The Years of Lead revisited through the story of Chiara, a Red Brigades member involved in the Moro kidnapping; a girl who struggles to reconcile the armed struggle with everyday life, made up of work, boyfriend and common relationships. Bellocchio casts his attentive gaze on what Italy has not been able to see for 25 years. Buongiorno, notte tells us perhaps much more about today than about that particular moment in our history. With its parades of politicians, filmed by television reports of the time, with its hints of trash television (which in those years began to gnaw at our brains), and above all with his private obstinacy, with his distressing and threatening “outside”, he describes the seeds that have insinuated themselves into our reality and clearly indicates who sowed them. The solution? An escape into dreams, a world suspended between reality and unreality. More than a film, a very successful gamble that "manages to wonderfully compact Reality and Fiction, Life and Dream, to perfectly combine (Great) History and Intimism, to maintain a balance between Visionary and Realistic Instance".
Born and raised in Bobbio, Marco Bellocchio attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome at a young age. His first film, I pugni in tasca (1965), is one of the most mature and bold debuts in the history of Italian cinema. After La Cina è vicina (1967), a slogan film about the Italian bourgeoisie, he directed, among others, Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina (1972), a bitter reflection on journalism. One of the most politically committed directors, he denounced the abuses of institutions (Nel nome del padre, 1972, Matti da slegare, 1975, Marcia trionfale, 1976) alternating documentary with fiction cinema. With the psychoanalyst Massimo Fagioli, he directed Il diavolo in corpo (1986), inaugurating a prolonged cinematic journey along the routes of the unconscious. In 1997 he brought to the screen a text by Heinrich von Kleist, The Prince of Homburg, which achieved great success among critics and audiences, confirming himself as a lucid, rigorous and passionate director. Having confirmed his success with a film adaptation of Pirandello's novel (La balia, 1999), he turned his attention to the dilemmas of the present and recent history (L’ora di religione, 2002, Buongiorno, notte, 2003, Il regista di matrimoni, 2006). The only Italian in competition, in 2009 he participated in the Cannes Film Festival with Vincere, obtaining great acclaim from international critics. At the last Venice Film Festival he presented Sorelle mai, a film in six episodes set in a family setting.