Beyond Good and Evil

This is Cavani's most influential film. No one interested in Nietzsche or Salomé can leave this film without notice! The interpretation of some of Nietzsche's main ideas are well articulated and visually made comprehensible so that they both win in depth and become even more enticing. Cavani uses Mozart's music in a way that makes your spine tinkle. Spiritism, Mozart and a life just petered out make together a scene that is overwhelming in meanings. Most of the philosophical points are given in visual argumentation; that makes the film a real treasure box for anyone interested in visual thinking and its art. In this film Cavani has also developed a cinematic language she nowhere else applies. She uses pictorial mementos known to most of us and plays a semiotic game that makes quite common scenes to grow ambiguous, even breathtaking. The film is really not to be recommended to anyone, since without basic knowledge in Nietzsche and Belle Epoque one can't enjoy the story. But for those who are even cursorily familiar with the scene the film will be a revelation.