Quei loro incontri

This is a challenging film, that ignores the conventions of filmmaking, instead utilising the techniques of 'epic theatre' extolled by Bertold Brecht. The audience is presented with a narrative that is entirely spoken in a series of exchanges between amateur actors who do not move or 'act' out scenes, they simply stand and deliver dialogue. The dialogue is based on the five final scenes of Cesare Pavese's Dialogues with Leucrò, a series of meditations on human destiny, both comical and tragic, between ancient Greek mythological figures. Having a story told with no attempt to convey it visually, via action, props, setting or costume, forces the audience to focus on the words and doesn't allow them to suspend their disbelief. This is a film and the audience should remain conscious of that throughout, at least that's the theory.

Straub and Huillet made many films in this style, which is ambitious, if not entertaining. They address large themes in an uncompromising style, which is admirable, but ultimately this film is an experiment in filmed theatre that could only play at film festivals or in galleries/museums.

This is one of the worst movies I've seen. It's unavoidable staring a comment on this movie like this. 1 hour, 8 minutes, 2 people, a rural/bucolic scenery and a conversation about gods, mortals and death. Change the scenery and the 2 people from time to time but keep the utterly boring conversation and you've got 'Quei loro incontri'.

The readers in the movie (yes, I don't consider them actors here) read out loud those fantastically boring lines of text with awful intonations, one exception was the male in the scene prior to the last which had quite a good intonation actually. His script was read almost conversationally, an extreme contrast to the other readers...

The only viewable scenes are a few camera movements about the lusciously bucolic sceneries and the fantastic, superb, ending music... Oh, how I loved those moments of blackness without the tedious conversations and with some bearable music :)