![]() ![]() It was a period of which he has a pleasant memory: “A producer had asked me to write a screenplay on Saint Ignatius of Loyola. In 1947 Bresson spent a period in Rome, perhaps to gain first-hand experience of the setting of the film while starting to draft the screenplay. According to the Italian writer Diego Fabbri, the French director Bresson, the French-American writer Julien Green and Fabbri himself collaborated on its realization (even though Mylène, Bresson’s wife, always insisted on the absolute autonomy of the director in the scripting of the subjects of his films).Īt the time, the French director was the author of two films that, although still far from what would become his characteristic style, had already aroused the interest of critics and audiences: Angels of Sin ( Les Anges du péché, 1943) and Perfidia ( Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, 1945). Ignatius, according to de Leturia, was “a man transformed by the grace of God and by the intimate and mystical relationship with the Virgin Mary against a historical background of great tensions, harsh and threatening like the granite monoliths that loom in all their grandeur over the monastery and sanctuary of Santa Maria de Montserrat.” Īfter some productive vicissitudes, a definitive subject was reached. It was mentioned in September 1946 in an issue of the film company’s magazine Il Corriere di Universalia. The first reference text was El gentilhombre, Iñigo López de Loyola, a biography of the saint written by the Basque Jesuit Father, Pedro de Leturia. D’Angelo, oriented toward the idea of an international production, after arriving in Paris, contacted the French director Robert Bresson, inviting him to take up the direction. A project for a film dedicated to the founder of the Jesuit Order found its place in this context. It is the search for a Christian humanism, and not strictly confessional. ![]() The producer Salvo d’Angelo and his collaborators – among whom were the screenwriters Diego Fabbri, Cesare Zavattini and Andrea Lazzarini – had ambitious goals: far-sighted, aware of the communicative power of the cinematographic medium, they aimed at the “spiritual renewal of the world.” The horizon of the production company is universal, “Catholic,” in the proper sense of the term. The production company Film Universalia was behind the initiative, a company which specialized in the creation of documentaries and art films with international collaborations. It analyzes the context and circumstances that form the basis of the project, and the role of all who were involved in various ways in the conception and development of the work. ![]() The complex vicissitudes of the phases of production and scripting of the film are described in a meticulously researched article by Maria Carla Cassarini, which appeared in the periodical Ciemme. For example, what would a film on Saint Ignatius be like if it had been made by Robert Bresson, a director whose style, described as “transcendental” by Paul Schrader, “seeks to push the mystery of life to its extreme consequences”? This question is prompted by the analysis of an unfinished project that aimed to make a film on the life of Ignatius and involved the French director. Given such narrative possibilities, we can indulge ourselves in hypothesizing which aspects of his life might be taken into consideration by one director rather than another, or what style might be more effective in communicating a certain characteristic of the Basque saint. Moreover, his honest and tireless search for truth in his own life is a universal quest we can all relate to, regardless of religion or culture. The life of Ignatius of Loyola has provided the inspiration for compelling narratives in film and literature: his adventurous journey, full of defeats and victories, fortuitous encounters, bitter clashes, dreams and frustrations, has all the ingredients for a bestseller or a blockbuster, but also for a true work of literary or cinematic art.
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