The Lizards

The Lizards
The Lizards
Directed by	Lina Wertmüller
Written by	Lina Wertmüller
Produced by	Lionello Santi
Cinematography	Gianni Di Venanzo
Edited by	Ruggero Mastroianni
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Production; companies	Galatea Film; Società Editoriale Cinematografica Italiana 22 Dicembre;
Distributed by	Cineriz
Release date	1963 (1963);
Running time	85 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Budget	£28,000

1963 Italian film

The Lizards, also known as The Basilisks (Italian: I basilischi),^[1] is a 1963 Italian comedy drama film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller. Filmed in the small towns of Minervino Murge and Spinazzola in Apulia and the small agricultural town Palazzo San Gervasio in Basilicata, it was Wertmüller's directorial debut, with a reported budget of £28,000.^[2]

Plot

Francesco, Sergio, and Antonio are three privileged young individuals residing in a typical provincial town, namely Minervino Murge (at that time in the province of Bari and since 2009 in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani), located between Apulia and Basilicata. The film portrays their lives, now saturated with apathy and provincialism, hindering any genuine desire to pursue more stimulating horizons. When Antonio's aunt, an indifferent university student, offers him the opportunity to live with her in Rome and transfer his enrollment from the University of Bari to the capital, he eventually declines. Incapable of abandoning the ingrained prejudices, stereotypes, and rituals of his native province, he returns to the village, his decision irreversible. The conclusion features a quote from the Southern Italian scholar Giustino Fortunato: "We are what race, climate, location, and history have determined us to be."^[3]

Cast

Antonio Petruzzi as Tony
Stefano Satta Flores as Francesco
Sergio Ferrarino as Sergio
Luigi Barbieri as Antonio's father
Flora Carabella as Luciana Bonfanti

Legacy

Wertmüller, who had worked as assistant director for Federico Fellini on 8½ (1963), made her directorial debut and also wrote the story and screenplay. She won the "Silver Sail" at the 1963 Locarno Film Festival and subsequently won awards in London and Taormina. In addition to being Wertmüller's debut, it was one of the first roles of Satta Flores and Clarabella, Santa Flores' classmate and future wife of Marcello Mastroianni. Wertmüller also voiced numerous supporting characters. She shot the film in Minervino Murge, a town in the Altopiano delle Murge region on the border with Basilicata. Wertmüller was inspired to make the film after visiting her father's hometown, Palazzo San Gervasio, which she described as "the discovery of a world, of that part of Italy cut off from the routes of so many wars and from history".^[4] In 2008, I basilischi was shown as part of the retrospective "Questi fantasmi: Cinema italiano ritrovato" at the 65th Venice International Film Festival.^[5]^[6] A 4K restoration of the film was screened at the Museum of Modern Art in December 2023.^[7]

References

^ Viscardi, Giuseppe Maria (2011). "La Basilicata tra il Cristo di Levi e il 'familismo amorale' di Banfield". Ricerche di storia sociale e religiosa. Storia e letteratura (in Italian). 80 (2). Rome: 300. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Institutional Research Information System. La parola 'basilisco', che deriva dal greco, significa reuccio, ma sta a designare anche un genere di rettili dell'America tropicale. Nel Medioevo si dava il nome basilisco ad un immaginario animale, dal corpo di serpente con la testa ornata di tre piccole sporgenze acuminate. Secondo la credenza dell'epoca, il basilisco dava la morte con lo sguardo e moriva al solo vedersi in uno specchio: sembra sia questa la versione zoologica della vicenda mitologica di Narciso. Credo che nel titolo del film permanga una certa ambiguità o, se si preferisce, ambivalenza e tuttavia, essendosi la regista ispirata a I vitelloni di Federico Fellini, film del 1953, si potrebbe dedurre che I basilischi, piuttosto che evocare realtà e regalità bizantine, proprio come il capolavoro felliniano, facciano allusione e riferimento ad una sorta di idealtypus – absit iniuria verbis – zoo-antropologico, che Fellini prima e Wertmüller poi si divertono a mettere alla berlina. I contesti geografici, economici e sociali sono diversi, ma i protagonisti, mutatis mutandis, sembrano proprio gli stessi: i basilischi sono, infatti, i vitelloni nostrani, della Basilicata. [The word "basilisco," derived from Greek, means little king, but it also refers to a genus of reptiles in tropical America. In the Middle Ages, the name basilisco was given to an imaginary creature, with a snake-like body and a head adorned with three small pointed protrusions. According to the beliefs of the time, the basilisk could cause death with its gaze and would die upon seeing itself in a mirror: this seems to be the zoological version of the mythological story of Narcissus. I believe that in the title of the film, a certain ambiguity or, if preferred, ambivalence persists. However, since the director was inspired by Federico Fellini's I vitelloni, a film from 1953, it could be inferred that "I basilischi," rather than evoking Byzantine reality and royalty, just like Fellini's masterpiece, alludes to and refers to a kind of ideal-typical – absit iniuria verbis – zoo-anthropological scenario, which Fellini first and Wertmüller later enjoy ridiculing. The geographical, economic, and social contexts are different, but the protagonists, mutatis mutandis, seem to be the same: the basilischi are indeed the local "vitelloni," from Basilicata.]
^ Caute, David (1994). Joseph Losey. Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-19-506410-0. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Internet Archive.
^ Borraro, Pietro (1977). La Questione meridionale da Giustino Fortunato ad oggi: atti (in Italian). Congedo. p. 139. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Google Books.
^ Chiorazzo, Emilio (27 November 2019). "I basilischi, quel film nato da una visita casuale alla terra di suo padre". StorieOggi (in Italian). Archived from the original on 23 April 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2025.
^ Pinchiorri, Simone (28 July 2008). "Mostra di Venezia 2008: 'Questi Fantasmi: Cinema Italiano Ritrovato (1946–1975)'". CinemaItaliano.info (in Italian). Retrieved 18 April 2013.
^ Paini, Luigi (26 August 2008). "65ª mostra di Venezia. L'Italia prenota la prima fila". Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). Retrieved 18 April 2013.
^ "I basilischi (The Lizards). 1963. Written and directed by Lina Wertmüller". Museum of Modern Art. 3 December 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2023.

