Collaboration between director and actor
In the series Portobello, directed by Marco Bellocchio, Fabrizio Gifuni plays Enzo Tortora, a popular Rai presenter accused by the Mafia. The director had previously cast him in L'Enlèvement and Esterno notte.Early casting decision
The first time Marco Bellocchio called Fabrizio Gifuni for an audition, in 1994, he knew of him only by his face, spotted in the directory of Italian actors. What did the director see in those large dark eyes, set beneath bushy eyebrows with a circumflex accent, that made him absolutely want to film them?Themes of Italian history
Judging by their fruitful collaboration, the possibility of embodying all of Italy. Or more precisely, the hands of great turning points in the country, which the filmmaker has been striving to dissect since the beginning of his career.Character portrayal in Portobello
In the series Portobello, the latest stage of their collaborative work, Fabrizio Gifuni plays Enzo Tortora, an ultra-popular Rai presenter arrested in 1983 after being wrongly accused of collusion with the Mafia. Initially exalted and smiling in the costume of a beloved showman, the Roman actor gradually collapses as public opinion turns against his character.Previous roles and themes
He was already eroded by embracing the tragic fate of Aldo Moro, leader of the Christian Democracy party kidnapped and executed by the Red Brigades in 1978, in the series Esterno notte (2022). These two figures, alternately imposing and fragile, undergo a deadly confinement and share another common point: being cut off in full momentum while symbolizing the possibility of a salvific communion.Performance and historical context
In Fabrizio Gifuni's restrained and dense performance, Marco Bellocchio draws as much the end of carefree times as the beginning of an unstable modernity. But he also detects the rigidity of reaction. Drawn features, face as if cast in wax under his tonsure, Fabrizio Gifuni plays in the film L'Enlèvement (2023) an inquisitor from the 19th century, a zealous soldier of the Church during the Italian unification.Symbolism in roles
Three roles, three men who fail to offer a future or pull the country back. More than historical characters, Marco Bellocchio and his favorite actor approach the ghosts that still haunt Italy.
