CRUX has its anticipated première in Cannes, in 1991 -- one edition of the film festival later than intended by the movie's director and producers.
The filming had to be interrupted for several months. Thaysa Tragis, the young actress who is debuting on the big screen, has hidden her pregnancy from the whole crew until it became blatant, impairing her slender beauty and impressively slim waistline -- like once Brigitte Bardot's, to whom she is often compared.
Alluding to BB, and MM, she has been nicknamed TT. Called by gossip magazines the new sensation of European cinema, TT throws herself to the floor crying, ripping her tailored to be tight Versace, when she loses the best actress prize to the incontestable Irène Jacob. An impressively teary yet cheeky impersonation, or the sincere frustration of a girl's youthful dreams? The critics debate about unreasonable expectations of fame and recognition, planted there by the rather pretentious director, TT's discoverer and a Greek like her. Or be it solely her exaggerated ambition? The sourest tongues ascertain that, with a dramatic performance yet to be improved to prove talent, Thaysa has never had a chance of winning anything -- except, perhaps, the prize for prettiest tits and thighs on the Croisette.
TT having never named the father of her boy -- the timing tracking down to the first rehearsals in Rome indicates any of the actors or even the director can be him --, the movie, known beforehand for a series of scandals, and the frequent fights among jealous cast members, disappoints. Thaysa, believing to have gone all the way as an actress, agrees to riskily giving birth in real life right on the set, in a fake bedroom instead of the hospital, so that the rather graphic, bloody images of her body and her baby can be used in the film, and is devastated by her cinematic fail. She had wanted to shoot her next movie in Hollywood, already.
CRUX does not win any major prizes in Cannes, nor at any other festivals. For European movies standards it becomes a fairly commercial success, though -- and few years later a cult movie, when young TT dies in a tragic accident.
The soundtrack of bells tolling begins while the logos of international movie companies follow one after the other until, with the start of organ music over the bells, an image fades in -- a bird's view of a grand 3 storied house, sitting on a small hill among cultivated fields of vineyards. Small lakes connected by streams gleaming under the sun surround it, and in the distance the well preserved ruins of an old Roman amphitheater lie partially hidden among tall trees, and set apart on the terrain, a small castle stands out.
The first names we see, against the sunny background of the ruins of a Roman Thermae, are that of Adrian Çellon -- he is the son of a famous French actor, but himself on a career that has not yet really happened, and this movie is his first major role --, who plays Alcibiade Audace, and Valeria Mongella, the Italian actress who has been acting since a child and is one of the best known and loved names in the cast.
Contrasting with the previous images of beautiful outdoor places, it's the dimly lit, somber interior of a Romanesque church that Thaysa Tragis's name is seen against. The director had wanted to use this opposition of moods and colors, contrasting the previous colorful sites to this rather gloomy one, to start setting the mood for the main characters, and in this way, already tell their story.
CRUX.
The name of the movie is seen against the image of a grandiose art gallery. The contrasts here are within the image itself. The room's tall walls and mosaic floors are left almost in the dark, and if the imposing columns that support a painted ceiling are coming into light, it is four Classical sculptures that receive a rather dramatic, very bright light, coming from unseen sources in the ceiling above to hit them fully, almost dissolving their materiality. The association of the movie's name -- and its meaning -- to these antique sculptures is not random.
To the nun's choir from Richard Strauss' Casanova playing in the background, the next image is again somber, and religious, hinting that religiosity will play an important part in the movie. Nearly two dozen candles flicker in a side chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and some are suddenly blown off by a gush of wind, that makes a door bang in the distance, too. With these credits we learn the screenplay has been based on a short story -- and since having read it adds a lot of precious details, that have been left out of the movie, we shall share them here with you.
Next, a young woman, dressed in her lace panties only, gingerly walks away from the camera in a dimly lit bedroom, and
throws herself on a double bed. It squeaks. Seeing how old it looks, and in
poor state of conservancy like almost everything else in the room, we fear it could
break to the impact of her body -- no matter how slender the girl is. Specks of
dust fly around her in an ascending spiral that reaches the wooden image of the
Virgin Mary, placed on a shelf directly above the bed. A votive candle burns
before it. The young woman puts a record to play on a suitcase turntable that appears to
be one of the few brand new things in the room.
Venus, by Shocking Blues, starts playing.
