The Repertoire of Erotic Gestures in Early Italian Cinema and its Dua...

In MA L’AMOR MIO NON MUORE (English: BUT MY LOVE IS NOT DYING), directed by Mario Caserini and produced by Gloria Film of Turin in 1913, the protagonist – Elsa Holbein – seems to be engaged in a two-fold form of seduction: towards the men and towards the audience so that, thanks to a suggestive form of eroticism, the voyeuristic nature of early cinema finds its perfect expression. The title is identical to the words pronounced by Manon Lescaut, the main character of the opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini, which was performed for the first time in Turin in 1893. This clear cross-media reference allows a number of considerations about the similarities and differences between theatre and silent cinema. In my paper, I will look at different forms of cinematic eroticism of the origins and at the changing significance of the female body portrayed therein.