Béatrice Cenci

There has been a number of films made on the strange traqedy of the Cenci family, and one of the most noticeable dramatizations of the case was made by Percy Bysshe Shelley in his only major drama. The mystery of the murder of Francesco Cenci, the tyrannic father of four children with two wives, has never been entirely solved, as many questions remain unanswered still today. The fact is that the daughter, her stepmother, her brothers and one more were executed for the murder of the monstrous bully, and all films about it have offered romanticised versions of the drama. This one from 1941 is still one of the best, telling the story straight, weaving a love affair into it, in gorgeous renaissance colours and costumes and great acting but still keeping it all rather detached, like almost all films, apparently rerluctant to tell the whole truth, which involves the father's terrible vices and his continuous acts of incest, which Beatrice Cenci reported to the authorities but no one did anything about. This film concentrates on the tragedy and leaves all the actual atrocities unsaid. I believe only Polansky could have made a true film of the continuously disturbing case.