All language subtitles for Enfants de Salò

One, two, one, two, one.

THE CHILDREN OF SALO
- There you go, better?

INTERVIEWS WITH FOUR FILMMAKERS
- My ears!

Can you hear?
- I can hear, but...

D0 you have five minutes?

Shall we start?

S0, your first impression of Salo,
your earliest memories.

My earliest memories, well
I had heard about it from my father.

He had seen...

I wasn't living in France at the time,
and he had sent letters saying:

"I saw a powerful film called Salo
he explained a little what it was about.

And then, a bit later,

then I was in France,
and later even, five years later,

I turned 18, and my mum was the one
who brought me to see Salo.

She saw it as a useful movie
that she had to show her kids

and discuss it with them,
so my mum and I went to see Salo.

It was in the Latin Quarter.

You see...

The film is what it is.
it's raw, it's powerful.

I can't remember what my mum and I
spoke about afterwards, but...

it's definitely the most...

it's hard to watch, so you don't need
to watch it again for a long time.

I think I only saw it again
ten years later,

on video tape, but ten years later
it was like I had seen it the day before,

that's how memorable it was.

I saw it when it came out,
in '75, '76, at La Pagode.

I'm not anxious
when I go to the movies, I feel like...

I don't scare easily.
I'm a very fearful person normally, but...

for me, being a spectator
is connecting with a film.

S0 I...

I watched the film intently,

unreserved,

and I think it happened...

just before the Circle of Shit,
with the nails in the polenta.

I started feeling very uneasy,

and I didn't realise,
because I had never fainted before,

and never have again,
but I fainted,

during the Circle of Shit,
and I left.

I know I went to the toilet,
I went outside.

I came back
when I felt better,

and I stayed until the end,

but there was a whole chunk of the film
that I hadn't seen.

I was so ashamed,
I felt...

ejected from the film,

and I was ashamed,
as if I hadn't been a loyal spectator,

or I hadn't been
a trusting spectator,

and that...

I had rejected something
that had been offered to me,

so I felt terribly ashamed.

I actually bought the video tape,

and I held onto it for a long time,
and just put it in a corner,

and...

I just put off watching it, because
I knew it wasn't going to be an easy watch.

Then, one night,
I just decided to watch it,

alone.

And indeed, it wasn't light-hearted.

I think that...

What I expected to happen, happened,
so I think there was...

a pre-Salo and a post-Salo,
a pre-viewing and a post-viewing,

which has nothing to do with
the cinematography, but with the storyline.

What I think is true,
but perhaps a bit simplified,

is that film is the art
of the 20th century,

that the tragedies of World War ll
were the worst of the century,

it's the film of the century.

I think there's something about
cinema history that stops here,

that brings us here.

Then, something else begins.

It isn't the biggest film
in cinema history,

but possibly the most important one.

There's a strong link between
cinema history

and... the history of the war,

and the story of 20th century

that link happens in '75
with this film.

I saw this film
just before working on Romance.

I was in shook, and thought
it was horrendous.

It wasn't the right time
for me to see it.

For example, with the topics
of censorship and violence

and the effects on people,

I think it's an excessively violent film

and you have to be ready to see it,
you have to take the initiative.

But I also think that
it may be the only film in the world

that has... and I think this is why
it is one of the best films in the world,

that needs to exist, even if
you aren't able to watch it.

Because not everyone
is able to watch it.

Not because of the film itself,

but because it may not be
the right time in a person's life

to see it, it has to be seen
at a specific time,

when one is strong enough.

But it has to exist.

And I really do want to see it again.

But when I do,
it will be the only thing in my life

that I will be doing at that time:
seeing it.

Once you've seen it
for the first time,

you know what to expect,

so you don't react in the same way.

People have talked so much
about Salo

that most people who watch it

already know that there is
a Circle of Sex, a Circle of Shit,

a Circle of Blood,
that there will be torture scenes.

S0 people go and see it
when they are ready.

But I think it's more interesting
if you see it unprepared

without knowing anything about it
and seeing it for the first time.

When I saw it again recently,

I felt as if the film hadn't aged,

it's still the most radical film
about violence

inflicted on humans that was made
over the last few decades.

This year, when the film was screened
once again at Reflet Medicis,

I didn't leave, I saw the whole film,
I watched it twice,

two nights in a row.

But I do feel very powerless,
watching this film,

very...

it's a very physical film

and while I try to hold onto
thoughts and contemplation,

everything I feel for Pasolini,

the trust,

and despite everything in the film,
it's as if I, too,

was offered polenta
with nails in it.

I think that the most memorable
and terrifying scenes,

and I mean literally terrifying,

like the terror
that was experienced at the time,

were the reading scenes,

which I find absolutely...

I can't really remember
how they were done,

I think they might even
be badly done,

but those reading scenes,

I find them incredible,

and almost sadistic.

They are completely terrifying,

even more so than...

but it's a contrast, the film
was very well put together,

at least from what I remember,
because I don't remember that aspect.

It's a contrast with the violent
and disgusting scenes,

the different Circles.

But that's what I found
most memorable.

It's obviously the scene
in which we're on both sides.

Where the young man
who was a hostage

and goes over to the abductors' side,

and revels in seeing
what's happening to him,

because it takes two in torture,
the torturer and the victim.

You do to others
what you symbolically do to yourself.

They were horrific murders
and unthinkable cruelty.

