Corruption
Jacques Perrin plays Stefano, the sensitive son of a powerful Milanese publisher who has returned from school with an unexpected plan to enter the priesthood. His father Leonardo (Alain Cuny) has other ideas…and a perverse plan to change his son’s mind. A Mediterranean yacht trip with Leonardo’s beautiful mistress Adriana (Rosanna Schiaffino) is designed to loosen Stefano’s moral resolve, but the young man soon discovers that even off the boat the world has little use for spiritual guidance.
Bolognini gives the story the polished surface of a luxury ad: white yachts, chic parties and the sultry Schiaffino photographed like an expensive box of eye candy. But there’s something cold and sickly underneath it all. Leonardo is a particularly chilling monster of middle-class success, a man who sees even his own son as a piece of property to be shaped and controlled. The film presents a simplistic argument; Bolognini is never subtle about his condemnation of a consumerist society. But his visual approach holds some surprises, especially the bathroom seduction scene, bouncing Stefano’s guilt from one mirror to another while Adriana drops her towel. The Graduate might have had the courage to end ambiguously, but Corruption cynically implies that living a lie is the only life left to live.
A world English-subtitled Blu-ray premiere from Radiance, the 2K restoration is accompanied by a new interview with critic and programmer Adrian Wootton, an archival interview with producers Alfredo Bini and Manolo Bolognini, newly translated subtitles, reversible sleeve and detailed liner notes.
Bolognini gives the story the polished surface of a luxury ad: white yachts, chic parties and the sultry Schiaffino photographed like an expensive box of eye candy. But there’s something cold and sickly underneath it all. Leonardo is a particularly chilling monster of middle-class success, a man who sees even his own son as a piece of property to be shaped and controlled. The film presents a simplistic argument; Bolognini is never subtle about his condemnation of a consumerist society. But his visual approach holds some surprises, especially the bathroom seduction scene, bouncing Stefano’s guilt from one mirror to another while Adriana drops her towel. The Graduate might have had the courage to end ambiguously, but Corruption cynically implies that living a lie is the only life left to live.
A world English-subtitled Blu-ray premiere from Radiance, the 2K restoration is accompanied by a new interview with critic and programmer Adrian Wootton, an archival interview with producers Alfredo Bini and Manolo Bolognini, newly translated subtitles, reversible sleeve and detailed liner notes.
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