At first I was also suspecting that the inspector may have been Da Vinci himself.
However, I believe it was near the end of the movie the old guard says to the inspector something like "you didn't know it either" in reference to the fact that Onoff (and the new guy they saw as they were leaving the building) did not know they were dead when they were brought in.
This implies that the inspector killed himself in the past (more compassion for the newcomers). We went and checked, Leonardo did not kill himself. He died at the ripe old age of 67 (pretty old by 16th century standards).
But then why did Tornattore pick his name? Film makers don't just pick significant names in a random fashion. One must assume that every sentence in this work was carefully deliberated upon. Think of all the secondary meaning to all the elements in the movie from the first scene of Onoff running (from himself? truth? death?) in the rain (cleansing? purging?) to the last phone call (to whom are you admitting your guilt when the other side cannot hear you)! The wall clock with no hands, the empty mousetrap, the empty pages, etc... Do you really think the name "Da Vinci" was not supposed to signify anything?
Perhaps for his famously inquisitive mind? But remember, the inspector already knows everything from the very beginning. The only person who does any investigation is Onoff himself. The inspector is only shepherding him toward the final discovery. Why do you think the “investigation” takes place in a police station? Why not a relaxing chit-chat in a Turkish bath? Two hikers lost in the woods? A doctor and his patient in an insane asylum? After all, the situation is exactly the reverse of that in a police station: the only person who does not know what happened is the perpetrator. And if it has to be a police station, why not pick the name of a famous detective, albeit fictional, like Maigret, or his creator Georges Simenon? Why not Dante Alighieri, if we subscribe to the Divina Comedia theory?
Some people here think that the inspector only said his name was Leonardo Da Vinci as a joke. Now, why would you joke about something like this, when you know that the other guy really is Onoff and he is very much aware of the gravity of the situation?
Now, I believe he only scuffs at Onoff following his introduction, because he wants to challenge him to evaluate himself in a new light: How do you think you really are? Without your papers, what makes you Onoff, and not some other guy? What does it really mean to be Onoff? Remember that we learn towards the end, that his most defining piece of work, the one that put him above all the other authors, the one that made him the great Onoff, he essentially plagiarized it from a homeless man. What remains of the man when you strip him from his most important accomplishments in life? A bag of photographs?
But why use Da Vinci’s name in the challenge? I wish I knew the answer. I wish Tornattore visited this board and gave us the answer.
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The_TJT
16 years ago
My view would be that Da Vinci was perhaps a reference to his famous painting "The Last Supper"...last meal before death.
There was some wine drinking involved and sort of final clearance before Depardieu's character would continue forward.
I kinda liked the movie, but I'm not completely satisfied with the ending or the length of the movie. Same could be presented in less time. The movie as a movie, and definitely dialogue, perhaps worth 8/10...but I think I'll give it a 7, wouldn't probably watch it again myself, the film perhaps tried to be a bit more smart than it was after all. But a fine, not so usual, movie nevertheless. Great performance by Depardieu.
Of this type of movies, without metaphysical ending, I would definitely recommend Under Suspicion with Hackman and Freeman - one of my all time favourites.
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