The Belly of an Architect (1987)

Director:

Peter Greenaway

Writer:

Peter Greenaway (writer)

Release Date:

23 September 1987 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An American architect arrives in Italy, supervising an exhibiton for a French architect, Boullée, who is famous for his oval structures...

Plot Keywords:

Stomach | Nudity | Cancer | Suicide | Surrealism

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Brian Dennehy	...	Stourley Kracklite
Chloe Webb	...	Louisa Kracklite
Lambert Wilson	...	Caspasian Speckler
Sergio Fantoni	...	Io Speckler
Stefania Casini	...	Flavia Speckler
Vanni Corbellini	...	Frederico
Alfredo Varelli	...	Julio
Geoffrey Copleston	...	Caspetti
Francesco Carnelutti	...	Pastarri
Marino Masé	...	Trettorio
Marne Maitland	...	Battistino
Claudio Spadaro	...	Mori
Rate Furlan	...	Violinist
Julian Jenkins	...	Old Doctor
Enrica Maria Scrivano	...	Mother
Ricardo Ussani	...	Little Boy
Stefano Gragnani	...	The Nose Man
Andrea Prodan	...	Dr.Artuso Amansa
Fabio Sartor	...	Policeman

Directed by
Peter Greenaway

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Peter Greenaway		writer

Produced by
Conchita Airoldi	....	associate producer
Colin Callender	....	producer
Dino Di Dionisio	....	associate producer
Walter Donohue	....	producer

Original Music by
Wim Mertens

Cinematography by
Sacha Vierny

Film Editing by
John Wilson

Art Direction by
Luciana Vedovelli Levi		(as Luciana Vedovelli)

Costume Design by
Maurizio Millenotti

Makeup Department
Luigi Rocchetti	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Patrizia Massa	....	unit manager

Art Department
Giorgio Desideri	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Peter Glossop	....	production sound mixer
Peter Maxwell	....	sound re-recording mixer
Steve Hancock	....	sound camera operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Vincenzo Carpineta	....	assistant camera
Paolo Di Stefano	....	electrician

Casting Department
Rita Forzano	....	casting: Rome
Ellen Lewis	....	casting: New York
Simone Reynolds	....	casting: London

Editorial Department
Milfid Ellis	....	first assistant editor
Chris Wyatt	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Glenn Branca	....	composer: additional music
Paul Daniel	....	conductor

Other crew
Anna Orieti	....	production accountant
Roger Phillips	....	title designer

Production Companies

• Tangram Film
• Mondial (co-production)
• SACIS (associate production)
• British Screen (associate production)
• Film Four International (associate production)
• Hemdale Group (associate production)

Distributors

• Bac Films (1987) (France) (theatrical)
• Cineplex Odeon Films (1987) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Hemdale Film (1990) (USA) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Hemdale Home Video (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Il ventre dell' architetto (Italy)
Der Bauch des Architekten (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
A Barriga do Arquiteto (Brazil) [pt]
Arkitektens mave (Denmark) [da]
Arkkitehdin vatsa (Finland) [fi]
Brzuch architekta (Poland) [pl]
El vientre de un arquitecto (Spain) [es]
I koilia tou arhitektona (Greece) [el]
Le ventre de l'architecte (France) [fr]

Runtime:

USA:118 min

Country:

UK | Italy

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl | USA:R | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Aurelian Walls, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Tangram Film

Quotes:

Stourley Kracklite: All fascists are meat-eaters.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish (2003)

Beautiful

Greenaway's visuals (which betray his origins as a painter in almost every gorgeously composed shot) are sumptuous. Wim Mertens score is mesmerizing. Add them to Brian Dennehy's towering performance as obsessed, betrayed, and ultimately dying American architect Stourley Kracklite and you have something very special. Kracklite is in Rome battling to put on an exhibition to his idol, 18th century French architect Etienne Louis Boulet. His young wife (Webb) betrays him, the natives scheme to undermine his exhibition and he begins to crumble physically like the ruins of the eternal city around him. The story, largely carried on Dennehy's massive shoulders, is almost incidental to the glorious, poetic footage of Rome. It is so movingly beautiful that, when I finally got around to visiting the city (a trip in no small part inspired by this film) the reality of the place couldn't compete. If you can, watch this on a big screen with the best possible suround-sound. If you can't, watch it anyway.