Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Italian film poster
Directed by	Elio Petri
Produced by	Marina Cicogna Daniele Senatore
Screenplay by	Elio Petri Ugo Pirro
Story by	Elio Petri Ugo Pirro
Starring	Gian Maria Volontè Florinda Bolkan
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Cinematography	Luigi Kuveiller
Edited by	Ruggero Mastroianni
Production companies	Vera Film
Distributed by	Euro International Film (Italy) Colombia Pictures (US)
Release dates	February 9, 1970 (1970-02-09) (Italy)
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Italy
Box office	₤1.928 billion

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Italian: Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto) is a 1970 Italian crime drama film directed by Elio Petri. It is a dramatic, psychological, black-humored satire on corruption in high office, telling the story of a top police officer who kills his mistress, and then tests whether the police would charge him for this crime. He begins manipulating the investigation by seen planting obvious clues while the other police officers ignore them, either intentionally or not.

Plot

A recently promoted police inspector (Gian Maria Volontè) kills his mistress (Florinda Bolkan), and then covers up his involvement in the crime. He insinuates himself into the investigation, planting clues to steer his subordinate officers toward a series of other suspects, including the woman's gay husband and a student radical. He then exonerates the other suspects and leads the investigators toward him, in order to prove that he is "above suspicion" and can get away with anything, even while being investigated. In the end, he confesses to the crime in front of his superiors - who refuse to believe him. Sure that he is safe, he recants his confession, and receives the approval of the police commissioner.

Cast

Actor	Role
Gian Maria Volontè	Police Inspector
Florinda Bolkan	Augusta Terzi
Gianni Santuccio	Police Commissioner
Orazio Orlando	Biglia
Sergio Tramonti	Antonio Pace
Arturo Dominici	Mangani
Aldo Rendine	Nicola Panunzio
Massimo Foschi	Augusta's Husband
Aleka Paizi	Inspector's Maid
Vittorio Duse	Canes
Pino Patti
Salvo Randone	Plumber
Giuseppe Licastro
Filippo De Gara	Policeman
Fulvio Grimaldi	Paese Sera journalist

Release

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion was released in Italy on February 9, 1970 where it was distributed by Euro International Film.^[1] In Italy, the film had a domestic gross of 1,928,248,000 Italian lire.^[1]

Awards

The film was highly regarded in its own time, winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,^[2] and both the FIPRESCI Prize and the Grand Prize at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival.^[3] Also it won as Best Foreign Language Film at the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1971 and the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Mystery Screenplay.

Critical reception

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion was well received by critics and is widely considered one of the best international films of the 1970s. The New York Times called the film "a suspense melodrama with the moral concerns of angry satire...When it opened in Italy early this year (and later, when it was shown at Cannes), Investigation was hailed for the ways in which it exposed the corrupt, authoritarian practices of the police, who place themselves above their own laws...The story moves forward with a relentless momentum. It is a political parable, and a stunning movie."^[4]

Footnotes

1 2 Curti 2013, p. 39.
↑ "The 43rd Academy Awards (1971) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-11-26.
↑ "Festival de Cannes: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
↑ Canby, Vincent (1970-12-21). "Film: 'Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion':Suspense Melodrama Opens at Baronet". The New York Times.

References

Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980. McFarland. ISBN 0786469765.

External links

Academy Award for Foreign Language Film Winners

1947–1955 (Honorary)	1947: Shoe-Shine – Vittorio De Sica 1948: Monsieur Vincent – Maurice Cloche 1949: Bicycle Thieves – Vittorio De Sica 1950: The Walls of Malapaga – René Clément 1951: Rashomon – Akira Kurosawa 1952: Forbidden Games – René Clément 1954: Gate of Hell – Teinosuke Kinugasa 1955: Samurai, The Legend of Musashi – Hiroshi Inagaki

