As Pier Paolo Pasolini’s final film, “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom” became one of the most banned films in history, as well as one of the hardest to watch. However, the film originally contained numerous sequences that were even more controversial and are now lost.
The original lost cut.
It is known that in its early versions, the film ran about 145 minutes, but Pasolini himself cut 25 minutes to improve the film’s pacing. The longest version available is the widely sold DVD produced by the BFI, which includes a brief scene—usually omitted from other copies—during the first wedding ceremony, in which one of the teachers recites a poem by Gottfried Benn.
Production issues.
Pasolini encountered various problems during the film’s production, the most significant of which was the theft of several reels of film during post-production. Although it is not officially known who stole them, Pasolini suspected that it was members of the Italian mafia who had already threatened to kill him for making the film.
Because these reels were stolen, the filmmakers had to cut several sequences, reshoot the same scenes using body doubles, and use shots taken from other angles to combine them with the limited footage that was ultimately available.
The deleted hunt.
After witnessing the murder of young Ezio, the victim, Graziella, tried to flee the villa. She managed to make it out into the courtyard, but the lords and guards organized a manhunt through the gardens, chasing her like an animal until they cornered her and shot her dead.
Deleted torture scenes.
One scene showed the Bishop methodically driving dozens of pins into the naked body of the young Benedetta.
There were scenes in which the young soldiers (Umberto, Claudio, Fabrizio) took on a much more active role, physically cutting and mutilating victims like Giuliana Melis while the men abused her.
The hangings of Renata and Susanna Radaelli (the president’s daughter) were described in much greater detail.
Deleted deaths.
The final segment, known as the “Circle of Blood,” included two additional deaths.
In the first scene, one of the victims is murdered while the Duke and his accomplices cut off her nipples.
The second scene shows us one of the libertines' daughters, Liana, who is electrocuted in an electric chair after being repeatedly raped by one of her abusers.
Alternative endings.
The ending was also a difficult challenge for Passolini, who had to discard three endings before settling on the official one.
In the first one, following the murders, a red flag would be unfurled while the phrase “Love yourself” appeared.
In the second scene, the four Gentlemen, the young guards, the fascist soldiers, and the surviving victims would dance chaotically in the villa surrounded by red flags, smiling as if in a kind of hysterical trance.
The third ending chose to cap off the bloodbath by showing the four libertines leaving the mansion and heading toward the city of Salò as they discussed morality and drew their conclusions about it.
To date, the only surviving remnants of the original cut of “Salò” are production stills and testimonies from the cast and crew.