External links

The Lizards at IMDb
The Lizards at Rotten Tomatoes

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[1] Viscardi, Giuseppe Maria (2011). "La Basilicata tra il Cristo di Levi e il 'familismo amorale' di Banfield". Ricerche di storia sociale e religiosa. Storia e letteratura (in Italian). 80 (2). Rome: 300. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Institutional Research Information System. La parola 'basilisco', che deriva dal greco, significa reuccio, ma sta a designare anche un genere di rettili dell'America tropicale. Nel Medioevo si dava il nome basilisco ad un immaginario animale, dal corpo di serpente con la testa ornata di tre piccole sporgenze acuminate. Secondo la credenza dell'epoca, il basilisco dava la morte con lo sguardo e moriva al solo vedersi in uno specchio: sembra sia questa la versione zoologica della vicenda mitologica di Narciso. Credo che nel titolo del film permanga una certa ambiguità o, se si preferisce, ambivalenza e tuttavia, essendosi la regista ispirata a I vitelloni di Federico Fellini, film del 1953, si potrebbe dedurre che I basilischi, piuttosto che evocare realtà e regalità bizantine, proprio come il capolavoro felliniano, facciano allusione e riferimento ad una sorta di idealtypus – absit iniuria verbis – zoo-antropologico, che Fellini prima e Wertmüller poi si divertono a mettere alla berlina. I contesti geografici, economici e sociali sono diversi, ma i protagonisti, mutatis mutandis, sembrano proprio gli stessi: i basilischi sono, infatti, i vitelloni nostrani, della Basilicata. [The word "basilisco," derived from Greek, means little king, but it also refers to a genus of reptiles in tropical America. In the Middle Ages, the name basilisco was given to an imaginary creature, with a snake-like body and a head adorned with three small pointed protrusions. According to the beliefs of the time, the basilisk could cause death with its gaze and would die upon seeing itself in a mirror: this seems to be the zoological version of the mythological story of Narcissus. I believe that in the title of the film, a certain ambiguity or, if preferred, ambivalence persists. However, since the director was inspired by Federico Fellini's I vitelloni, a film from 1953, it could be inferred that "I basilischi," rather than evoking Byzantine reality and royalty, just like Fellini's masterpiece, alludes to and refers to a kind of ideal-typical – absit iniuria verbis – zoo-anthropological scenario, which Fellini first and Wertmüller later enjoy ridiculing. The geographical, economic, and social contexts are different, but the protagonists, mutatis mutandis, seem to be the same: the basilischi are indeed the local "vitelloni," from Basilicata.]

[2] Caute, David (1994). Joseph Losey. Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-19-506410-0. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Internet Archive.

[3] Borraro, Pietro (1977). La Questione meridionale da Giustino Fortunato ad oggi: atti (in Italian). Congedo. p. 139. Retrieved 20 October 2025 – via Google Books.

[4] Chiorazzo, Emilio (27 November 2019). "I basilischi, quel film nato da una visita casuale alla terra di suo padre". StorieOggi (in Italian). Archived from the original on 23 April 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2025.

[5] Pinchiorri, Simone (28 July 2008). "Mostra di Venezia 2008: 'Questi Fantasmi: Cinema Italiano Ritrovato (1946–1975)'". CinemaItaliano.info (in Italian). Retrieved 18 April 2013.

[6] Paini, Luigi (26 August 2008). "65ª mostra di Venezia. L'Italia prenota la prima fila". Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). Retrieved 18 April 2013.

[7] "I basilischi (The Lizards). 1963. Written and directed by Lina Wertmüller". Museum of Modern Art. 3 December 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2023.