1956–1975	1956: La Strada – Federico Fellini 1957: Nights of Cabiria – Federico Fellini 1958: My Uncle – Jacques Tati 1959: Black Orpheus – Marcel Camus 1960: The Virgin Spring – Ingmar Bergman 1961: Through a Glass Darkly – Ingmar Bergman 1962: Sundays and Cybele – Serge Bourguignon 1963: 8½ – Federico Fellini 1964: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Vittorio De Sica 1965: The Shop on Main Street – Ján Kadár & Elmar Klos 1966: A Man and a Woman – Claude Lelouch 1967: Closely Watched Trains – Jiří Menzel 1968: War and Peace – Sergei Bondarchuk 1969: Z – Costa-Gavras 1970: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion – Elio Petri 1971: The Garden of the Finzi Continis – Vittorio De Sica 1972: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie – Luis Buñuel 1973: Day for Night – François Truffaut 1974: Amarcord – Federico Fellini 1975: Dersu Uzala – Akira Kurosawa

1976–2000	1976: Black and White in Color – Jean-Jacques Annaud 1977: Madame Rosa – Moshé Mizrahi 1978: Get Out Your Handkerchiefs – Bertrand Blier 1979: The Tin Drum – Volker Schlöndorff 1980: Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears – Vladimir Menshov 1981: Mephisto – István Szabó 1982: Volver a Empezar ('To Begin Again') – José Luis Garci 1983: Fanny and Alexander – Ingmar Bergman 1984: Dangerous Moves – Richard Dembo 1985: The Official Story – Luis Puenzo 1986: The Assault – Fons Rademakers 1987: Babette's Feast – Gabriel Axel 1988: Pelle the Conqueror – Bille August 1989: Cinema Paradiso – Giuseppe Tornatore 1990: Journey of Hope – Xavier Koller 1991: Mediterraneo – Gabriele Salvatores 1992: Indochine – Régis Wargnier 1993: Belle Époque – Fernando Trueba 1994: Burnt by the Sun – Nikita Mikhalkov 1995: Antonia's Line – Marleen Gorris 1996: Kolya – Jan Svěrák 1997: Character – Mike van Diem 1998: Life Is Beautiful – Roberto Benigni 1999: All About My Mother – Pedro Almodóvar 2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Ang Lee

2001–present	2001: No Man's Land – Danis Tanović 2002: Nowhere in Africa – Caroline Link 2003: The Barbarian Invasions – Denys Arcand 2004: The Sea Inside – Alejandro Amenábar 2005: Tsotsi – Gavin Hood 2006: The Lives of Others – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck 2007: The Counterfeiters – Stefan Ruzowitzky 2008: Departures – Yōjirō Takita 2009: The Secret in Their Eyes – Juan J. Campanella 2010: In a Better World – Susanne Bier 2011: A Separation – Asghar Farhadi 2012: Amour – Michael Haneke 2013: The Great Beauty – Paolo Sorrentino 2014: Ida – Paweł Pawlikowski 2015: Son of Saul – László Nemes

Submissions

Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix

1967–1989	Accident (1967) I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967) Ådalen 31 (1969) Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) Johnny Got His Gun (1971) Taking Off (1971) Solaris (1972) The Mother and the Whore (1973) Fantastic Planet (1973) Arabian Nights (1974) The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1975) Cría Cuervos (1976) The Marquise of O (1976) Bye Bye Monkey (1978) The Shout (1978) Siberiade (1979) Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980) Light Years Away (1981) The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982) Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) Diary for My Children (1984) Birdy (1985) The Sacrifice (1986) Repentance (1987) A World Apart (1988) Cinema Paradiso (1989) Too Beautiful for You (1989)

1990–2009	Tilaï (1990) The Sting of Death (1990) La Belle Noiseuse (1991) The Stolen Children (1992) Faraway, So Close! (1993) To Live (1994) Burnt by the Sun (1994) Ulysses' Gaze (1995) Breaking the Waves (1996) The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Life Is Beautiful (1998) Humanité (1999) Devils on the Doorstep (2000) The Piano Teacher (2001) The Man Without a Past (2002) Uzak (2003) Oldboy (2004) Broken Flowers (2005) Flanders (2006) The Mourning Forest (2007) Gomorrah (2008) A Prophet (2009)

2010–present	Of Gods and Men (2010) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) The Kid with a Bike (2011) Reality (2012) Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) The Wonders (2014) Son of Saul (2015)

Films directed by Elio Petri

The Assassin (1961) His Days Are Numbered (1962) The Teacher from Vigevano (1963) High Infidelity (1964) The 10th Victim (1965) We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) A Quiet Place in the Country (1968) Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971) Property Is No Longer a Theft (1973) Todo modo (1976)

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