Early years Petri was born in
Rome on 29 January 1929. In 1944, he joined the youth organization of the
Italian Communist Party (PCI). He later left the Communist Party after the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
Career as director Petri made his feature film debut as a director with
The Assassin (also titled
The Lady Killer of Rome, 1961), "The protagonist of
Bicycle Thieves today must face not only the society he lives in but also his own consciousness", Petri stated in an interview the following year. working under a pseudonym. The film marked the beginning of Petri's collaboration with screenwriter
Ugo Pirro, which was to last until 1973, and was the first of four feature films by Petri to star
Gian Maria Volontè.
A Quiet Place in the Country (1968), a
giallo thriller about an artist's deterioration into madness, won a
Silver Bear award at the
19th Berlin International Film Festival,
The "trilogy of neurosis" With
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), which, among other accolades, received the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film and two prizes at the
1970 Cannes Film Festival, Petri presented one of his most successful films. In the same year, Petri participated in the political documentary films
Documenti su Giuseppe Pinelli (also titled
Dedicato a Pinelli), about the unresolved death of anarchist
Giuseppe Pinelli, and
12 Dicembre. neurosis of power, neurosis of work and neurosis of money.
Later works Todo modo (1976) was again adapted from a novel by Leonardo Sciascia. The film, a barely concealed satirical portrayal of Italy's then ruling
Christian Democratic party and
prime minister Aldo Moro, was received controversially upon its release and withdrawn from circulation after Moro's assassination two years later. Petri himself saw the film as a break with what he saw as "popular" political cinema, radical political films (both his and by other directors) produced within Italy's mainstream film industry. In 1981, Petri directed
Arthur Miller's new play
The American Clock at
Genoa's Teatro Duse, with
Lino Capolicchio playing the lead role.
Death Petri died of
cancer on 10 November 1982 in Rome, 53 years old. ==Filmography==