Vincere

2009 Italian film

Vincere

English-language poster

Directed by| Marco Bellocchio
Written by| Marco Bellocchio
Daniela Ceselli
Produced by| Mario Gianani
Starring| Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Filippo Timi
Cinematography| Daniele Ciprì
Edited by| Francesca Calvelli
Music by| Carlo Crivelli
Distributed by| 01 Distribution
IFC Films

Release dates

* 19 May 2009 (2009-05-19) (Cannes Festival)
* 20 May 2009 (2009-05-20) (Italy)
* 25 November 2009 (2009-11-25) (France)

Running time

| 128 minutes
Countries| Italy
France
Language| Italian
Budget| 9 million €
Box office| 2,089,000 €

Vincere (in English, 'To Win') is a 2009 Italian biographical historical drama film based on the life of Benito Mussolini's first wife, Ida Dalser. It stars Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Dalser and Filippo Timi as Mussolini. It was filmed under the direction of Marco Bellocchio, who also wrote the screenplay with Daniela Ceselli, and it was released 22 May 2009 in Italy. It was the only Italian film in competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.[1]

It won four Silver Hugos at the Chicago International Film Festival (Best Actor (Filippo Timi), Best Actress (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), Best Director and Best Cinematography (Daniele Ciprì).[2] and won four Silver Ribbon (Actress (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), Cinematography, Editing and Art Direction). Giovanna Mezzogiorno was rewarded with the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress 2010.

## Plot

[edit]

The film opens in 1907, with Ida Dalser watching a speech by the young journalist and socialist Benito Mussolini. She immediately falls in love with him, and they begin a torrid affair. Mussolini initially opposes Italian involvement in the European Great War, but then reverses his position. This leads to his expulsion from the Socialist Party, and he develops a new political philosophy, which will become fascism. He decides to start a newspaper to expound his views, and Dalser sells all her belongings to finance it. They have a son, Benito, then Mussolini goes to war, and Dalser does not hear from him for a long time. When she does, he is in hospital recovering from wounds, but when she goes to visit him, she finds that he has a new wife and a daughter. Dalser insists that he is legally married to her, but he denies it.

From then on, Mussolini appears in the film only in newsreels, reflecting the fact that Dalser never sees him in person again. By the early 1920s, he is Italy's leader, and in the process of concluding a concordat with the Vatican. Dalser intensifies her campaign to prove that she is Mussolini's wife and that her son, Benito Albino, is legitimate. She finds that all the might of the fascist state is turned against her. She is committed to an asylum, and when she continues to protest from there by writing to the newspapers, and even to the Pope, Benito Albino is committed to a different asylum. Dalser descends gradually into madness. Although the film ends with a caption listing the official cause for their deaths (Dalser in 1937 and Benito Albino in 1942), the film's last scenes hint at the possibility that one or both of them were murdered.

## Cast

[edit]

* Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida Dalser
* Filippo Timi as both Benito Mussolini and Benito Albino Mussolini
* Michela Cescon as Rachele Guidi
* Fausto Russo Alesi as Riccardo Paicher
* Pier Giorgio Bellocchio as Pietro Fedele
* Corrado Invernizzi as Dottor Cappelletti
* Nataliya Kozhenova as Suora

## Reception

[edit]

The film received universal acclaim from film critics. Vincere has an approval rating of 91% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 93 reviews, and an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus states: " "Part political treatise, part melodrama, Marco Bellocchio's Mussolini biopic forsakes historical details in favor of absorbing emotion -- and provides a showcase for a stunning performance from Giovanna Mezzogiorno."[3] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[4]

Vincere was well received by French critics during the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and was considered to be a possible Palme d'Or contender, along with Un Prophète from Jacques Audiard and (the eventual winner) The White Ribbon from Michael Haneke.[5]

In the Los Angeles Times, critic Saul Austerlitz wrote:"Vincere is a melodrama with pretensions to the operatic, but it is also, like all of Bellocchio’s work, a study in human frailty and grace -- a black canvas studded with shafts of brilliant light."[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Vincere". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
2. ^ Awards for 2009 (Retrieved Nov. 9, 2015).
3. ^ "Vincere".
4. ^ "Vincere".
5. ^ Audiard, Haneke ou Bellochio? in Le Monde
6. ^ Austerlitz, Saul. "Marco Bellocchio, perennial provocateur". LATimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 March 2010.

## External links

[edit]

* Vincere at IMDb
* Vincere at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Benito Mussolini

Head of the Government and Duce of Fascism (1922–1943)
Assassination attempts * Death

Politics|

* Duce
* Fascist Manifesto
* Italian Fascism
* Spazio vitale
* Economic policies
* Racist policies
* Leggi razziali
* Manifesto della razza
* Fascist propaganda
* Model of masculinity
* Rome–Berlin Axis
* Pact of Steel

Events|

* March on Rome
* Mussolini Cabinet
* Second Italo-Ethiopian War
* Foundation of the Empire
* Spanish Civil War
* Invasion of Albania
* World War II
* Mussolini's escape
* Italian Civil War
* Dongo Treasure

Elections|

* 1924 general election
* 1929 general election
* 1934 general election

Political parties|

* Italian Socialist Party (1901–1914)
* Fascio d'Azione Rivoluzionaria (1914–1919)
* Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (1919–1921)
* National Fascist Party (1921–1943)
* Republican Fascist Party (1943–1945)

Family|

* Rachele Mussolini (wife)
* Clara Petacci (lover)
* Ida Dalser (wife)
* Margherita Sarfatti (lover)
* Edda Mussolini (daughter)
* Vittorio Mussolini (son)
* Bruno Mussolini (son)
* Romano Mussolini (son)
* Maria Scicolone (daughter-in-law)
* Alessandra Mussolini (granddaughter)
* Rachele Mussolini (granddaughter)
* Fabrizio Ciano, 3rd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari (grandson)
* Romano Floriani Mussolini (great-grandson)

Popular culture|

* Television:
* Dwight's Speech
* Mussolini: Son of the Century

* Books:
* Mussolini diaries
* Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall
* M: Son of the Century

* Films:
* Benito
* The Eternal City
* Mussolini and I
* I'm Back
* The Killers of Mussolini
* Last Days of Mussolini
* Mussolini Speaks
* Mussolini: The Untold Story
* Vincere

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Marco Bellocchio

* La colpa e la pena (1961)
* Fists in the Pocket (1965)
* China Is Near (1967)
* Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina (1972)
* Victory March (1976)
* Il gabbiano (1977)
* A Leap in the Dark (1980)
* The Eyes, the Mouth (1982)
* Henry IV (1984)
* Devil in the Flesh (1986)
* The Witches' Sabbath (1988)
* The Conviction (1991)
* The Butterfly's Dream (1994)
* The Prince of Homburg (1996)
* The Nanny (1999)
* My Mother's Smile (2002)
* Good Morning, Night (2003)
* The Wedding Director (2006)
* Vincere (2009)
* Dormant Beauty (2012)
* Blood of My Blood (2015)
* Sweet Dreams (2017)
* The Traitor (2019)
* Marx Can Wait (2021)
* Exterior Night (2022)
* Kidnapped (2023)

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