuolo (Giovanni the nitwit), Aribella Lemaître (Santa Chiara), Severino Pisacane (frier Ginepro), Giovanni Bellini and Renzo Rossellini (narrators).Production: Rizzoli e C., Produzione Film Giuseppe Amato. Length: 87’.
Format: DCP. Source and under licence from Janus Films Company
Original verison. Subtitles: English
Restoration in 2021 by Cineteca di Bologna and The Film Foundation in collaboration with RTI-Mediaset and Infinity+ in the L’Immagine Ritrovata workshop. With the support of the Hobson/ Lucas Family Foundation.
Before giving instructions to his disciples to bring the word of God throughout the world, Francis of Assisi lived with them in community. Various episodes, reported in the Little Flowers, illustrate the lifestyle of the saint and the order he founded.
“Francis, God’s jester tells about a religious brotherhood, the one of St Francis and his humble disciples. The film is completely absent from the serious approach that characterises most religious films and which for the lay viewer is often an indication of hypocrisy and fiction. An essential clue is the title. [..] In the context of ‘historical neorealism’ St. Francs is one of the first films in which the distant past emerges with an immediacy that makes it comparable to the present. We viewers have the feeling that Roberto Rossellini is documenting with his camera a selection of ‘fioretti’ from the wanderings of Francis of Assisi and his brothers. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ‘Gospel according to Matthew’ owes everything to Rossellini’s essential intuition. We face a rare experience, a captivating, wise, simple and multilayered film, one of those blessed works that not only renew our perception of the cinema, but also shake our worldview. “(Peter von Bagh)
Sunday 22 May 2022, h. 9:00 pm