Poet/lecturer Charles Serking awakens from his alcoholic haze long enough to take a bus back to L.A. and plunge into an orgy of drink and sexual depravity.Poet/lecturer Charles Serking awakens from his alcoholic haze long enough to take a bus back to L.A. and plunge into an orgy of drink and sexual depravity.Poet/lecturer Charles Serking awakens from his alcoholic haze long enough to take a bus back to L.A. and plunge into an orgy of drink and sexual depravity.
- Awards
- 9 wins & 3 nominations
- Girl on Beach
- (as Katia Berger)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn Bukowski's short story, Mad Enough to be found in the compilation, Septuagenarian Stew, he talks about reluctantly meeting the cast and crew of a film called Songs of the Suicide Man, while they did a scene at Venice Beach. It was directed by Luigi Bellini and starring Ben Garabaldi and Eva Mutton, surely synonyms for the people behind this film. He also mentions that Garabaldi had appealing eyes but 'self-pleased' and 'dozing inside.' They had a drinking session for the writer's visit. There are many worthy references that seem like this even may have happened, such as Bukowski often did in his stories and poems by telling real stories with a variation of the real name with a little spruced up Bukowski magic. Suffice to say, he wasn't a fan of the film. The same story also references the film Crazy Love.
- Quotes
Charles Serking: [First lines. Off-camera from a theater lecture stage] Well, here I am.
[Jeers are heard from the unseen audience and an unseen voice yells out, "Fuck you, turkey"]
Charles Serking: Ayyyyy... watch it. I've been working out with weights.
[More jeers and another unseen voice yells out, "Are you drunk?"]
Charles Serking: Ill just drink my wine and leave. Right...
[More jeering]
Charles Serking: Okay, let's begin. Forget the bullshit and get into the so-called art... Style...
[Audience is restless and an unseen voice yells out, "We love you, Charlie!" as he guzzles wine from a brown bag]
Charles Serking: Style is the answer to everything... a fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing. To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without style. To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art. Bullfighting can be an art. Boxing can be an art. Loving can be an art. Opening a can of sardines can be an art.
[the audience bcimes restless again and an unseen voice cries, "Come on!"]
Charles Serking: Not many have style. Not many can keep style. I have seen dogs with more style than men - though not many dogs have style. Cats have it in abundance.
[He guzzles more wine from his brown bag]
- Crazy credits'Copyright' is spelt as 'copyrigth'.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Films of Marco Ferreri: A discussion with Rolando Caputo (2008)
- SoundtracksSmile Away The Rain
Written by R. & M. Berardi
(r) Mureo Music Pub
Tales Of Ordinary Madness begins with Charles (played by Ben Gazzara) reading a poem to a group of disinterested students. After stumbling off stage in a drunken stupor, Charles meets a 12 year old girl and promptly fondles her breasts. This is the first in a long line of disturbing sexual encounters that take place during the film. Other examples include Charles' brief obsession with Vera, a woman who asks to be beaten with a belt and claims to "love being raped". Charles also sleeps with Vera's obese next door neighbour and in one of the film's most confronting scenes, pushes his head between the woman's legs in a literal attempt to return to the womb. The film reaches a turning point when Charles meets Cass (Ornella Muti), a prostitute as self-destructive as she is beautiful, and slowly begins to fall in love with her.
Ferreri has crafted a beautifully poetic film about desperate and damaged people. Tales Of Ordinary Madness is never easy to watch but it is always enthralling. Much of the credit for this goes to the Bukowski's riveting source material and Ferreri's obvious affection for it. Marco Ferreri's distinctive use of unusual camera angles and surreal imagery are mostly missing from this film. In fact, Ferreri's direction is expertly restrained in an obvious attempt to recreate Bukowski's minimalist prose cinematically.
This sense of restraint is shared by Ferreri's impressive cast. Ben Gazzara is striking as Charles. His brave performance captures both the torment and underlying humanity that shapes Charles' journey. Ornella Muti had some of her most memorable roles in Ferreri films and she gives another impressive performance here as Cass. The scene where she puts a safety pin through her cheek is simply unforgettable. My only qualm with her casting is that she is perhaps too beautiful to be realistic as a low class prostitute. Susan Tyrrell also shines as trashy Vera. This was just one of a string of eccentric roles that made Susan a cult favourite in the early 80s.
Tales Of Ordinary Madness has been made with skill, care and deep empathy for its characters. This film does not quite match the brilliance of Ferreri's "La Derniere Femme" but it comes very close. This is highly recommended to both Bukowski and Ferreri fans.
- Crap_Connoisseur
- May 8, 2006
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Ganz normal verrückt
- Filming locations
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA(Closing beach scenes.)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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