A film that is, in the end, about those that are expendable; presented under a veneer of complicity, in the case of Augusto and Giulia, and insanity, in the case of Alessandro.

The Antonioni influence is strong here in the photography. In Antonioni’s L’Avventura we never do know what happens to Anna. In Bellocchio’s Fists in the Pocket, we certainly know what happened to the mother. In the case of L’Avventura, it doesn’t really matter what happens to Anna in the end. And in the case of Fists in the Pocket, the children really don’t care that the mother is gone either. It isn’t just a case of ennui, but also of a selfish release from an uncomfortable pressure.

However, Bellocchio doesn’t fully respect Antonioni. The ending sequence of the film is a clear parody of the ending of L’Avventura. I found it to be hilarious in that context. By the way, I would recommend watching L’Avventura before Fists in the Pocket. L’Avventura’s Sandro crying on the shoulder of Claudia and Fists in the Pocket’s Allessandro (also know as Sandro or Ale in the film) crying out for his sister, whom offers no solace for his disingenuous affections, are both pretty pathetic.

Some of the sets are the most memorable I’ve seen. The funeral where the children kiss their mother goodbye for one last time, the juxtaposition of Alessandro walking alone amongst the dancing couples, and Giulia falling down the stairs (in a nod to Hitchcock) from a nervous breakdown while futilely attempting to grab hold of the railing.

At once an existential drama, a satire and a horror show; highly disturbing in each of its schizophrenic stages. Inadvertently, Fists in the Pocket can be viewed as a condemnation of neurotic, and even psychotic, self-involved youth.