We got threatening letters. We had police protection on the set.

Some film was stolen...

and finally, Pasolini was murdered.

He died at the beginning of November.

We were supposed to start the French dub...

with Michel Piccoli

and other big stars.

We set up the French dub...

and Jean-Claude Biette directed it

because Monday morning, Pasolini wasn't there.

He died Saturday night...

after finishing the preparations on Friday.

The subtitled version was done...

and we did the dubbed version the following week.

The principle of all greatness on earth VOICE OF MICHEL PICCOLI

has long been totally bathed in blood.

And still, my friends, if my memory doesn't betray me,

yes, it's so. ''Without bloodshed,

there's no pardon.

Without bloodshed". Baudelaire.

With Pasolini it was always very quick.

He didn't dwell on things.

Since it was inspired by de Sade,

it seemed right to him for the film to be in French,

even if he had to make an Italian version

because it was an ItaIian film.

Its first audience was Italian,

but once it left Italy,

it was the French version tha tmattered to him.

His murder frightened

everyone in power...

both in cinema and politics.

FINISHED OFF BY THE WHEELS OF HIS CAR

The film was banned in Italy.

In France, it was shown

at the Paris Film Festival.

Lots of Italian directors came.

I don't know how many. Ten or 20.

They came to give a press conference on the film

and talk about the murder, the film, its ban in Italy,

and why the film was made.

And they weren't allowed to speak.

It was really...

awful to witness that,

because suddenly there was this resonance between the film

and what was going on then.

It was terrifying.

Eat, my dear bride.

You must keep your strength.

You must prepare for our night of love.

It's just been rereleased...

and I read an article in Aden

that really struck me because -

I believe a woman wrote it.

It said that the dictatorship of consumerism is the new Fascism.

And it's true. The film can be seen that way.

In retrospect, we can see the film differently

basedon the society we live in today.

''Pasolini sets out to dissect and slay consumerist society

because it is 'a new Fascism'.

He abhors this society, so his film must be abhorrent".

Making this trilogy,

in the end

Pier Paolo understood that the world he'd described in these three films -

I think he understood that the world was changing,

that it was becoming, let's say -

I mean, it wasn't a fairy-tale.

It was changing radically.

Not for the good, but for the worse,

in the sense that the world of the consumer was taking over,

a world that expressed itself in other ways,

a world of little sophistication.

A certain ideology was disappearing.

A whole series of things were unraveling.

In fact, when he finished this trilogy,

after telling these wonderful stories, understanding all these things,

he wanted to make a change with this film Salò.

It's the last film he made,

and I think it's like he's rejecting -

Not rejecting in a negative sense,

but like he's lost the desire.

He's lost the three stories that he told us years before.

lt's a radically different way

of looking at life.

And it wasn't good.

lt wasn't beautiful or happy.

And Pier Paolo gave vent to his feelings by making Salò.

He made a beautiful, striking,

and very shocking film.

But it was a different sort of turning point,

one tied to the changes in the world

that were taking place at that time, 1975.

And he did it with a certain ruthlessness,

like saying, ''I'llshow you what life is like, how I see the situation".

He gave us this portrayal of Salò...

as crude as could be,

as if telling all the hypocrites, ''Now I'll show you".

It's not that the new cinema is what people deserve to see.

It's what the world can look like

when people's lives are changing.

Do this with your fingers.

And say, ''I can't eat rice with my fingers like this".

I can't eat rice.

Then eat shit.

I know that the more you see it...

and the more the initial shock passes,

the more the film becomes extremely stimulating...

in terms of your awareness...

of horror.

One has to be willing to see in a film

essential aspects of life.

Everyone can do it.

They just need to be open and willing.

Most of all, Pasolini tried to understand his times

with his eyes wide-open, unafraid to take a stand.

So in a way,

he was more than an artist,

more than a great writer.

He was someone trying to live in his time with dignity.

So who is your film's audience?

It's for everyone. For people like me.