‘Pulp fiction’, thirty years ago the Palme d’Or at Cannes: violence, humor and cult phrases, history of the film that consecrated Tarantino

It was the May 21, 1994 when Pulp Fiction was shown on the big screen for the first time. And not just any one: it was presented to the Cannes Film Festivalwhere two days later the jury was chaired by Clint Eastwood assigned him the Palme d’Or.

30 years have passed and… Pulp Fiction has won the challenge of time: it has remained an unparalleled film, which has inspired a new generation of directors. Quentin Tarantino He was 31 years old at the time and had already made his debut two years earlier with Hyenaswhich generated a lot of interest in the original style of direction and screenplay, but undoubtedly was Pulp Fiction to consecrate it. That mix of action, violence, humour And very long hyper-realistic dialogues which go beyond the plot but which perfectly characterize the characters, has won over audiences and critics and has become the trademark of Tarantino, so much so that this style is referred to as ‘Tarantinian’.

A few weeks before this important anniversary, the cast reunited in Los Angeles for a celebratory evening: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman and Harvey Keitel they walked the red carpet and then attended the screening at the Chinese Theater. The great absentee was Bruce Willisaway from the scene for some time due to frontotemporal dementia, but in his place His wife Emma Heming Willis and daughter Tallulah Willis attendedwith clothes that paid homage to her role in the feature film.

It’s no surprise that the entire cast is still very close to Pulp Fiction given the enormous impact the film had on the careers of each of them. On the other hand, the director chose his actors with extreme care: of the eight million dollars made available by Miramax in the pre-production phase for the film which would tell the world of crime and its protagonists in an unprecedented way, five were used to the cast he had in mind. Tarantino had written specifically for Tim Roth And Amanda Plummer the roles of Zucchini And Little bunny, a couple who plan a robbery at a diner; For Harvey Keitel that of the ‘specialist’ Mr. Wolfwhich solves the problems the two killers get into Jules Winnfield And Vincent Vega.

For Jules, Tarantino he had already thought about during the writing phase Samuel L. Jackson who immediately accepted the role. In those years the actor had been the protagonist of Do the right thinghe had starred in Those good guys And Jurassic Parkbut it was precisely the role in Pulp Fiction to be worth it the first Oscar nomination and to begin the rich collaboration with Quentin Tarantino. Same goes for Uma Thurman which, after the success of The great promise And Dangerous Liaisonsbecame a real star thanks to the iconic role of Mia Wallacethe wife of the leader of the killers Vega And Winnfield, for which she was nominated for an Oscar. And there is no doubt that the second most well-known and successful character of her career was always given to her by Quentin Tarantino: The bride of two Kill Bill released between 2003 and 2004. Bruce Willishowever, was already a star (especially thanks to the first two Die hard) and proposed himself for the film, struck by Hyenas and intrigued by the style of Tarantino: he was assigned the role of the boxer Dutch Coolidgewho wins a match he should have lost and complicates his life.

The greatest symbol of the ability of Tarantino however, it is in the choice and direction of the actors John Travolta that with Pulp Fiction experienced a new career launch: Vincent Vega’s interpretation demonstrated that the actor’s talent is multifaceted, does not end with the musicals that launched him and earned him a second Oscar nomination after 17 years of Saturday night fever. “As an actor, it was amazing to watch the work of Quentin Tarantino, who at the time was a new director inspired by the greatest filmmakers. When he gave directions it was simple but precise. He allowed me to be very free in my interpretation: trust was his greatest gift to him,” he said Travolta in 2019 at the Rome Film Festival.

In addition to the three nominations For Travolta, Thurman And Jackson (respectively as best leading actor and best supporting actress and actor), Pulp Fiction received four other Oscar nominations: Best Editing, Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The latter was the only one to transform into a statuette on the night of March 27, 1995. On the other hand the screenplay by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary is one of the most iconic and revolutionary elements of the film: starting from the choice not to tell the events in chronological order, but circular, up to the long dialogues which have become part of the most famous scenes in cinema, such as the unforgettable conversation between Samuel L. Jackson And John Travolta about the foot massage given to their boss’s wife or about the peculiarities of life in Europe (to write this part, about the return of Vincent from the Netherlands, Tarantino lived in Amsterdam for a few weeks).

Tarantino did not win the Oscar for directing (and thirty years later he has still never managed to win it) but undoubtedly Pulp Fiction he defined a directorial style, which today is considered among the most recognisable, loved and imitated. Just think of the famous overdose scene of Mia Wallace and of that syringe of adrenaline injected into her heart by Vincent Vega or the shoeless twist, to the tune of You never can tell, song by Chuck Berry that is no longer possible to dissociate from this film. Quentin Tarantino he is, even without that statuette, in the Olympus of American directors and the motivations are already there, in the choices made on the set of Pulp Fiction.

THEAlong with the dozens and dozens of awards (including two David di Donatello), there is also the very important recognition from the American Film Institute which placed him in the ranking of best one hundred American films of all time. And over the last thirty years it has been cinema itself that has confirmed its importance and its impact on contemporary directors with references, quotations, homages. Impossible to pigeonhole into one category, Pulp Fiction created a whole new genre.