It is nearly impossible for Luca Guadagnino to discuss one of his films without folding his cinematic hero, Bernardo Bertolucci, into the conversation. While on an upcoming episode of IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast about his forthcoming release, A24’s “Queer,” Guadagnino revealed his documentary about the great Italian director behind such films as “The Last Emperor” and “The Conformist,” who passed away in 2018, is much further along than we thought.
“I’m editing it now,” said Guadagnino while on the podcast. “I have a few more conversations I want to have. Actually, Marty Scorsese, I want to talk to him about it. We’ve been shooting for a while now. They’re not interviews; it’s a conversation. It’s a very personal movie. I am the protagonist of the movie. It could be called, ‘Bertolucci and I,’ which it’s not going to be.”
The current working title is “Joie de Vivre,” which translates to “Joy of Living.” Guadagnino said he’s recorded a few “beautiful conversations,” most recently having traveled to the Edinburgh home of film historian and director Mark Cousins. For Guadagnino, the film is not about making the case for Bertolucci’s greatness; he is against looking at auteurs through a hierarchical lens.
“A master is such because he, she, they, they let you understand you in a way that you might not have had the chance to understand yourself because they open up a sudden vision of yourself in a way that is unexpected,” said Guadagnino. “So, it’s mostly about taking out from you than hovering over you.”
While looking at Bertolucci through a more personal lens, Guadagnino said he is building in historical research he’s uncovered into the documentary, and he said he will not sidestep the controversy surrounding Bertolucci — presumedly referring to the rape scene in “Last Tango in Paris,” in which Paul (Marlon Brandon) uses butter as a lubricant on Jeanne (Maria Schneider). The actress, who was 19 years old at the time, said in ensuing years that she felt “humiliated” and “a little raped” by the unscripted moment.
“We tried to put at rest the silly idea of the controversy around Bernardo because it’s kind of misguided,” said Guadagnino.
The documentary is one of many films Guadagnino has in the works, and part of the reason the director has been so prolific is the number of potential projects he is passionate about. On the podcast, he called “Queer” his most personal film, in part because he has wanted to adapt William S. Burroughs’ unfinished novel into a film since he first read it at age 17. In addition to “Queer,” another book left an equally big impact on the director as a teenager.
“There are two books that I grew up with, one I read before [“Queer”], which is ‘Buddenbrooks’ by Thomas Mann,” said Guadagnino. “I think they are kind of mirroring each other, or they are the flip coin of each other. One [‘Queer’] is about the longing of the past and the unavoidability when you meet someone that is really pulling you in, and you want to see yourself reflected in the gaze of the other. And the other one [‘Buddenbrooks’] is about the decadence of a Western society rooted in the most brutal form of repression, internal before being external. To understand the obscenity of repression being acted out upon people, I think you have to see and look into the repression that the people who are exerting repression over other people have within themselves, not to justify them, but to go to the root of this heart of darkness.”
The influence Mann’s 1901 novel had on Guadagnino is something he has spoken about before, but he revealed to IndieWire that he is now in the process of adapting it with “We Are Who We Are” creator/writer Francesca Manieri. It’s one of the director’s four dream projects, along with his 2018 remake of “Suspiria,” “Queer,” and adapting Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s “Separate Rooms,” which is already in the works with Manieri writing the script, and actors Léa Seydoux and Josh O’Connor attached.
“I have four projects that I wanted to make since I was a kid,” said Guadagnino. “So if I do all of them, I might consider myself a realized man.”
A24 is releasing “Queer” in theaters on November 27, 2024.
Look for IndieWire’s Toolkit upcoming episode with Luca Guadagnino on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