As if propelled by the song's guitar, a very handsome young man, carefully dressed in an outdated white suit, runs under the shaded arcade of an imposing building. A sign tells us it to be a hospital. Taking impulse, he slides on the sidewalk, made wet and slippery by the nearby fountain -- the steady wind continually sprinkles a curtain of water over the pavement. When he loses balance, almost crashing onto the floor, he simply laughs at his own risky performance, and with a shout that startles the passersby, jumps inside his 1957 convertible Ferrari.
Against another religious set -- the lush central garden of a medieval cloister -- we see the names of more actors and actresses, some of them well known to the European public in the 1990s.
And this is when we stop following all of the credits, too. More cast names come next, and the art director, the book adaptation, etc, but we are more interested in the scenes that slowly introduce the story while presenting some of the main characters.
Back in the bedroom, darkened by curtains drawn to leave the light of the day out, the semi naked girl is flipping through an album of photographs. She inspects one picture in special, and we are inclined to think it depicts herself much younger, in the arms of the young man we have just seen jumping into his sports car. They were no more than teenagers. She then lifts her gaze and looks directly into the camera, and we see, as satisfaction and determination lighten her face, she has just made a decision.
The young man speeds his white convertible on the avenues of an European city, and as he passes the Colosseum we know we are following him through Rome. He has carelessly thrown the jacket of his suit on the passenger's seat, and opened his red shirt, sleeves drawn up to his elbows, to reveal a chiseled chest on which a silver crucifix shines nearly as much as the Ferrari on which he travels.
As he passes through a residential neighborhood and has to slow down on the narrow streets, from the parked cars and people on the sidewalks we can tell this is a different decade from the 1990s in which the movie was shot. Probably the late sixties, or the seventies. He is singing a song, though there is no radio in the car, and from the short story we know it too be Ancora tu by Lucio Battisti, number one on the Italian hit parade in 1976.
Again in the bedroom, the girl played by Thaysa Tragis is looking approvingly at herself in the mirror. The few dim lights, emitted by candles and bulbs dressed with dusty lampshaders, make her skin shine golden like her hair. The voyeuristic camera travels slowly over TT's body, starting at her thighs and moving upwards, as she sensually swings, turning to the right and to the left, examining herself from different angles. She is merrily singing along the Venus song, though from her mumbling it's obvious she doesn't know the lyrics in English.
Many critics were disgusted -- though masculine audiences adored it -- that the new and young actress should appear naked on her first scene already. Feminists claimed that she was being exploited by the older director, who had let rumors spread of having an affair with her (and also with Valeria, though the actress was married, and even with Adrian, who had again firmly denied the recurrent rumors of his bisexuality). But TT herself confessed that, in the light of her secret pregnancy, she had agreed to having as many naked scenes while she could still show her body in its fullest perfection. Without any trace of shame, she said in an interview that becoming an actress had allowed her to further explore her exhibitionism.
The scene fades when her round, tender breasts turn towards the camera in full close up. Her happy voluptuousness is almost too much to take in.
The young driver stops his car in the middle of a quiet street to greet a man on the sidewalk. Everything about him, from his expensive collector's car to the impeccable red shirt that seems to frame his impressive beauty with a fiery glow, shines under the sun. The trees above, agitated by a warm breeze, make a beautiful play of light and shadows on the car's body, and on Alcibiade`s face -- it's time we confirm who he is. Passersby are drawn to take a good look at him, be it to admire his looks or the car, and the young man seems rather conscious of -- and content with -- all the attention he draws.
"Francesco, ciao!" he shouts.
"Ciao, Dottore." The man on the sidewalk shouts back. "Tantissimi auguri per il vostro matrimonio!" (*)
(* Hello, Doctor. Best wishes for your wedding!)
"Ah, you only say that because it's not you who is getting married tomorrow!" Alcibiade makes a sad face, and stretching his neck upwards, turns his eyes in desperation towards the sky. He suddenly collapses, the head fallen limp over his bent neck, as if having been just hanged. He laughs out loud.
The other man is not shocked, as if already expecting such impersonations from him, and laughs along.
"Dottore," he says, with a funny courteous bow, "with all due respect, the bride's beauty is worth all sacrifices. She will brighten your days for the rest of your life!"
Just then we listen to a horn, and Alcibiade looks in the rear mirror, indicating there should be a car right behind his. But he does not move on. "Maybe, maybe..." he retorts, pensively. And swearing as the other car again honks, he waves goodbye to the man on the sidewalk and drives away in great speed, making the tires screech.
