With Saló, Pasolini's artistic life saw its end. He even once stated
that "Saló goes so far beyond the limits that those who habitually speak
badly of me will have to find new terms." The release of Saló was
shadowed by photographs of Pasolini's disfigured corpse, and the outrage
of the intelligentsia was enormous on many levels. Pasolini, it might
be said, may have sacrificed himself to prove his "theorem of death."
Though it is my belief his death was conspiratorially motivated, he was
likely aware of its reality. As he said, "Without death, life has no
meaning." Saló and Pasolini's death are so inextricably linked
together, that they have provided two-part harmony to end the lyric poem
of his life. The concept of his death and utter dismay with life are
the ultimate expression of the entire trajectory of his life's work.
1. Pasolini, Pier Paolo. "Heretical Empiricism," Indiana University
Press, ©1988.
2. Greene, Naomi. "Cinema As Heresy; The Films of Pasolini," Pantheon,
©1991.
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