Among the books that can be
downloaded for free today on the website of the publishing house Il Saggiatore ,
which has joined the Digital Solidarity initiative by publishing on its
website, on a regular basis, e-books to download, the beautiful volume C'era una volta il cinema, an interview book with Sergio
Leone created by Noël Simsolo the result of fifteen years of
uninterrupted dialogue.
“At the base of this book of
interviews there are fifteen years of friendship - writes Noël Simsolo in the
preface - fifteen years of continuous dialogue between Paris,
Cannes and Rome. Fifteen
years of film festivals in Roman trattorias or in small Marais bistros, in
haute cuisine restaurants or in friends' homes. Fifteen years of walks at
the Montreuil flea market, animated discussions and crazy laughter in the
buildings of Paris or the French Riviera; fifteen years of telephone
conversations to talk about cinema or to make appointments with potential
financiers. Fifteen years of coexistence that have resulted in this book,
as a sort of marriage of convenience."
Once upon a time there was
cinema is the text to which Leone
entrusted the story of his life and all the films he made. The frames of
his memories carry the hat of Clint Eastwood and the badly
shaved beard of Gian Maria Volonté, the melodies of Ennio Morricone,
the look of Claudia Cardinale and the blurred smile of Robert De Niro,
the meetings with Pier Paolo Pasolini, Klaus Kinski and Orson Welles.
Reading this memoir-interview,
published in Italy
in 2018, is like finding a voice that was believed to be lost in an old
cassette. A high-pitched, amused, ferociously unconventional voice, which
between an anecdote of life on set and a reflection on cinema ends up revealing
the secrets of a director who has managed to transform the years of prohibition
into the poignant novel of betrayed friendships, revenge and love lost.
