Confessions? One thinks of Saint Augustine or Rousseau, but no, Franco Zeffirelli, born on February 12, 1923, in Florence and passed away in Rome on June 15, 2019, offered us his autobiography, his memories, his life in 1989, his encounters with opera, theater, cinema, and the world of culture and arts.
He takes us along with him into fascist Italy of the 1930s, then post-war times where everything had to be rebuilt. His disputes with Luchino Visconti who gave him his first break and at the same time envied his protégé. A world where all means are allowed to emerge from anonymity.
Franco Zeffirelli, theater decorator, director, goes from Florence to Rome, to Naples and finally to the pinnacle at La Scala in Milan to practice his art. In his work, he takes us alongside Maria Callas, conductors, and musicians including Toscanini. He lifts the veil on their intimacy without descending into vulgarity or indiscretion. Always very modest, we discover his album of memories, those of his prestigious career.
His Portrait of a Man of the Century, written in 1989, thus covers this period of Italian cinema: its neo-realism, its golden age. A book, a guide to better understand the period when Italy was emerging from the war, dictatorship, and fascism, and was hesitating between communist adventure and Christian democracy.
Franco Zeffirelli gives us the elements to be able in turn to make a choice, to judge what has been called the Italian miracle, an economic miracle and above all a new cultural renaissance through cinema, of which Franco Zeffirelli was a prestigious creator, not forgetting theatrical and operatic staging.
Yes, it is indeed this man of the 20th century that Franco Zeffirelli describes to us.
Thierry Jan, writer
