Pietro Aretino at the Pearly Gates – A film by Elia Misesti and James Fitzmaurice
THIS FILM can be used as supplemental material for classes in Shakespeare’s drama.
PIETRO ARETINO was well known in Shakespeare’s England as an Italian Renaissance humanist, dramatist, and writer on religion. Aretino was called “the scourge of princes” because he frequently wrote vicious attacks on major figures of his day.
As a famous libertine, he revelled in a life of sexual pleasure and published an illustrated volume of sexual positions. This book is often understood to be the first recorded instance of pornography in print.
The epic poet John Milton and the essayist Joseph Addison both make reference to Aretino’s writing. But Aretino is most memorable as the person Elizabethan theater goers would recognize when they saw Lucio in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Lucio is a gentleman of libertine philosophy and practices, who first gets a prostitute with child and then abandons her. Like Aretino, he is no respecter of social standing. Indeed, his acid verbal attacks on the Duke make Lucio worthy of Aretino’s epithet, “scourge of princes.”
As Measure for Measure closes, Shakespeare metes out an “appropriate” but controversial punishment for Lucio. This libertine “gentleman” is required to marry the woman he has abandoned. Lucio compares his punishment to a horrifying death by “pressing.” Modern audiences might wonder if the woman would be better off without him. The Aretino of the short film described below is, however, a comic trickster figure rather than an evil villain.
The historical facts mentioned in the film are accurate.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS. Heaven is a villa in Tuscany, and Pietro Aretino is trying to gain entry. St Peter, who is an old hippie, quizzes Pietro to check qualifications. There are several difficulties, but, after the bored angel in the admissions office finds time to sort out the case, all is made clear.
LINK TO FILM https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1093506777
STILLS FROM THE FILM
Saint Peter as an old hippie
Office staff in Heaven
THIS PAGE AND THE FILM “PIETRO ARETINO AT THE PEARLY GATES” MAY BE USED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES BUT MAY NOT BE ALTERED OR SOLD.
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