Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

R

Released Dec 20, 1970

1h 55m

Crime

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

15 Reviews

94%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

A highly regarded Italian police inspector (Gian Maria Volonte) murders his mistress, only to become part of the homicide investigation that follows. The inspector proceeds to plant clues at the crime scene as his fellow officers either ignore or fail to recognize his obvious tampering. But all is not as it seems. While the killer may have an inside track on fabricating his own innocence, he also seems to be testing the competence and integrity of Italian law enforcement.

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Keith Phipps

The Dissolve

Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion begins like a giallo, but soon pushes beyond even that genre's outr boundaries, playing like a fever dream.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 3, 2013

Full Review

Anthony Lane

New Yorker

Its portrait of a loner and his lusts comes up frighteningly fresh, and the whole conceit would collapse without the muscular, rousing presence of Gian Maria Volont in the central role.

Oct 1, 2012

Full Review

David Fear

Time Out

A paranoid police procedural, a perverse parable about the corrupting elements of power, and a candidate for the greatest predated Patriot Act movie ever ...

Rated: 5/5

Sep 25, 2012

Full Review

Rob Aldam

Backseat Mafia

Volonté is a snarling beast, delivering a masterclass in muscular acting and irrepressible self-belief.

Jan 19, 2021

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

It marks the pinnacle of a lucrative union with Morricone, whose half playful, half deliriously creepy score here is a definite highlight, as well as a Petri's highpoint of collaboration with Gian Maria Volonte, who gives a career best performance.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 12, 2020

Full Review

John Mahoney

Los Angeles Free Press

"Investigation" is out of the "Z" school, finishing a bit further down the list in standing, but a proud representative of its class.

Jan 13, 2020

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Alec B

As the titular investigation progresses each scene upends the previous one and you fittingly never feel like you are on solid ground. This is what makes the film's repetitive commentary on authoritarianism palatable as even the audience feels implicated.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/10/24

Full Review

William L

"I confess to my innocence!" Where American Psycho was something of a criticism of the idle wealthy, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is a much more pointed satire of brash power politics, the pollution of social ideals, selfishness, and invulnerability from consequences told in much the same way - using death, power fantasies, masculine insecurities, and self-delusion. What starts as a relatively grounded premise for a thriller - a police chief taking steps to hide his guilt in a murder - gradually becomes the exact opposite, as Gian Maria Volonté's 'Il Dottore' evolves into a more complex figure who hides his intentions even from the audience, shifting blame to others before disproving their involvement. It all comes down to his own invincibility, the perception that Il Dottore's own power and influence shield him not only from suspicion but absolve him of any possibility of facing consequences, a premise as old as time but updated for the modern world as our pseudo-protagonist spouts rhetoric about social evils that must be quashed and political undesirables that must be stomped out. His confidence is simultaneously rather simplistic and childish, trading off a grand personal image and a loud speaking voice, but is demonstrated to be very real (even if, as the final shots suggest, it might not be to the satirical degree that the plot implies). An interesting film on a the modern sociopolitical sociopath, that still has bite over half a century later. (3.5/5)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/16/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Solo l'interpretazione di Gian Maria Volontè potrebbe bastare a definire questo grandissimo film del mitico Elio Petri. Una diretta critica alla società dei protetti, di quei personaggi tutelati da un sistema che somatizza i suoi problemi dimostrando un'ipocrisia sostanziale, oramai fondamento della società democratica italiana. Una linea narrativa geniale, una sceneggiatura semplicemente perfetta, e come già accennato, una delle migliori interpretazioni della storia del cinema. Da vedere assolutamente!!!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Tony S

A politically charged satire and one of the greatest instances of a character's ego being disseminated in front of your eyes. Marvelous theme. A clever use of close-ups, colors, and depth of field to perfectly simulate the futile attempts to stand up to the authority of the nameless inspector. The perception of that authority goes through the eyes of Elio Petri. Who equates the Italian police state with fascism with such bluntness and grotesqueness that it comes off as more like the misadventures of Patrick Bateman than any serious political jabs at the regime. Of course, it is hard to ignore similar scenes where the director similarly ridicules communists and revolutionaries. The mistress's past lover is too preoccupied with waving his red book and sticking it to the man rather than actually doing something about the murderer, who is clearly confessing to him. What elevates the film is the gradual disintegration of the belief that it's the inspector's own power that keeps everyone from acknowledging the obvious. No, he is just a part of the machine, a hostage of the laws and the system. An insignificant sick cog that can not be replaced or disgraced until it is time to do so.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/22/22

Full Review

Audience Member

As the titular investigation progresses each scene upends the previous one and you fittingly never feel like you are on solid ground. This is what makes the film's repetitive commentary on authoritarianism palatable as even the audience feels implicated.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

william d

I was hoping for a first-rate detective story. Instead I watched a polemic on the privilege of the powerful amidst 1970s Italian politics. The story was as dated as the soundtrack.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Elio Petri

Director

Gian Maria Volonté

Il Dottore

Florinda Bolkan

Augusta Terzi

Salvo Randone

Plumber

Gianni Santuccio

Questore

Arturo Dominici

Mangani

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Synopsis

A highly regarded Italian police inspector (Gian Maria Volonte) murders his mistress, only to become part of the homicide investigation that follows. The inspector proceeds to plant clues at the crime scene as his fellow officers either ignore or fail to recognize his obvious tampering. But all is not as it seems. While the killer may have an inside track on fabricating his own innocence, he also seems to be testing the competence and integrity of Italian law enforcement.

Director: Elio Petri
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 20, 1970, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 7, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $89.9K
Runtime: 1h 55m

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