Physical Education is taken from the play La Palestra by Giorgio Scianna that I was able to read in 2014. In those years of suffering, where cinema seemed like a mirage in the desert, I thought it was an extremely interesting text with an absolutely dynamic and cinematic set up . It reminded me of those stories set in court that I was very passionate about as a child: films like Sidney Lumet’s Word to the Jurors, or Oliver Stone’s JFK. Furthermore, the idea of shooting a film entirely on location and having the opportunity to work with a group of actors in an organic, chronological and verbosity way was very appealing to me. I had the opportunity to entirely recreate, according to the criteria of my imagination, the gym in a Cinecittà studio with the aim of making an intelligent, shocking, emotional film, close to the public and at the same time personal, personalized. I wanted to make a classic, no frills where everything is aimed at discussion. The editing is by choice democratic and leaves no way out for any character, all of whom are always present through the listening planes that play a key role in reading the film. I opted for a classic decoupage whose geometries are dictated by the emotion of the scene. In respect of the writing of the D’Innocenzos and the thematic authenticity of Scianna, I have made my own personal experiment in classic cinema. All to discuss the central theme of the work, urgent and current, which is best expressed in the sense of responsibility that pervades and at the same time escapes the characters in the film. Ralph Bakshi’s 70’s cartoons, Buñuel’s cinema and punk inspired me.
Stephen Cipani