Francis and Clare:
In Genesis, one of the first phrases God utters upon beholding the creation of the world is, “He saw that it was good.” The term “goodness” (kalon, as used in Sacred Scripture) denotes the beauty inherent in creation, just as beauty itself signifies the goodness within it. In Sacred Scripture, there exists no separation between beauty and goodness, just as there is none when the sacred intersects with cinema, portraying who we are, who we have not been, who we aspire to be, and who we ought to be. Let us engage with two revered Italian directors, cherished by audiences and acclaimed in international festivals: Liliana Cavani and Susanna Nicchiarelli.
“When in 1966 I made the first film about St Francis”, recounts Liliana Cavani, the director who succeeded in reintroducing to the world and the Church the figure of the patron saint of Italy, “I was young and had only made documentaries. I came across a book written by the medievalist Paul Sabatier and I understood, despite not having had a Catholic education, that the story of St Francis was significant for understanding life, the meaning of our events, and also for being able to live in peace. The thoughts and events of St Francis, who was neither a theologian nor a philosopher, were so full of meaning because, grasping the Gospel, they were also anticipatory of the future. Francis had a contact with God. He said, “Deus mihi dixit”. If that contact is established, the world is seen differently. Initially, Francis does not reach that contact with God but seeks it. Moreover, he becomes the religious man par excellence, the complete man. Not the man who renounces, who resigns himself, but a lover of beauty and justice, which should never be separated”.
The fascination with the beauty and grandeur of creatures and creation transcends territorial and ideological boundaries, particularly when it stands against power. This quest naturally finds expression in cinema, where the sense of the sacred and the immaterial invokes the spirit, inspiring the creation of cinematic masterpieces.
“The stripping of Francis before the bishop”, adds Susanna Nicchiarelli, author and director whose latest film Chiara [Clare] centers on the figure of Saint Clare, “overturns the contemporary conception of capitalism and ownership. The idea of Saint Francis, also experienced by Saint Clare, of returning to the essentiality of spiritual life is central and still contemporary. These two saints, who lived centuries ago, bring back attention to the marginalized, to the victims of a cruel society that was already present then and has continued through the centuries to become our reality. Before writing the film about Saint Clare, I met some cloistered nuns: the joy and smiles of these women of all ages struck me, and I understood how theirs is a countercultural choice, of love for the essential. I also spoke with a Carmelite philosopher: I realized there is something profoundly radical in this choice, there is a desire to show that it is possible to live in poverty outside of societal mechanisms. Liliana Cavani’s documentary about the Clarisses was such a source of inspiration for me that I showed it to the actresses in my film”.
In the cinema of Cavani and Nicchiarelli, the love for the essential goes beyond the personal creed of the directors. “I grew up in a secular family, although I was baptized”, says Liliana Cavani. “Religion helps to ask questions, to indicate where we are going, to give space to the instinct of inquiry that we all have even if some respond with indifference and others with curiosity. When I studied Literature at University - and I consider it a privilege -, I still remember a passage from Thucydides about the Peloponnesian War. At a certain point, following the killing of all the inhabitants of an island by soldiers, the Greek writer explains everything in one sentence: ‘the gods will not approve’. That is it, the gods, God, stand for peace. They are not for war”.
“I did not depict prayer in the film Chiara”, emphasizes Susanna Nicchiarelli, “but I preferred to give space to dance and song: I did not want to portray the idea of a distant and unreachable God, but rather an earthly love for God, something profoundly human. I come from a Catholic upbringing and I was a believer, but as I grew up I lost my faith, yet I did not lose my passion for matters related to God. Franciscan spirituality does not mortify the body, but enhances the earthly component without distinguishing it from the transcendent one. In Franciscan spirituality there is much action, but little theory: Christians are called to shelter the cold, care for the sick, feed the hungry. The figures of Saint Clare and Saint Francis help to understand, for believers and non-believers alike, how love for God is expressed in love for men and women, in their condition, in help, in community, and not in an unreachable elsewhere”.
Brotherhood and sisterhood are two indispensable dimensions in cinema when addressing the theme of the sacred. “When studying Dante’s Divine Comedy”, explains Cavani, “one understands something essential: there are two figures that always make Christianity relevant. The first, as told by Dante, is Saint Francis, to whom the Tuscan poet dedicates an entire canto. The second is Mary, the protagonist of the final Canto of the Paradiso. She is a popular figure with numerous books dedicated to her and is truly significant. Perhaps it will be my last film, but I am studying the character of Mary to write a screenplay”.
“I cannot be happy if my brother is hungry”, adds Susanna Nicchiarelli. “I prepared this film trying to understand how the figure of Saint Clare was represented in cinema. I met Liliana Cavani before writing the film and was struck by this statement: Francis invented brotherhood”.
The joy of serving, not taking from others, becomes the essence of Christianity. We could say that there would be no room for God without making space for this sharing. “For the films about Saint Francis, I deliberately chose actors who are very human: I think of Lou Castel and Mickey Rourke, men who in their lives have chosen to be different and to be brothers to their friends even at the cost of being poor”, says Liliana Cavani. “The revolutionary sense of Saint Francis’ life is right there. He said, ‘I am ashamed when I meet someone poorer than myself’. He saw in every person he met a true brother because his or her common father is God himself. The problems of every brother become yours; your family is all there. In 1989 or 1990, when I watched the film Francesco (the second one directed by the filmmaker starring Mickey Rourke, in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, editor’s note) together with Pope Wojtyla, I was moved because he, who was beside me, was touched and sometimes, at the end of some scenes of the film, he hugged me”.
God, now and here, not in some generic ‘Other’. Portraying and staging the miracles that saints have performed is difficult: “I represented Clare’s miracles as something every day, normal, simple”, explains Susanna Nicchiarelli. “I didn’t want to imagine saints as wizards with superpowers but as people who live in and through everyday life, within which incredible events occur. If creation and nature are manifestations of God, so are the miraculous events performed by God”.
By EMANUELA GENOVESE
A Journalist, Editorial Manager of Son of a Pitch, the film brand of Save the Cut - Rivista del Cinematografo