The girl, who is still dressed in her lace panties only, is looking at herself in the mirror. Stains of age damage its reflective quality, but do not impair her perfection. She is seen finishing applying blush to her nipples, to make them look redder and bigger. She takes great care with the brush, and in her concentration has even stopped singing.
To a reporter she told that, while filming that scene, she was thinking of all the men who -- and she made it sound as if there had been many, though she was only 23 years old then -- had bitten, licked and sucked her nipples. And that in 7 months more, there would be a baby nibbling at them. This thought made her give the sexy smile full of confidence and secrecy with which the scene closes.
The original score was composed by the director's sister, Lisa. More than twice older than TT, she is said to have been the best friend and mentor of Thaysa in the movie, having defended her several times, even if incurring in problems with her own brother because of that.
She strongly disagreed with shooting the infamous scene of Thaysa giving birth to her baby, but had to retreat to her studio upon realizing that even the young, unexperienced actress was not only willing but eager to expose herself to the cameras.
The sound of guitars in the song is dimmed by the aggressive roar of the motor of Al's car -- he hates being called Alcibiade --, for he drives his Ferrari on a highway as if on a race track. He must be trying to win something, as he dangerously overtakes other cars, that honk at him. But there is nobody in his pursuit. While his open red shirt flaps in the wind, and his mid long, limp brown hair is a beautiful mess in flight around his head, he is carefully holding the crucifix between his lips, so that it doesn't get carried away.
With the next scene, still on the same highway, we learn that Al simply enjoys driving fast and dangerously -- but is not the least in a hurry. He has stopped to take a leak in the bushes, and though not outrageously in close up like TT's breasts, we catch as glimpse of his remarkably long penis as he shakes it before zipping up his fly.
His detractors said that, while Adrian Çellon proudly stated to never have needed a stunt for his action scenes, it was a body double they used whenever we saw his penis, for it was known to be smaller than his thumb.
He has finished urinating, but hangs around the bushes, without any real interest inspecting some berries. He kicks a bottle, smashing it against a rock. With a bored look he follows the last flight of a dying butterfly, that collapses onto the grass. Its death must seem like a bad omen to him, for he makes the sign of the cross, looking at the fleeting clouds above. And yet, he does not return to the car. He definitely is not in a hurry. His wedding is only the next day.
From the book we know that Venus -- this is a time as good as any to learn this character's name -- has recently taken to making her own clothes in her deceased mother's sewing machine. She is now seen trying on a skimpy combination of shorts and a bustier, both a bit too tight and colorful, that do not really match the thigh length high heel boots she puts on. We see unfinished clothes hanging around the room. Several posters of young and handsome European actors and Italian singers from the 1970s adorn the walls, and she seems to address them when she asks,
"How do you like me now?"
With a bump that lifts a cloud of dust, Al leaves the highway to take some minor, dirty road, and slows down the car. He opens his lips to let the crucifix that he had been protecting fall back onto his chest. It is wet and shines bright in its brief flight downwards, like an iridescent bug. Al glances carefully around, inspecting the landscape with interest. He demonstrates familiarity with the precarious road -- that, from the book, we know to be one that is no longer used by the estate owners, except by Al and the service cars, since his father has built a new, more direct asphalted access --, avoiding rocks and holes.
Along with Art direction, it was the Cinematography that brought most prizes to CRUX. Tonio was fired by the director, who demanded his name be removed from the credits, when he did not agree with, and did not participate in the shooting of Thaysa's labour. But Drugher was the most prestigious name from all the crew, and the producers made sure his name was maintained.
A very kind man, liked by all the professionals he had worked with along a very fruitful career, when asked if he had any idea of who the father of Thaysa's baby was, Tonio said he only knew who the proud grandfather was, pointing at himself.
Years later, he had a stroke and died -- upon hearing of TT's death.
Venus has changed her clothes again, to a hippie short dress with laces and fringes. Its warm orange color enhances the golden of the cascading waves of her hair and her silky skin, while contrasting with bijou the colour of lapis lazuli she has chosen -- a large wrist band and a necklace that immediately draws our attention towards the generous and very low neckline. When she lifts her arms to arrange her hair, we can see clearly that Venus is not wearing any bra.
