D'AMORE SI VIVE ("One Lives by Love") started as a film series made for television (and running about nine hours) and was later edited into a shorter feature length movie. Shot in the city of Parma, the movie examines in slow precise details the workings of love, especially among society's rejected, physically and mentally challenged, socially excluded and otherwise loveless. It does this with a spirit of affection and not pity.
One has the sense in watching this film that one is peering surreptitiously into the privateness of others, their near-masturbatory ecstasies and very private joys. But instead of shock, the feeling is one of overall tenderness for love in all its varieties. Who does not deserve love? The almost voyeuristic nature of the movie aroused antipathy in some quarters.
I saw this movie in a video projection of its shorter feature-length version at the Roman movie theatre (Azzurro Scipioni) owned by the film's creator, Silvano Agosti, and its message and tone made a great impact on me, despite the fact that many of its details are no longer recollected. I do not believe it has ever been shown in the United States. I would certainly love to see it again.
Silvano Agosti was a collaborator on other films by Italian avant-garde and leftist directors, was producer of Piavoli's IL PIANETA AZZURRO, and his 1975 film MATTI DA SLEGARE, made in collaboration with Marco Bellocchio and others, was shown at the New York Film Festival.
