Once hailed as the "Antonioni of the 70s", the director died with his family at his side in name only - the announcement itself came from his wife and children, who informed the Italian press agency Ansa on Wednesday.

From the Cinémathèque to Rossellini

Born in Milan and raised in Venice, Brass spent time in Paris, where he worked as an editor and archivist at the Cinémathèque. After returning to Italy, he took on editorial and assistant-director duties for Roberto Rossellini. In 1964, Umberto Eco commissioned him to create two short films experimenting with visual language for the Triennale di Milano.

Salon Kitty and the Turn to Eroticism

Brass moved into erotic cinema in the 1970s, and his first steps in the genre were politically minded explorations of the relationships between sex, power and money. His 1976 film Salon Kitty drew on the true story of a Berlin brothel co-opted by Nazis to spy on foreign allies.

Brass gave that explanation to La Repubblica.

Caligula and the Break With Bob Guccione

In 1979, Penthouse founder Bob Guccione hired Brass to direct Caligula, an attempt at a star-studded, mainstream pornographic film. The production unravelled from there:

• •Malcolm McDowell took the title role, with Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and John Gielgud alongside him.
• •The screenplay was Gore Vidal's, but Brass rewrote it to include orgies.
• •Vidal disavowed the film, and Brass followed after Guccione shot additional unsimulated hardcore sex scenes.
• •When Caligula reached UK and US cinemas in 1980, Brass was credited only for "principal photography".
• •A 2023 recut removed Guccione's inserts, but Brass had no involvement in it.

Final Years and a Last Wish

In recent years Brass lived in Isola Farnese, on the outskirts of Rome. He married Caterina Varzi in 2017; she curated his archive. At 90, he expressed a wish for his ashes to be scattered in the Venice lagoon.