L'assoluto naturale

Even before watching L'ASSOLUTO NATURALE (HE AND SHE), you know it's an experimental film since none of the characters have any names assigned. An extremely offbeat movie for Italian maestro Mauro Bolognini, it rests firmly and I daresay permanently in obscurity, but is worth watching if you are interested in experimental cinema.

This does not fit into any convenient genre, hence has no modern-day audience (see: gialli, horror, sex, gore, police action, or Spaghetti westerns for current Italian fandom). What we have is a mysterious romance involving an uninhibited woman and a dour photographer, shot in strange interiors and abstract sports-car-on-the-highway to nowhere exteriors from Antonioni land.

I bought the classic Morricone soundtrack LP nearly 40 years ago, played it endlessly and finally got to see the movie just recently. Among its pleasures is the spotlighting of Sylva Koscina (even delivering full frontal nudity), an unappreciated icon of Italian cinema who has appeared in dozens of classics dating all the way back to Pietro Germi's THE RAILROAD MAN. What a thrill to see her dominating a movie, the way the Lorens, Lollobrigidas, Manganos, Magnanis, Gastonis and later the Antonellis, Sandrellis, Grandis and Belluccis were permitted to on a regular basis. Hiding behind oversize dark glasses (and often little else), she is a terrific presence here.

Not so is producer/star Laurence Harvey. I'm a Harvey fan, especially of his early '50s Lewis Gilbert films, his breakthrough at the end of that decade in EXPRESSO BONGO (probably his finest work), and of course his crazy cannibal finale WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH. But he miscast himself here -all wrong for the part. As the guy pursuing Koscina, he should have cast one of the many James Dean imitators of the era (Zalman King, Michael Parks, Jordan Christopher, Christopher Jones), any of whom would have been perfect, looking sexy & brooding. Instead, Harvey at age 40 looks decades older, and is thoroughly unromantic with his sunken cheeks and scruffy facial hair.

Though most of the film is relatively abstract, their are horrific/surreal elements, including a rape that may or may not have happened, an odd sequence guest starring Isa Miranda (supporting cast has little to do in this basically two-hander format) with Harvey confronted by old people, and even a cryptic discussion of Baron Munchhausen. Coincidentally, it's the kind of film that would not be out of place programmed alongside a Terry Gilliam opus.

The Morricone score hypnotically knits it all together -you can't go wrong hunting down to see at last one of the rare films of his (GIORDANO BRUNO, MADDALENA, OCEANA) known only by its music.

For Bolognini fans, this is not a fabulous costume drama nor one of his brilliant '50s neo-Realist Pasolini adaptations, but is worth completing. I also recommend his much-maligned late softcore masterpiece LA VENEXIANA -if you can see that beauty in 35MM.

There are more than just two stars in Bolognini's rather fabulous 1969 obscurity - as another reviewer correctly noted, Koscina looks amazing in an array of fright wigs, Fendi jackets and tons of make up, keeping a cold, detached appearance throughout, pursued by Harvey's elaborate sideburns - they were probably thought of as very hip at the time. They drive around, often recklessly, in an orange Iso Grifo (the third star of the film) and discuss (at considerable lengths) each other, love, emotions and many other things to Morricone's truly invigorating score (the last, probably the ultimate star of the film). The encounter - more a pick up, really - seems promising enough at first but soon things turn sour as she becomes aware that he is really projecting a lot of his own fantasies onto her and she's having none of it - "sono una donna reale!" she exclaims angrily at some point. From there on, things are destined for an unhappy ending - operatic, almost - but then we are in Italy and it all fits nicely, even if perhaps we are left slightly underwhelmed afterwards. Shame that the only source readily available for viewing is a very smudgy You Tube upload, but you still get a very good idea about what kind of film it is - abstract, slow, enigmatic and, most of all, wholly driven and bound together by that music....oh, that music. It deserves a separate, much more detailed analysis, but I'm sure the opening title made a lasting impact on one young Michael Nyman, for instance, and probably many other musical reductionists. If you're in the mood for a fantastic audio-visual time capsule, step in and watch with patience - you're unlikely to be disappointed.

Where does one start with this film? No names here, just genders! HE is played by Laurence Harvey who also produced. SHE is Sylva Koscina. One either regards her as a sexually liberated woman or praying mantis and either pities him for his love or despises him for his weakness. He finally breaks free and there is a momentary flash of regret in her eyes but then comes the sting in the tail..... Koscina is superb in the role, by turns tantalising and monstrous and Harvey, who certainly did not win any popularity contests amongst his peers, proves once more what a marvellous film actor he is. Director Mauro Bolognini again shows his mastery of the medium. The cinemtography by Enno Guarnieri is stunning. He shot 'Garden of the Finzi-Continis' the following year. Art direction by Giorgio Bini captures the emptiness of modern urban life and there is a haunting score by Morricone. A scene involving her ageing female relatives is Fellini-like. Some might call this film 'arty', some 'experimental' but whatever label one chooses to attach, this a well-made, well-acted film that holds one's interest which is all that really matters. Seeing the plight of Harvey's character calls to mind Shakespeare's words:......'all this the world well knows but none knows well to shun the heaven that leads men to this hell'.