4. TOPIC B: Pier Paolo Pasolini & Susanna Maria Colussi

Pier Paolo Pasolini is one of my favorite Italian film directors, I love his way of capturing details, and his vision of stories. This picture was taken when he was filming "Il Vangelo secondo Matteo" (1964), which in my opinion, is one of the best films about the life of Jesus of Nazareth. 

He was very meticulous when choosing the actors, he wanted people who represented real life, not those typical Hollywood actors. So, he chose hard working people (people with no acting studies); and for Mary, he chose her mother: Susanna Maria Colussi. In the photograph you can see Pasolini and his mother, he is preparing her for the most important scene: the crucifixion of Jesus. 

The scene is heartbreaking, because Susanna -without any acting studies- personified that mother who loses her son. The performance was excellent, she portrayed a mother who the pain is so much, that she no longer has control over her body. Why did Pasolini chose her for this scene? For the reason that she lost her son Guidalberto Pasolini at the age of 19 (younger brother of the director), like Jesus, Guidalberto died at the hands of a revolution against fascism in his country, at the end of the Second World War. 

It is a photograph that reminds me of the calm and the storm, the affection and the pain, but above all: the memory.

        

Pier Paolo Pasolini and his mother, 1964.