I basilischi

I basilischi
I basilischi
Directed by	Lina Wertmüller
Written by	Lina Wertmüller
Produced by	Lionello Santi
Cinematography	Gianni Di Venanzo
Edited by	Ruggero Mastroianni
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Production; companies	Galatea Film; Società Editoriale Cinematografica Italiana 22 Dicembre;
Distributed by	Cineriz
Release date	1963;
Running time	85 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Budget	£28,000

I basilischi,^[2] English language titles The Basilisks or The Lizards, is a 1963 Italian comedy-drama film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller. It was Wertmüller's directorial debut.

^ Caute, David (1994). Joseph Losey. Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-19-506410-0.
^ "The word "basilisco," derived from Greek, means little king, but it also refers to a genus of reptiles in tropical America. In the Middle Ages, the name basilisco was given to an imaginary creature, with a snake-like body and a head adorned with three small pointed protrusions. According to the beliefs of the time, the basilisk could cause death with its gaze and would die upon seeing itself in a mirror: this seems to be the zoological version of the mythological story of Narcissus. I believe that in the title of the film, a certain ambiguity or, if preferred, ambivalence persists. However, since the director was inspired by Federico Fellini's I vitelloni, a film from 1953, it could be inferred that "I basilischi," rather than evoking Byzantine reality and royalty, just like Fellini's masterpiece, alludes to and refers to a kind of ideal-typical - absit iniuria verbis - zoo-anthropological scenario, which Fellini first and Wertmüller later enjoy ridiculing. The geographical, economic, and social contexts are different, but the protagonists, mutatis mutandis, seem to be the same: the basilischi are indeed the local "vitelloni," from Basilicata." - Viscardi Giuseppe Maria, in his work titled La Basilicata tra il Cristo di Levi e il familismo amorale di Banfield, Ricerche di storia sociale e religiosa: 80, 2, 2011, p. 300 (Rome: Storia e letteratura, 2011).

[1] Caute, David (1994). Joseph Losey. Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-19-506410-0.

[2] "The word "basilisco," derived from Greek, means little king, but it also refers to a genus of reptiles in tropical America. In the Middle Ages, the name basilisco was given to an imaginary creature, with a snake-like body and a head adorned with three small pointed protrusions. According to the beliefs of the time, the basilisk could cause death with its gaze and would die upon seeing itself in a mirror: this seems to be the zoological version of the mythological story of Narcissus. I believe that in the title of the film, a certain ambiguity or, if preferred, ambivalence persists. However, since the director was inspired by Federico Fellini's I vitelloni, a film from 1953, it could be inferred that "I basilischi," rather than evoking Byzantine reality and royalty, just like Fellini's masterpiece, alludes to and refers to a kind of ideal-typical - absit iniuria verbis - zoo-anthropological scenario, which Fellini first and Wertmüller later enjoy ridiculing. The geographical, economic, and social contexts are different, but the protagonists, mutatis mutandis, seem to be the same: the basilischi are indeed the local "vitelloni," from Basilicata." - Viscardi Giuseppe Maria, in his work titled La Basilicata tra il Cristo di Levi e il familismo amorale di Banfield, Ricerche di storia sociale e religiosa: 80, 2, 2011, p. 300 (Rome: Storia e letteratura, 2011).

[1]

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