Chronicle of a Death Foretold [Cronaca di una morte annunciata] * (1987) – Classic Movie Review 9412

Director Francesco Rosi’s 1987 Italy / France / Colombia drama Chronicle of a Death Foretold [Cronaca di una morte annunciata] is a major miscalculation, with some embarrassing work from some big names of cinema. It was made in May 1986 in Cartagena and Mompox, in Bolívar, Colombia.

Gabriel García Márquez’s fascinating tale of all the inhabitants of a Colombian small town conspiring in a young man’s death is sabotaged by a laughably wooden performance by a hopelessly miscast Rupert Everett as Bayardo San Roman, as well as Rosi’s pretentious, over-inflated, ill-paced direction and mishandling of important talents like Ornella Muti, Gian Maria Volontè, Irene Papas, Lucia Bosè and Alain Cuny.

Anthony Delon plays Santiago Nasar, the youth murdered in the morning for allegedly having sex with a young virgin, Angela Vicario (Muti), ending her marriage to rich Bayardo San Roman (Everett), with her two brothers having declared they would kill Santiago Nasar to regain their sister’s lost honour. Volontè plays Dr Cristo Bedoya, the Colombian town doctor who comes to probe the story two decades on.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold [Cronaca di una morte annunciata] is directed by Francesco Rosi, runs 110 minutes, is made by Italmedia Film, Les Films Ariane, France 3 Cinéma, Soprofilms, FOCINE and Rai 2, is released by Virgin (UK), is written by Francesco Rosi and Tonino Guerra, based on the novel by Gabriel García Márquez, is shot by Pasqualino De Santis, is produced by Francis von Buren and Yves Gasser, is scored by Piero Piccioni and is designed by Andrea Crisanti.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9412

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