The film on Gioacchino da Fiore has been in post-production since December 1st The Monk Who Conquered the Apocalypse, directed by Jordan River and produced by Delta Star Pictures with the support of the Calabria Film Commission Foundation. The cinematographic work is expected to be released by 2025, the year of the next ordinary Jubilee of the Church, in which the Florentine abbot, who lived between about 1135 and 1202, could be beatified, according to authoritative religious sources. In the 16th century, Joachim’s message – the prophecy, philosopher Gianni Vattimo would say, of men’s spiritual emancipation – even reached the Americas, as documented by the anthropologist Georges Baudot in the volume “Utopía e Historia en México”, and was decisive for the foundation of several cities, including Puebla de los Angeles, today Puebla de Zaragoza, according to a study by Silvia Castellanos de García, professor at the Universidad National Autònoma de México. Yet, precisely the Calabrian origin of the monk seems to be penalizing, due to strong cultural prejudices that still weigh on (and in) the region. We interviewed Elizabeth Pellini, who in the film – whose writing collaborated with the Italian philosopher Andrea Tagliapietra, among other things editor of the Joachim volume “Sull’Apocalisse”, published by Feltrinelli – plays the role of Costanza d’Altavilla, mother of Frederick II and great admirer of the abbot Gioacchino, whose figurative theology Dante Alighieri took up and from whom Michelangelo Buonarroti was inspired for his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. The film in question aims to divulge the spirituality and topicality of Gioacchino da Fiore’s thought, still little known by the general public in the era of digital consumerism, marketism and globalization. Furthermore, the hope of various Calabrian local administrators is that the film will make the charm of the Sila known to the world, in which several scenes of this work by River, who has long been a passionate lover of the Calabrian abbot, were shot.
Elisabetta Pellini, she plays Costanza d’Altavilla in the film The Monk Who Conquered the Apocalypse. Who was that monk and how did Queen Constance, mother of Emperor Frederick II, consider him?
«In the film, Queen Constance sees in that monk the closest spiritual figure to whom to entrust her most intimate concerns. In the secrecy of the confession, Constance, the mother of Frederick II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Jerusalem, will manifest the deepest recognition of her. Queen Constance decides to confess to the monk Joachim instead of the Pope. This is because she had great esteem and trust in her. The gesture made by Queen Constance will go down in history. Until then, no queen had ever confessed and knelt before a monk».
Dante Alighieri defined Gioacchino da Fiore as the “Calabrese abbot”, recognizing in him the dowry of the “prophetic spirit”. Do you think that reference to Gioacchino’s geographical origin is today a limit for the dissemination of his thought and his figure?
«Dante expresses his recognition to him not only in a tercet. It must be said that the Divine Comedy is truly imbued with Joachim strength. Not everyone knows that reading the masterpiece of the Divine Comedy also reads the thought of Joachim. For example, in Canto XXXIII of Paradise, Dante contemplates the three divine Persons and, with a grandiose depiction, illustrates the mystery of the Trinity. For example, when Dante writes “In the deep and clear subsistence / of the high Lume I thought three turns / of three colors and of a content; / and one from the other, as iri da iri,/ parea reflexo, e the third parea foco,/ that quinci and then equally you breathe”. There Dante illustrates the three Trinitarian circles of Gioacchino da Fiore present in the Liber Figurarum, an edition of which is kept in Oxford».
How did you prepare to play your role?
«I read the excerpt of the script and then I had a meeting with the director, before filming to work on the character of Costanza d’Altavilla. River uses his own method, pays close attention to the preparation, providing the necessary tools for the cinematic adventure. Then on the set it turns. The director shows the way, but then it is the actor who has to follow it. In short, River tries to leave the actors free to express themselves to get to the soul of the character. There is a crew in the film, a very important team that pays attention to detail. Everyone put in a little of their art. For the make-up, Vittorio Sodano used an airbrush, in order to make it as natural as possible. There are not many photos and materials on the image of Queen Constance, but at the time, kaolin was used to make up and hide imperfections. The costume designer Daniele Gelsi was attentive to every detail of the costume and advised me on the movements to make the dress more visible and also to enter the era of Costanza d’Altavilla. For the rest, I followed my instinct as an actress and magically entered that historical context. It was wonderful. The sets were magnificent. The lights of the director of photography, Gianni Mammolotti, created the right and intimate atmosphere for the great meeting of Queen Costanza with Gioacchino da Fiore, the monk who won the Apocalypse».
What struck you most about the history and character of Costanza d’Altavilla?
«Royal humility and the search for spirituality for his son Frederick II».
The film was partly shot in the San Giovanni in Fiore area, where clear signs of Gioacchino’s prophetism and spirituality are still present. What impression did he get from those silane places?
«I was on the set during the shootings shot in Lazio, after those made in the Calabrian locations. For now, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know the splendid locations of the Sila only virtually, since the director, to let me enter the spiritual wake of the film, sent me a link to view some scenes shot right in San Giovanni in Fiore. For example, I saw the scene of Joachim’s tonsure, filmed in the crypt of the Florense Abbey. Specifically, it is a true immersion in the divine light».
In your opinion, what are the difficulties in making a film about a character like Gioacchino da Fiore, little known to the general public and in a very different cultural context from the 1980s, in which the book and then the film were released The Name of The rose?
«There are many settings similar to the famous film “The Name of the Rose”. Indeed, I would say more: in the film “The Monk who won the Apocalypse” there are unique, truly spectacular locations, with a style in which poetry and spirituality will be the strong points».
In your opinion, what can the film represent in the cultural panorama, not only in Italy? The Monk Who Conquered the Apocalypse?
«From what I seemed to perceive the work is not limited to historical events, but brings them back to life to make them live and love. It deals with timeless and universal themes such as courage, constancy, the victory of life over death, fraternity, love”.
When could the film be released?
«The production has not yet announced the release date, but has however confirmed that it will be distributed worldwide by the Holy Jubilee of 2025».
What interpretation does the film give of the life of Joachim with respect to his relationship with the Church?
«We know that the cause for the beatification of Gioacchino da Fiore is underway and it is not excluded, as transpires from important religious sources, that the Church will proclaim him blessed by the next Jubilee of 2025. Of course, the Church is very late, in fact more than 800 years have passed. But perhaps this should have happened in this era, of the “third age”».
How did filming go in Calabria?
«Last summer the filming was filmed in Calabria, but I didn’t have the opportunity to be there. I know that there were many fellow actors on the set and that the municipal administration of San Giovanni in Fiore and the president of the province of Cosenza, Rosaria Succurro, stood by the production by giving her maximum support. When the film comes out, if I’m invited, I’ll gladly come to Calabria to present it, together with the director and the production». (redazione@corrierecal.it)
«Thus the strength of Gioacchino da Fiore conquered “my” Costanza d’Altavilla»