Senso

Visconti's first film in colour, and his attempt to carry melodrama and history at once. The source is Camillo Boito's 1883 novella. It is 1866 and Venice is still under Austrian rule. The film opens on a performance of Il trovatore at La Fenice, with Italian nationalists showering leaflets from the boxes onto the stage and the Austrian officers. That night Countess Livia Serpieri falls for Lieutenant Franz Mahler, and goes far enough to spend the resistance's money on keeping her lover out of the army. Visconti's subject is not passion but the rot of a class: the countess sells her own side for a private desire and is humiliated in return. Alida Valli plays the countess, Farley Granger plays Franz. It was shot with an English soundtrack, with Tennessee Williams and Paul Bowles working on that dialogue, and the export version went out as The Wanton Countess. Censorship intervened: passages concerning the relations between the Piedmontese army and the volunteer corps were cut, and the removed material was destroyed for good. Who it is for: viewers who like melodrama at operatic scale and Visconti's use of colour. Who it is not for: anyone who wants a quick narrative. It is heavy, and some scenes hang loose without knowledge of the history around the battle of Custoza.