The Mattei Affair

The Mattei Affair
(Il Caso Mattei)
The Mattei Affair; (Il Caso Mattei)
Directed by	Francesco Rosi
Written by	; Tonino Guerra
Produced by	Franco Cristaldi
Starring	Gian Maria Volonté; Luigi Squarzina;
Cinematography	Pasqualino De Santis
Music by	Piero Piccioni
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	May, 1972 (premiere at Cannes); 20 May 1973 (New York City only)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

The Mattei Affair (Italian: Il Caso Mattei) is a 1972 film directed by Francesco Rosi. It depicts the life and mysterious death of Enrico Mattei, an Italian businessman who in the aftermath of World War II managed to avoid the sale of the nascent Italian oil and hydrocarbon industry to US companies and developed them in the Eni, a state-owned oil company which rivaled the 'seven sisters' for oil and gas deals in northern African and Middle Eastern countries.

The film shared the Grand Prix with The Working Class Goes to Heaven at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival.^[1] Italian star Gian Maria Volonté was the leading actor in both films.

The film is an innovative hybrid of documentary and fiction, representing Francesco Rosi's concept of cine-inchieste (film investigation). The flashback structure shows the influence of Citizen Kane and Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (1962). Rosi remains faithful to his neo-realist roots with on-location shooting and non-professional actors. The film is interspersed with footage of the director trying to find his friend, the investigative journalist Mauro De Mauro, who disappeared while doing research for the film. He was killed by the Sicilian Mafia, but like the death of Mattei, De Mauro's case was never solved.^[2]

Cast[]

Gian Maria Volonté - Enrico Mattei
Luigi Squarzina - Journalist
Furio Colombo - assistant
- Ing. Ferrari
Edda Ferronao - Mrs. Mattei
- Sicilian important man #1
- Sicilian important man #2
- Journalist Mauro De Mauro
- Carabinieri official
Peter Baldwin - McHale (journalist)
Franco Graziosi - Minister
- Head of commission
- Bertuzzi
- Police official
Camillo Milli - Change teller
- American official
Francesco Rosi - himself

References[]

^ "Festival de Cannes: The Mattei Affair". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
^ Bayman, Louis (ed.) (2011). Directory of World Cinema: Italy, Intellect Books, p. 241

External links[]

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[festival-cannes.com-1] "Festival de Cannes: The Mattei Affair". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-13.

[2] Bayman, Louis (ed.) (2011). Directory of World Cinema: Italy, Intellect Books, p. 241

[1]

[2]

v t Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or
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