''They Have Changed Their Face'' () is a 1971 Italian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by Corrado Farina and starring

Adolfo Celi Adolfo Celi (; 27 July 1922 – 19 February 1986) was an Italian film actor and director. Born in Curcuraci, Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 films, specialising in international villains. Although a prominent actor in Italian ...

. The film won the

Golden Leopard The Golden Leopard () is the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, an international film festival held annually in Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. Directors in the process of getting an international reputation are allowed to b ...

award for the Best First Feature at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...

in 1971.

Plot

The director of a famous car corporation invites one of his employees to his country villa to give him some good news. He has just been promoted. However, the old man is not what he seems, and promotion has a price.

Production

The screenplay of ''They Have Changed Their Face'' was written by Giulio Berruta and director Corrado Farina. They were influenced by German philosopher

Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse ( ; ; July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German–American philosopher, social critic, and Political philosophy, political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at ...

, specifically his book ''

One-Dimensional Man ''One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society'' is a 1964 book by the German–American philosopher and critical theorist Herbert Marcuse, in which the author offers a wide-ranging critique of both the contempora ...

'' (1964), a critique of capitalism and communist Russia which provided the film with its thesis that

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

is a form of

social control Social control is the regulations, sanctions, mechanisms, and systems that restrict the behaviour of individuals in accordance with social norms and orders. Through both informal and formal means, individuals and groups exercise social con ...

. According to Farina, the film was very low budget, costing about 50 million Italian lire. The film was shot in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and Incir-DePaolis Studios in Rome between December 1970 and January 1971.

Release

''They Have Changed Their Face'' was distributed by Garligiano in Italy on 2 July 1971. The film grossed a total of 28.01 million

Italian lire The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually fo ...

on its domestic release. The film was released on DVD in the United States in 2014 as ''They've Changed Their Faces''.

Reception

''They Have Changed Their Face'' won the

award for the Best First Feature at the

in 1971. In his overview of Italian

gothic film A Gothic film is a film that is based on Gothic fiction or common elements from such fictional works. Since various definite film genres—including science fiction, film noir, thriller, and comedy—have used Gothic elements, the Gothic film is c ...

s of the 1970s, film critic and historian Roberto Curti described the film "stagnates and sags halfway through" and that some of the social and political commentary in the film became a bit "naive and predictable" Farina spoke about the film later, declaring that "had it been made with a bigger budget and means, it might have been a cute little thing ... it is sad to see it today, as it is basically a conceptual movie."

References

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

* {{Golden Leopard 1971 films 1971 horror films Gothic horror films Italian horror films 1970s Italian-language films Golden Leopard winners Films directed by Corrado Farina Films set in country houses Films shot in Italy Films shot in Rome 1970s Italian films