Pigsty is a relatively obscure film made by Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1969. It has been very hard to find until Eureka has released a part of their “Masters of Cinema” range. It was previously released in Tartan Pasolini’s films.
It consists of 2 concurrent stories. One features a man who is runs around in a timeless barren wasteland and becomes a cannibal. The man joins forces with a thug and ravages the landscape. The other story is about a fascistic tycoon Herr Klotz (who has a Hitler tash) and his son Julian’s interest in developing relationships with pigs more than his left leaning fiancé, the young couple are played by French actors Jean-Pierre Léaud (most famously portrayed Antoine Doinel in Truffaut’s films) and Anne Wiazemsky (starred in some Godard films and was married Jean-Luc as well).
The film is almost Bunùelian satire about capitalism, fascism, suggested bestiality and cannibalism. Léaud and Wiazemsky previously starred in Godard’s La Chinoise and the leftist banter between them defiantly has echoes of that film which Pasolini would have certainly been aware of. The completely silent until the last scene story of the man in the timeless wasteland is arguably the more effective story. That segment is all about the extremes humanity can get to which of course Pasolini went back to in his most famous/infamous film Salò. The more conventional story about the young couple and the man’s father is a amusing and ultimately is quite as dark or funny as it could be. However it still works with a nice twist at the very end.
Pigsty is a very interesting film in Pasolini’s cannon. It’s a film that is very much a early attempt to deal with the themes he would later in do in “Salò like fascism, the abuse of power etc. It works quite well as a surrealist black comedy and an important film in the development of Pasolini.
Ian Schultz
UK Rating: 15(Re-)Release Date: July 2012
Directed By: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Cast: Pierre Clémenti, , Jean-Pierre Léaud, Anne Wiazemsky
Buy:Pigsty [Porcile] [Masters of Cinema] (DVD) [1969]
