Paolo Conte at the center of a chic and charming documentary

Pince-sans-rire, lordly, classy. Paolo Conte, creator and performer of Via con me, but also some grandiose ones Gli impermeabili, Sotto le stelle del jazz, Max or even Hemingway, appears authentic in the documentary devoted to him, just released in French-speaking Switzerland. This film is an opportunity to delve into its mystery. It's also a beautiful object, which has Chic and charming from the song of the same name.

Anyone who has ever had the privilege of attending a Paolo Conte concert knows all about his talent, his magic and the excellence of his orchestra. Of his music that communicates nothing, but expresses everything. Of his Italian, which speaks to us even when we don't speak Italian. From his attitude as a «teller» like Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, or in another register, Barbara and William Sheller. But the layman has to take his word for it. The music documentary Paolo Conte, Via con me, rich in show excerpts, archives and interviews, remedies this problem.

Better still, this feature-length film directed by Giorgio Verdelli (who has 200 films and reports to his credit!) offers a genuine, easy-to-follow analysis of what makes Paolo Conte's universe so unique and interesting. «The essence of my cinematic work is to make the perception of Conte's great songs the story of the infinite possibilities of interpretation available to us in relation to our own feelings,» confides the director, internationally recognized as a music expert. However, one constant emerges from the keys to understanding the songs, a constant confirmed by Paolo Conte himself:

«I've always seen myself as a kind of landscape writer.»

The film also describes the intellectual and sentimental relationship between the Italian and France. If his fame is worldwide, it is particular to the country of Molière and Aznavour. Prince Conte has drawn on some of these references to give meaning to his work. When he was in France, he coined the phrase «une confusion mentale fin de siècle» («a mental confusion at the end of the century») to describe his style. The French have always loved "jokes that make you think", says the rubber-mouthed crooner.

An atmosphere of painting and cinema

But how to describe the emotions that this singer-songwriter from Asti in Piedmont, a lawyer by profession, exudes? The documentary puts words to this ordinarily unspeakable mood. Paolo Conte's songs are films of music and words, blue-colored verses concentrated into three minutes. They unfold in the depths of Italy's great provinces, giving them a universal dimension. They have the color and smell of summer afternoons. They represent the perfect blend of tradition and innovation. With the result described by actress Luisa Ranieri:

«Someone once said that listening to Paolo Conte is like being in the back room of a great Neapolitan café, where a perfume of magic, of aphrodisiac, comes to us.»

A testimony that concurs with that of journalist Vincenzo Mollica: «I realized that Paolo Conte's songs are always the fruit of music, poetry and painting. There's that extra element that the others don't have.» Hence the uniqueness of this lawyer-artist, jazzy Fellini emulator, virtuoso pianist and kazoo player, an instrumental extension of his hoarse, melancholy voice, at once serious and childlike, raspy yet melodious. Paolo Conte, Via con me will convince those who were unaware of his existence - or who ignored this strange dandy by choice - to take the Italian genius on a journey through his work.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

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Photo credits: © Daniela Zedda