1209 The Bigamist

Sixth session of the cinema and conversation cycle A Spoken Film: (I)material Spaces (I). The session will feature the screening of "The Bigamist" (1953) by Ida Lupino, with the presence of Kathleen Gomes, cultural consultant and manager, and Manuel Loff, historian, moderated by Anabela Mota Ribeiro. 12 SEP | SAT | 17:00 THE BIGAMIST | O BÍGAMO Ida Lupino | USA | 1953 | 80' One of the most unexpected films in the context of classic American cinema, The Bigamist is one of the highlights of Anglo-American filmmaker Ida Lupino's career. Working without the constraints of RKO, after breaking away from the studio, but with the moralistic fetters of the Hays Code, Lupino adopts a stance of emotional and moral ambiguity that, under the shield of police conventions and film noir, directs the story of a man (Edmund Gwenn) who maintains relations with two women (star Joan Crawford and Ida Lupino herself), leading, consequently, a double life, as a taciturn and anguished journey through Los Angeles. After The Bigamist, and a long career in television, Lupino would only be able to make one more film, thirteen years later, the comedy Rebel Angels (1963).