Pasolini’s infamous final film transposes the Marquis de Sade’s 18th-century treatise on torture to Mussolini’s Italy circa 1944. A group of representatives of the wealthy upper classes—a Duke, a Bishop, a Magistrate, and naturally, the President—have holed themselves up in a palatial estate in the titular city of Salò where they have imprisoned a horde of young men and women to torment for their pleasure. Making disturbingly literal the way the rich exploit the poor, Salò descends into the abyss until not a fleck of light remains.  

Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Cast: Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto P. Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti. 1976. 116 min. Italy/France. Color. Italian. 35mm. Print from Cinecittà.

All film screenings of Carnal Knowledge: The Films of Pier Paolo Pasolini are available here.

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.