She has climbed onto a chair to see her body fully in the mirror, and almost loses balance but won't stop dancing to the song coming from her turntable. She swings her head back and forth, throwing her hair in the air, while wildly moving her hips, yet never out of rhythm. She is enthralled, but not so much by the music that bears her name, as with her stunning looks. She is aware of being prettier than ever in her life, and is celebrating the feeling that she could conquer the world. She is Venus, after all. Like the goddess. Even if not a goddess on a mountain top like in the lyrics, even if just on top of a chair -- she is a goddess.
Al is no longer paying attention to the landscape, nor the road. He has now slowed down enough to pass onto holes and stones without damaging his car. He is lost in thoughts that seem to deeply worry him.
Suddenly, Venus freezes in her dance. She seems to lose sight of her own reflection and instead focus on the extensive net of stains on the old mirror. Her glance peruses the reflected low ceiling room, its old walls stained with infiltration. Framed, faded portraits on the walls depict only deceased people. The wardrobe doors no longer close, and are held shut by a yellowed pile of newspapers. The image of the Virgin Mary is looking at her with great pity. Venus is paralyzed.
Al has not entered the estate. He has parked his Ferrari before its imposing walls and gate. Behind its intricate ironwork we devise a long alley shaded by ancient, venerable trees. Al is looking in the other direction, from which he came.
The director wanted to show him thinking about his past, while delaying taking the next step, into his future, and his coming wedding.
Venus is crying, sitting on the chair that she had climbed. She has her back to the camera, and we watch as her body is shaken by convulsions at each new burst of tears. Her face can only be seen in the reflection of the mirror, for it is hidden from us by her hair. But not because she cannot cry before the camera.
She has received many compliments for her crying scenes, as they seemed authentic enough. In an interview, Thaysa said she was thinking of all the moments she had felt heartbroken in her life, and it made easy for her to really cry. Perhaps even more than intended for that particular moment.
The scene ends with Venus jumping from the chair, still crying, and exiting the room.
Already inside the property, Al stops the car to talk to the groom, who is towing two majestic horses.
" Federico, ciao!"
"Ciao, Signorino! How are you today?"
"I am well... Under the circumstances!" He laughs, and then points with his chin inquisitively towards the horses.
"Ah, knowing of your arrival, Signorina requested the horses. Nice morning for a ride, isn't it, Signorino?"
Al's reply fades under the Venus song, but we do see him shrug before driving on, resuming the speed on the long main alley.
The name of the almighty producer of CRUX, Mr. Gianlucca Allori, appears against the image
of an opulent home library. It's a known fact that he immediately sued Thaysa when her pregnancy was revealed, and suspended her wages -- and only was appeased when she gave up all rights to her own image in the movie.
After the scenes of her labour on the set were filmed, and the frail and helpless boy in her arms became a material reality that touched her more deeply than she could ever have predicted, TT no longer wanted her baby shown the movie. But it was not for her to decide anymore. Mr. Allori insisted in having the very moment when the baby is taken out of her body in the movie, to completely expose Thaysa and her son for all posterity.
Contrasting with the elegant library, it's in the dimly lit, humble room that we meet Venus again. She has washed her face. The heavy makeup is gone, her blond hair tied in a simple ponytail. She has changed into unpretentious clothes, but that still fit her superbly. Her firm belly is bare, revealing her famous waistline between tight jeans shorts and a small shirt she has left unbuttoned. She tied two loose ends to hold the shirt in place, but as she moves about we can see she has not put on any bras, that are seen abandoned on her dressing table.
"Please, put me on the right track again." She is looking in the direction of a framed image of Jesus walking alongside a lamb, hanging in the corner of the room. But next to it is a poster with the French actor Alain Delon, and we cannot be sure who she is actually addressing.
When the Venus song ends, and the same bells from the beginning are heard tolling, the camera leaves the stained mirror to focus Thaysa's face. She looks even prettier with little make up on. Fresh, and almost innocent. She is done with pretending sophistication, and feels more confident in being the peasant girl she really is.
Through the mirror she is looking at the image of the Virgin, and addressing it.
"Please, Mother. I beg you. Tell me I am doing the right thing."
And as she leaves the room, a surprise.
Venus opens the door not onto another room, or a hallway, but onto an outdoor, lush green space.
It’s hard to understand where she is, at first, when moments ago she was in her bedroom. Venus walks under a badly damaged roof, or what is left of it, for we can see the sky above her through the charred beams, that are sustained by equally charred columns, on which ivy grows. The green takes up to the blackened stone walls, too. The door to Venus’ bedroom, in what seems to be the only intact portion of a bigger house that has burnt down, is almost hidden beneath the foliage.
