Underplayed Gems

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion poster
Original title
Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto
Directed by
Elio Petri
Genre
drama film, crime film
Country
Italy
Runtime
1h 55m
Rated
R
Rating
8.2 of 10 from 881 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A top police officer murders his mistress and then arranges obvious clues to see if the system will hold him accountable. He tests whether his position makes him above suspicion as the investigation unfolds.

satiricaltensecoldbleakdarkly comicpsychologicalsuspensefulunsettling

What happens

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Italian: Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto) is a 1970 Italian satirical crime thriller film directed by Elio Petri, starring Gian Maria Volonté and Florinda Bolkan. It is a psychological, black-humored satire on corruption in high office, telling the story of a top police officer who kills his mistress, and then tests whether the police would charge him for this crime. He begins manipulating the investigation by planting obvious clues while the other police officers ignore them, either intentionally or not. The film was released in Italy by Euro International Pictures on 9 February 1970, to widespread acclaim from critics. It won the Jury Prize at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival, and the David di Donatello Awards for Best Film and Best Actor (Gian Maria Volonté). In the United States, it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Petri and his co-writer Ugo Pirro were nominated for Best Original Screenplay. In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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