The legendary film "Novecento" by Bertolucci in his Parma becomes a major exhibition

A major exhibition titled "Bernardo Bertolucci. Il Novecento" has opened at the Palazzo del Governatore in Parma, Italy, marking the 50th anniversary of Bertolucci's epic film "Novecento" (1976). The show is structured as a visual experience across 25 rooms and four sections, exploring the film's dialectic between collective history and intimate gaze. It features video, drawings, photographs, production materials, and artworks by artists such as Franco Angeli, Renato Guttuso, Taner Ceylan, and Mario Schifano, all drawn from private collections. The exhibition's first room sets the tone with a video juxtaposing the film's opening credits over Pellizza da Volpedo's painting "Il Quarto Stato" and a close-up of the young Olmo holding a frog, encapsulating the tension between political epic and sensory detail.

This exhibition matters because it recontextualizes "Novecento" not merely as a film but as a cultural artifact of the 1970s, reflecting the utopian ambitions and intellectual climate of the "Short Century." By foregrounding the film's dual temporality—linear history versus cyclical nature—the show offers a fresh critical lens on Bertolucci's masterpiece, which originally ran over five hours and required more than a year of shooting. The exhibition also highlights the collaborative, collective nature of the film's production, making it relevant for scholars, cinephiles, and art audiences interested in the intersection of cinema, painting, and political history.