This satirical thriller about police corruption is sometimes too smart for its own good, but has enough wit and devious subversive flare that it succeeds despite its problems.
As the film starts, an Italian police inspector (Gian Maria Volonte, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE) slits the throat of his lover Augusta Terzi (Florinda Bolkan, SOME GIRLS) and leaves clues all around the apartment. The film unfolds in two parts as we see the police investigate the murder and flashback to the police inspector’s relationship with Terzi.
The police investigator has just been promoted to the political unit, which spies on subversives. The film is both a psychological study of an insecure man and his need for reassuring his power as well as a satire of anti-terrorism bordering on neo-fascism. As the police move from one new suspect to the next, the inspector feeds them more clues wanting to prove that his status is so great that he is above suspicion.
There is a psychological side to Terzi as well. She is a leftist, who likes to flaunt conventions and is fascinated with violence. She even has the investigator take pictures of her in poses from famous crime scene photos. Their sadomasochistic relationship combined with varying political views is an unstable mixture.
Director Elio Petri wears his left leaning ideals on his sleeve with this film, which serves as its major detriment. The police inspector goes on political tirades that are too long and disrupt the flow of the film. At first the film never seems to grip, but as we learn more about the two main characters and the clearer the investigators psychosis becomes, the more fascinating the film becomes. I enjoy films that take edgy risks to make a point. This added with the bizarre character study, INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION works despite its slow pacing and indulgences with flare and intelligence.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
