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Of all Faust stories this film is the beautiful one: no demonetization of either devil or human. Every one in film are very human in their needs and their deeds. Devil gives the youth to Faust, not to have his earlier youth but any youth with which Faust can live his unlived life. Devil here is the defender of man, the one heavenly body that knows what it is to be old, near dying, weak and soft in head. Devil has pity of man that God never had, God only had plans. This message is deliberating and gives beauty to life, any life, but certainly to that new youth Faust has in this story. He really sees why his life went unlived and he knows - thanks to Devil himself - how to live it now. Gerard Philipe is great and convincing in the role of Faust: one believes that that youthful charm, energy and elan is intellectual, too. He might have been a Nietzsche of his days, in Medieval Time, full of attitude and vital in intellect! A great movie, real antidote to those German versions of Faust where Faust is just a bad dream of commerce.

Marco Ferreri never left any stone unturned: here he whips new ways to colonize African countries. Europeans may not plunder African countries like a gang of robbers, anymore, but the development aid given to underdeveloped countries may be understood by them as a recent form of colonialism and patriarchal-ism. Ferreri shows the heavy technological infrastructure needed when food or other aid are shipped, conveyed and stored for those in need. The aggressive knowledge, the power and sudden attack on unknown deserts are the ways European know. They are not asking whether Africans need all that modern stuff they are getting from Europe. And so, when something goes wrong, technology fails and fantasy is too limited to pick up the reality, anything can happen! The film is like a huge journey uphill where everything will change, new rules are applied and "good" has an unexpected meaning. This film really makes one ask how we should help those in need; or should we at all?

This is Cavani's most influential film. No one interested in Nietzsche or Salomé can leave this film without notice! The interpretation of some of Nietzsche's main ideas are well articulated and visually made comprehensible so that they both win in depth and become even more enticing. Cavani uses Mozart's music in a way that makes your spine tinkle. Spiritism, Mozart and a life just petered out make together a scene that is overwhelming in meanings. Most of the philosophical points are given in visual argumentation; that makes the film a real treasure box for anyone interested in visual thinking and its art. In this film Cavani has also developed a cinematic language she nowhere else applies. She uses pictorial mementos known to most of us and plays a semiotic game that makes quite common scenes to grow ambiguous, even breathtaking. The film is really not to be recommended to anyone, since without basic knowledge in Nietzsche and Belle Epoque one can't enjoy the story. But for those who are even cursorily familiar with the scene the film will be a revelation.