INDAGINE SU UN CITTADINO... (Petri, 1970): Patterns

Elio Petri's grim political parable INDAGINE SU UN CITTADINO AL DI SOPRA DI OGNI SOSPETTO (INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION) is set in a city of rectangular concrete walls, blinds and bureaucratic drabness. Only the apartment of the protagonist's girl friend and murder victim is full of ornamental patterns.

Elio Petris groteske politische Parabel INDAGINE SU UN CITTADINO... spielt in einer Stadt voller rechtwinkliger Betonwände, Lamellenmustern und bürokratischer Trostlosigkeit. Einzig die Wohnung von Gian Maria Volontés Freundin und Mordopfer ist voller ornamentaler Muster.

bottom: in the beach scene there is a net in front of the lens that should probably soften and darken the image. However, with these deep focus lenses it is clearly visible and serves as an unintended pattern.

INDAGINE SU UN CITTADINO... (Petri, 1970): 50 blue ties for 50 dolls

If there is one stylistic trait that stands out in Elio Petri's INDAGINE SU UN CITTADINO... it is its cold and sober surface. Almost no colored lighting (in one scene there is a green tinge on two faces) and lots of gray and wood colored brown make the blue uniforms and the protagonist's azzurro tie come off as very cold. However, around the interrogation room in the police headquarter's basement there are some striking ochre windows the cinematographer uses as kind of an in-camera filter effect.

Das wohl auffälligste stilistische Merkmal von Elio Petris INDAGINE SU UN CITTADINO... ist die nüchtern kalte Oberfläche. Fast ausschliesslich weisses Licht (einzig in einer Szene erscheinen zwei Gesichter im Vordergrund betont grün) und viel Grau und Holzfarben im Hintergrund lassen die blauen Polizeiuniformen sowie die Krawatte des Protagonisten sehr kalt erscheinen. Um einen Verhörraum im Keller des Polizeireviers hat es jedoch auffällig ockerfarbene Glasscheiben , die der Kameramann sehr effektvoll einzusetzen weiss.