SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM [SALÒ O LE 120 GIORNATE DI SODOMA] (1975) Set of 8 Italian fotobusta posters

[Italy: Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA), 1975]. Set of eight (8) vintage original 18 x 26″ (46 x 67 cm.) fotobusta posters, Italy. Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini; PEA. Folded once vertically, in original printed envelope, near fine or better.

Pasolini’s notorious final film, loosely adapted from the Marquis De Sade’s notorious novel The 120 Days of Sodom. In this film, Pasolini makes a direct link between fascism and various forms of sexual cruelty. It is, for many, exceedingly hard to take.

“The film focuses on four wealthy, corrupt Italian libertines, during the time of the fascist Republic of Salò (1943-1945). The libertines kidnap eighteen teenagers and subject them to four months of extreme violence, sadism, and sexual and mental torture. The film explores the themes of political corruption, abuse of power, sadism, perversion, sexuality and fascism. The story is in four segments, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy: the Anteinferno, the Circle of Manias, the Circle of Shit and the Circle of Blood. The film also contains frequent references to and several discussions of Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1887 book On the Genealogy of Morality, Ezra Pound’s poem “The Cantos”, and Marcel Proust’s novel sequence In Search of Lost Time.” (Wikipedia)