She moves about the debris naturally, deflecting from piles of stones and burnt wood – onto which grass already grows, so that we know the fire is not recent – as if they were part of her furniture.
For there is some furniture. A cupboard, a table with chairs, an armchair, all of them badly damaged and old. Dominating the space that must have once been the kitchen, the ruin of a big stone stove onto which ivy is growing too.
As much as it is a scene of destruction, dishes and food lying around give the space a strange normality, indicating it is not abandoned.
Venus reaches for an apple from the cupboard, but decides not to eat it.
She is on her way.
When Al jumps out of his car, having arrived in great speed onto a shaded parkway, the name of the director of CRUX, Mr. Petros Skandaloukos, appears. In his late fifties, he is well known for a career of controversial movies that can please an audience eager for scandalous fun, but that often receives bad criticism from the specialized press. Heavy handed, superficial, sensationalist, lascivious, shocking, are all qualities associated to this artist and his art. When his name fades, the organ music ends too, so that the movie can begin.
Before a grand Italianate mansion set among splendid gardens, adorned with classical sculptures set on high columns and many fountains, we see Al praying as he kisses his crucifix.
"Please, Lord. Please give me the strength do the right thing."
He is interrupted by dogs barking, and turns to see two Dobermans come running in his direction.
He is not frightened by their aggressive posture as they approach him.
"Berta, pretty girl! Lucci, my dear boy! Come to your daddy!"
Al sits on his knees to welcome the dogs, but they do not come up to him immediately. Instead, they are seen making a semi circle to take distance from the young man. He is taken aghast.
"Have you already forgotten me? Berta? Lucci? Or have you found a new love? For I haven't..."
Al looks in dismay at his dogs, that sit at a distance, staring at him with either suspicion or curiosity. They seem to be waiting for the man that walks out of the opulent house and slowly descends the grand stairs towards Al. He is elegantly dressed in an all black uniform and high, black leather boots.
"What is left in the world to one, when your own dogs have forsaken you?" Al asks aloud, though pretty much to himself.
"We haven't forgotten you, Signorino. We are just being cautious. We don't want to be sent back to the kennel. There are so many strange faces on the property these days." The employee replies, demonstrating he has heard Al's complaints. "For the wedding's reception preparations, of course." He clarifies. "But we have not forgotten you, Signorino. We have missed you, immensely." He adds, as if talking on behalf of the dogs.
"They are beautiful dogs, my dogs. Aren't they, Ruggero?" Al says, standing as the other man nears him.
"Very beautiful indeed, Signorino." Ruggero has stopped right behind Al, who addresses him without ever looking him in the face.
But the dogs have wandered away, without answering Al's calls.
"Are you taking good care of them, Ruggero?"
"Didn't you just say they are looking beautiful, Signorino?" The employee -- who is not much older than his young boss -- retorts, demonstrating his disappointment.
"Beautiful, yes. But they look... sad to me."
"I've been taking care of them as if they were Signorino..." For a moment, Ruggero looks confused. "I mean, as if Signorino was taking care of them himself." He shakes his head. Al has never taken care of those dogs. "But we are all a little sad these days."
"Stop sniffing at my neck as if you
were a dog, too, Ruggie." From the book, we know that since Al has returned
from a trip to the United States of America, he has started calling some people
in particular with what he thinks are American sounding nicknames.
The employee respectfully takes a few steps
back and to the side, to stand beside Al -- who still avoids looking Ruggero in
the face as he addresses him.
"Is anybody home? Why nobody is here
to receive me?"
Ruggero is clearly hurt to be considered
nobody.
"They must be very busy with the
preparations, Signorino. Your sisters are here, trying one last time their full
outfits. Dozens of different hats have arrived just today." He clears his
throat. "And Signorina Vittoria is waiting for you by the pool."
"Is she?" Al replies carelessly,
his mind on something else. "I want to shower and change first. Can you
help me unload, Ruggie?" Al looks suddenly embarrassed. "The car.
Help me with the luggage, I mean."
"Of course, Signorino. The luggage. I
will help you unload the car."
"You will have to stop calling me
Signorino, Ruggie. I'll be Signor, from tomorrow on."
"We know, Signorino. Tomorrow, eh? But
let us still enjoy the Signorino for today, shall we?"
