I always tried, following an existentialist method, to have a character experience a situation in a way that re ects his internal contradictions, his awareness of being an object in the eyes of an authority. I slowly realized that by starting with a neurosis represented in existentialist terms I ended up describing pure and simple cases of schizophrenia… In my early work neurosis was normality, later it was schizophrenia. (…) In Italy, like the rest of the world, I believe these are the methods of the po- lice: that is, they build an allegation with whatever means, in an abstract way. The moment you stand before an authority you are guilty. Naturally, for this lm the cen- sors attacked and threatened me. I was forced to make ninety changes to the lm. For example, before it was easier to un- derstand who the informers were, in the nal version I had to black out a piece of the lm. This was one of the most serious episodes, but there were also other minor things; for example, the cops have a strong Sicilian accent. I had to redub from scratch because the censors be- lieved it offensive. I was young, I wrote letters to newspapers but… The producer forced me to make these changes, and I couldn’t nd the strength to rebel, to say “No, I’m not doing it; let’s nd out what is at the bottom of this, what their objectives are.” The relationship with the censors was similar to the relationship be- tween Mastroianni and the cop; because they never made any of cial statement, they simply sent an intermediary who said “here… here… here…” The censors never used force, but there was always the threat that they would not allow the lm to be released.

Elio Petri, Elio Petri, edited by Jean A. Gili, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Nice 1974

“The most important thing is to transform what is abstract into something material, because light is abstract. But that is not all. This materialization has to work with the lmmaker’s narrative design, harmo- nize with the work of the other people constructing the lm: the set designer, costume designer, etc. The ‘technically’ prepared cinematographer can shoot any lm or none. Most of all he has to be able to interpret a written story; the screen- play has to move him, and he must make this emotion emerge in his lighting. Ev- ery story has its own style; you don’t have to use your own recipe with every lm. I never feel like I’m a ‘professional’; each time I start from scratch and with great pleasure,” wrote Carlo Di Palma in the Annuario 1997 AIC (Italian Association of Cinematographers).

Lorenzo Codelli, Carlo Di Palma, “Posi- tif”, n. 524, October 2004