Sergio Castellitto plays Gabriele d'Annunzio in the film "The Bad Poet"

Soon to be released in theaters is Gianluca Jodice’s film Il Cattivo Poeta (The Bad Poet ), centered on the last two years of Gabriele D’Annunzio ’s life (Pescara, 1863 - Gardone Riviera, 1938), starring Sergio Castellitto as the Vate. The events that take place between 1936 and 1938 are narrated through the experience of a young man of twenty-nine, Giovanni Comini (played by Francesco Patanè), a young Fascist federal sent to Gardone by Achille Starace to control D’Annunzio, whom the National Fascist Party has always considered a potentially dangerous man. Starace’s goal, to put D’Annunzio in a position not to harm the alliance between Mussolini and Hitler.

The film, produced by Matteo Rovere and Andrea Paris and distributed by 01 Distribution, was shot almost entirely at the Vittoriale, and features Fausto Russo Alesi as Achille Starace, Elena Bucci playing Luisa Baccara and Clotilde Courau as Amélie Mazoyer, among other actors. For director Jodice, a Neapolitan born in 1973 with a degree in philosophy from the University of Naples Federico II, this is his first try with a feature film for cinema after a long experience on documentaries and short films (he was twice nominated for the Nastro d’Argento). His achievements include Ritratto di Bambino (2002), an internationally acclaimed short film and winner of the first prize at the Frontiere Film Festival in Luzzara, the Special Jury Prize at the Seville Film Festival and the FICE Award, and Cercando la grande bellezza (2014), a documentary on Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-winning film.

The following is a synopsis of the film: 1936. Giovanni Comini has just been promoted to federal, the youngest that Italy can boast. His mentor, Achille Starace, secretary of the Fascist Party and number two of the regime, wanted it that way. Comini was immediately summoned to Rome for a delicate mission: he was to guard Gabriele d’Annunzio and put him in a position to do no harm... Yes, because the Vate, the national poet, in recent times appears to be contrite, and Mussolini fears it will harm his impending alliance with Hitler’s Germany.But at the Vittoriale, the political design of which Comini is only a small executor will begin to lose its solid contours, and the young federal,torn between loyalty to the Party and fascination for the poet, will end up putting his launched career in serious danger.

Sergio Castellitto plays Gabriele d'Annunzio in the film "The Bad Poet"

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