#89: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Part of the Top 150 Films series
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is a deservedly unwieldy title for a knotty, complex film. A rare example of Oscar choosing the best foreign language film in a given year, the film is a psychological, black-humored satire on police corruption, telling the story of a recently promoted detective who kills his mistress, then tests whether the police would charge him for this crime. From that elaborate premise, Petri — gloriously assisted by Gian Maria Volontè giving the performance of his life, and Ennio Morricone’s bouncy, deftly odd musical motif heard throughout the film — constructs a world of authoritarian menace, political intrigue, and paranoid suppression. As a kind of political parable, Investigation is stunning. Volontè gives an extraordinary speech in which he equates murderers with agitators and rapists with anarchists; it’s a testament to his performance and the world unfurling in front of us that we almost believe him.
