Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion - The Criterion...

Released: 18th January 2021. The provocative Italian filmmaker ELIO PETRI's most internationally acclaimed work is this remarkable, visceral, Oscar-winning thriller. Petri maintains a tricky balance between absurdity and realism in telling the Kafkaesque tale of a Roman police inspector (A Fistful of Dollars' GIAN MARIA VOLONTE, in a commanding performance) investigating a heinous crime-which he committed himself. Both a penetrating character study and a disturbing commentary on the draconian crackdowns by the Italian government in the late 1960s and early '70s, Petri's kinetic portrait of surreal bureaucracy is a perversely pleasurable rendering of controlled chaos. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES  • New 4K digital restoration by the Film Foundation, with uncompressed  monaural soundtrack • Archival interview with director Elio Petri, conducted by critic and filmmaker Alexandre Astruc • Elio Petri: Notes About a Filmmaker (2005), a ninety minute documentary on the director’s career, featuring interviews with friends, collaborators, and filmmakers • Interview with film scholar Camilla Zamboni from 2013 • Investigation of a Citizen Named Volonté (2008), a sixty-minute documentary about actor Gian Maria Volonté • Music in His Blood, an interview with composer Ennio Morricone from 2010, conducted by film critic Fabio Ferzetti • Trailers • New English subtitle translation • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Evan Calder Williams and excerpts from a 2001 book by author and screenwriter Ugo Pirro