How can people take it?

We look at ourselves and wonder
how we would react if it were done to us,

except we're the ones doing it.

There has never been
a scene like that.

There has never been a scene
that has explained

sadism, masochism, cruelty,

and the enjoyment of cruelty
in that way.

Visually, the film is striking,

because the atmosphere of the film
is very powerful from start to finish.

But visually, there is a visual element
at the end of the film

that is memorable,

which is the torture scenes
that are seen through binoculars.

Because the edge of the screen
is rounded,

lt feels like more of a mental picture
than the rest of the film

and because of that,
it's what stays stuck in my head

because of
its particular cinematography.

The first real utterance

after the characters,
those four twisted guys,

say "Your Excellence, President", etc,

I think someone signs a book in which
there are laws to abide by in the castle,

and they say: "All things are good
when taken to excess".

I don't know where that's from,
but it reflects the film quite well,

because Pasolini
took this film to the extreme.

I don't think he could have done it
any other way.

This is the type of film where
you can't decide that you'll remember

something more than something else.

I think it's a film
that's seen as an entity,

and that's it.

Those who have seen the movie
can talk about the real struggle

to bear the Circle of Shit,

more so than the executions
at the end of the film,

which is very interesting to me.

I still wonder why I fainted
at that point in the movie

as opposed to the executions that are seen
through windows and binoculars,

how that can be more bearable.

That's all I really remember,

the idea...

of submission,
of a body being surrendered.

What it did to me, was...

feeling the effects 0f fascism,

whereas before, in history classes
or watching films,

fantastic documentaries,
amazing testimonials,

I knew about it,
I understood it,

and in this case,
you feel it,

but that's because this film
focuses on fascination

and not just accusation.

S0 it's a film
that really does something,

it isn't just descriptive,
it really does something.

S0 we realise the extent

of both the fragility and power
of the brain,

of how rapidly you can go
from one to the other,

of how easy it would be to be
with the fascists and not the victims,

of how much you always need to think

in order to escape it.

And that's how I felt
from the beginning.

I think that everyone should get to
a point in their life

where they are able to watch it.

If you are only able to watch
reality shows your whole life,

or feel-good movies, such as
Gone with the Wind, something like that,

it means that you missed the important
things, you didn't live properly.

You just ran from life.

S0 everyone should be able to watch it
at some point in their life,

or they didn't have a life.

Easy.

It's also a film
that can describe, in a way,

the atmosphere in concentration camps
during World War ll

while films
that actually describe life there

often leave out the torture
and degradation inflicted on others.

It's reassuring knowing that
this film was made

and still exists today,

because it means we can talk about things,
nothing is taboo that we can't talk about...

You know.

There's hope for filmmakers
that created films later on,

because you think that even though
you can't exactly replicate this film,

it means that there is freedom
of expression in the film industry.

I think that when the film came out,
it was...

a bit buried under tragedy,

the death of Pasolini,

and perhaps today
it can be seen in a better light,

it's more powerful because
there aren't any events surrounding it.

Maybe.

It's educational,

and I think it needs to be seen
at a young age

to people who are learning
about the 20th century.

They say a picture is worth
a thousand words, and in this case,

it's true, but not when it comes to
the violent images,

but really on the structure of the film,
on its slowness.

The woman who tells the stories,
the people who listen,

their facial expressions
say a lot.

S0 it's the way it was made.

That's why I think
it needs to be watched alone,

whether it's a video tape
or at the cinema, it doesn't matter.

But it has to be watched alone,
because...

it's easy not to see it,

if someone else is there,
because you think,

I don't want to see this, I don't want
to talk about this, what will I see?

L'll see a tongue being ripped out,
I'll see people eating shit,

I'll see violent things,
disgusting things.

But that's not what's important,
it's a whole other level.

When you're alone,
you experience that other level.

S0 I see the educational aspect
of the film.

It needs to be shown
to students early on,

to high school kids,

they need to watch the film
alone for two hours,

and I don't think there's a need
to speak to them about it.

It's all about action.

L think people need to watch Salo
when they feel like it.

It's good that it's available
for people to watch

either on video tape, on TV,
on DVD, whatever they want.

I think that it's useless
in the hands of a child.

I thought I was mature enough
to watch it at age 18.

I'm not sure whether a 10 year old kid
would be able to connect with it

or if it would benefit them at age 10,
I don't think it would.

There's pre-Salo and post-Salo,
it's a cornerstone

not only of international cinema

but of a unique vision
that a film can offer

as opposed to literature,
for example.

That's why it's an important film,
the story that Salo tells,

literature cannot tell
in the same way.

That is why it had never been told.

I think.

It's a very harsh realisation,

it's incredible, because we are always
trying not to be ourselves.

All of a sudden, you look in the mirror
and it's a slap in the face.

S0 I think it's one of the most
beautiful films in the world.

"Beautiful" isn't the right word,
it's big,

it isn't the same thing.

In an ideal world,

we need to go to the cinema...

not to look for...

only...

drama, feel-good films,

exciting violence,

gripping.

In an ideal world, cinema
must have this dark power

that you can find
in literature and music, too.

In an ideal world,
there are no limits to cinema.

So of course,
Salo is a good example.

But not just Salo, in an ideal world,
Salo discusses film, too.

WITH:

DIRECTOR:

PRODUCED BY:

SOUND ENGINEER:

WITH THANKS TO: