I destini del corpo. Anzianità, corporeità e significazione nel cinema contemporaneo

Contemporaneity inherits from the classical world the opposition between a negative valorization of old age as biological decay and a positive valorization linked to the social and pedagogical role of the elderly. Such dichotomy risks obscuring the fact that the biological and sociocultural dimensions are intertwined in the destinies of the lived body of the elderly. In this contribution, we propose an analysis of a series of 8 films that stage the dynamic and emergent aspect of meaning in the experience of old age, showing the interdependence between: i) a lived and living corporeality; ii) a subjectivity that reflects on its own identity and existential condition; iii) an intersubjective, material, and cultural system that articulates the forms of representation and relation among subjects.