ABSTRACT: The essay studies the problem of representing a holy subject nowadays, analyzing the dynamic of staging in La ricotta by P.P. Pasolini (1963), and La passione by C. Mazzacurati (2010). According to J. Baudrillard and G. Debord, the paper exposes the background of consumerism and entertainment industry, a framework deeply self-significant. How can we get a genuine icon, a «visible representation of the invisible» (J.-L. Marion and P. Evdokimov)? The aim of Pasolini is to get, thanks to the «passion of the proletarian», a genuine representation of human being, going beyond the alienation of official (and ideological) representation. Moreover, as the proletarian is outcast, he becomes a reference to what is out (over) the world. Mazzacurati follows the same strategy, adding a deep process of de-spectacularization, which rescues the religious subject from the dynamic of show business.

KEYWORDS: Pasolini, Mazzacurati, passion play, icon, Marion.