Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Original title: Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
13K
YOUR RATING
A chief of detectives, homicide section, kills his mistress and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.A chief of detectives, homicide section, kills his mistress and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.A chief of detectives, homicide section, kills his mistress and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 17 wins & 6 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFirst part of the "Trilogy of Neurosis", also including The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971) and Property Is No Longer a Theft (1973).
- Quotes
Il Dottore - Former head of homicide squad: The people are underage, the city is sick. Others are tasked with educating and curing this. Our duty is to repress it! The repression is our vaccine! Repression and civilization!
- Alternate versionsThe subtitled American version distributed by Columbia has slight differences in the credits. The Italian version opens with blank white-on-black credits (as many other Petri films do). The American version projects the credits onto the opening scene with the Dottore walking around the street. Both the opening and the closing credits (including the film's title and the Kafka quotation) are translated to English as well.
- ConnectionsEdited into Colpiti al cuore (2019)
Featured review
Everyone is GUILTY when the legitimate abuse of violence happens (esp. those on top)
Some comments in light of previous descriptions of the movie.
This movie is definitively about state violence. Even if to a viewer that has no foreknowledge of the police state that was instituted in Italy (with the help of the CIA as the movie alludes to) in order to keep the Communist Party from taking power (the PCI had the biggest following of any parties at that time), the fact remains that the movie is not much more surreal than the socio-political reality facing the film-maker.
Murders and "suicides" (while in police custody) of left-wing political activists and of anarchists are a fact that Elio Petri was painfully aware of. He made a documentary called "Streghi dello stato" "witches of the state" where Jean Maria Volonte and others expose such "suicides". Elio Petri was politically aware and through out his work there is criticism of the right wing of Italian politics (see TODO MORO).
I think that the movie is most powerful once you are aware of the fact that you can be victimized at the hands of an institution, esp. at the hands of an institution that exists only to maintain political order. Once the politicization of the priorities of those institutions that have the legitimate use of violence occurs, than meaningless violence towards the innocent will be allowed if punishing it would impair the political functions of the state machinery. Flora Balkan is perhaps a symbol for the masses, their love of violence and power, their love for the undoing of their freedoms.
A very fine movie that requires some effort, but that is always actual - thanks to an interesting narration of human nature. The movie does have it's flaws and i the action is not as invigorated as one expects it to be after the first 15 minutes, neither is the camera work at the level it has to be for this movie to be the greatest ever but it is still a hell of a great movie.
Whether or not you agree with this movie's negative portrayal of state violence and of that primal attraction that violence has (explored in a marvelously Mediterranean style in this movie) for so many could make the difference in how much you are puzzled by the movie. If you see it a a satire of power and violence - it might work.
This movie is definitively about state violence. Even if to a viewer that has no foreknowledge of the police state that was instituted in Italy (with the help of the CIA as the movie alludes to) in order to keep the Communist Party from taking power (the PCI had the biggest following of any parties at that time), the fact remains that the movie is not much more surreal than the socio-political reality facing the film-maker.
Murders and "suicides" (while in police custody) of left-wing political activists and of anarchists are a fact that Elio Petri was painfully aware of. He made a documentary called "Streghi dello stato" "witches of the state" where Jean Maria Volonte and others expose such "suicides". Elio Petri was politically aware and through out his work there is criticism of the right wing of Italian politics (see TODO MORO).
I think that the movie is most powerful once you are aware of the fact that you can be victimized at the hands of an institution, esp. at the hands of an institution that exists only to maintain political order. Once the politicization of the priorities of those institutions that have the legitimate use of violence occurs, than meaningless violence towards the innocent will be allowed if punishing it would impair the political functions of the state machinery. Flora Balkan is perhaps a symbol for the masses, their love of violence and power, their love for the undoing of their freedoms.
A very fine movie that requires some effort, but that is always actual - thanks to an interesting narration of human nature. The movie does have it's flaws and i the action is not as invigorated as one expects it to be after the first 15 minutes, neither is the camera work at the level it has to be for this movie to be the greatest ever but it is still a hell of a great movie.
Whether or not you agree with this movie's negative portrayal of state violence and of that primal attraction that violence has (explored in a marvelously Mediterranean style in this movie) for so many could make the difference in how much you are puzzled by the movie. If you see it a a satire of power and violence - it might work.
helpful•434
- imagineallthenames
- Jul 21, 2006
- How long is Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Ermittlungen gegen einen über jeden Verdacht erhabenen Bürger
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $265,470
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
What is the English language plot outline for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)?
Answer