Luigi Magni
La Tosca

La Tosca is a film by Luigi Magni from 1973.

The film is inspired not by the famous opera of Puccini but by the homonymous drama written in 1887 by a Frenchman, Victorien Sardou, to which, moreover, the same opera, which will only come out in 1900, is inspired.

The Tosca by Sardou, as well as the film by Magni, takes place in Rome in 1800, during the Battle of Marengo and narrates the Story, Love, and Adventure in three acts.

The work is rich in historical and folkloric details of Rome of those times and is so precise and fitting in describing that Rome, that people, that it made the critics of the time turn up their noses, who, skeptical, could not believe that a Frenchman represented so well that epoch, that people, and those places, foreign to him.

Luigi Magni was a great Italian director, probably underrated or, at least, he was not fully attributed the merits he deserved. It is therefore not a coincidence that here on Debaser, there are no reviews of his films and he himself is not defined.

No one has represented the History of Rome between 1800 and 1865 as well as he did. Magni was very knowledgeable on the subject, he could easily have taught at universities, the history of Rome of that period.

In all his Roman films - "Nell’anno del signore", "In nome del Papa Re", "In nome del popolo sovrano", one can clearly perceive the social commitment and the denunciation against power, especially ecclesiastical, Magni was an atheist and communist. In his films, the people are subjugated and crushed by power but his invitation to rebellion is total. All his protagonists will be rebels, insurgents, noble in spirit in the highest sense of the term, and will often pay with their lives for defending their ideals but will never bow their heads.

La Tosca is, in my opinion, his masterpiece within this trend of papal Rome of the 19th century.

The cast is at the highest levels:

Aldo Fabrizi: is the Governor. His performance is sensational. Fabrizi, in old age, here 68 years old, transformed by the scythe of the years, with those gigantic bags like a toad under his eyes, chubby, with an increasingly drawling voice. In the film's prologue, he is the absolute star... an Ave a Padre and a Gloria can change history. He addresses God informally with whom he has some chats, sometimes invoking, sometimes gently reproving him…

Gigi Proietti: He is the painter Mario Cavaradossi. He is the one who will hide the Jacobin Cesare Angelotti from the clutches of Baron Scarpia. He is the lover of Tosca. A 33-year-old Proietti was already a well-established actor, perhaps more in theater than in cinema, but in this film, which is also a musical comedy, all his histrionic talents clearly emerge. He effortlessly moves from acting to singing, from comedy to drama. A great talent without a doubt.

Umberto Orsini: is Cesare Angelotti, Jacobin insurgent. Orsini in '73 was at the height of success, a great cinematographic and theatrical actor, and the protagonist of Italian dramas in the '60s (by the way, recover them, they are masterpieces).

Monica Vitti: is Floria Tosca. She is an extremely devout singer of religion and hopelessly in love with Cavaradossi. In reality, she is overwhelmed by amorous passion, that of the senses, yes, well, she seems more interested in carnal intercourse than in love in the highest sense of the term. What else is there to say about Vitti? She was probably the greatest Italian actress of the time, in '73 she was already 42 years old and had been noticed in films that made the history of Italian cinema. Her duets with Cavaradossi... mì madre è morta tisica are priceless, not to mention the final scene in Baron Scarpia's studio.

Vittorio Gassman: is the Baron Scarpia. A ferocious commissioner at the church's service. Discipliner, torturer, highly determined, without any pity. Yet another trial of an immense actor, here aged 51. Magnificent in period clothes, he immediately understands that Cavaradossi is hiding Angelotti and begins his relentless hunt. A curiosity: Scarpia really existed and was named Sciarpa. He was a simple district commissioner. His dream was to become part of the police force of the Pope King but he didn’t succeed. Thus he became increasingly ferocious and relentless until he was "noticed" by the clergy who were happy to rank him among their own…

A masterpiece, we were saying. One is amazed in front of such work. The actors sometimes speak in rhyme, or sing. The costumes and the scenery are wonderful. The music and songs by Armando Trovajoli with lyrics by himself and Luigi Magni are unforgettable. When Proietti sings Nun je dà retta Roma it is perhaps the apex of the dramatic pathos of the film. The dialogues are extraordinary, relentless. Also noteworthy is the performance of the great Florenzo Fiorentini, the Brigadier Spoletta, one of the Baron's henchmen.

To all this adds the great message of Magni which invites not to bend in front of power, always to tend towards Freedom which... a man is not like a dog, he must not have masters.

And it’s only in the name of freedom and the spirit of sacrifice that even Art and Love will sublimate. Only then will the love story between Tosca and Cavaradossi make sense. She will understand it only in the end, he before, when he marks his painting with a large white cross, beautiful as it may be, but meaningless.

The film, despite being nothing short of exceptional, was unsuccessful. Perhaps it was opposed by the strong powers or maybe it wasn't understood who knows. Try to watch it, try to understand it.