"His life was very theatrical, and so were his films." "His theater was melodrama... and I believe melodrama was the field... in which Visconti concentrated his skills... his voracious observation, his taste... and his recovery and hybridization of cultures." "What's so funny?" "He is, so to speak, the narrator of decadence... and of the dissolution of German society... and he has described these themes perhaps better... than any German director could have." "Luchino Visconti:" "Music, theater, cinema:" "The world of the great European aristocracy and bourgeoisie: : :" "And the world of Sicilian fishermen:" "Brave new choices onstage and on-screen: : :" "And brave choices in his life too:" "I was lucky enough to witness firsthand... here, at the center of Rome, near the Trevi fountain... in Piazza della Pilotta: : :" "Where the magazine Cinema had its headquarters: : :" "One of Visconti's choices that turned out to be decisive... not only for himself but for Italian cinema as a whole." "His approach to Cinema:" "Cinema's editor, Vittorio, was the son of il Duce:" "In those years, the Fascist regime called for the renewal of Italian cinema: : :" "And by using its own words, which urged filmmakers to create: : :" "A new type of cinema closer to popular feelings and settings: : :" "The staff of the magazine managed to "smuggle in": : :" "The more radical ideas of those who were anxious to abandon: : :" "The contradictions of fascism: : :" "A regime which promoted social and populist reforms at home: : :" "But was an aggressor of poorer peoples on an international level:" "Visconti approached this group with humbleness and modesty:" "His only qualification was that he had met Renoir in Paris:" "It was 1939, and he was deeply affected by the death of his mother:" "This is Piazza della Pilotta:" "Through this entrance, the editorial office of Cinema: : :" "In those years, 1940, 1941, 1942... the Puccini brothers, De Santis, Purificato, Alicata, Rossellini..." "Visconti, Antonioni and myself used to come and go." "The editorial office was on the ground floor, over there." "Here in the first room sat the editor, Vittorio Mussolini... who was also a producer... and this is where Un Piloto Ritorna by Rossellini was conceived." "These were the rooms of the editorial staff... where we used to write our articles against conformist cinema... and where dreams took shape... dreams that later became literary nourishment for Neorealism." "The array of choices that linked us with European and American culture:" "The dream of Visconti was, on the one hand, the work of Verga: : :" "The screen adaptation of I Malavoglia..." "Jeli il Pastore and L'Amante di Gramigna... and, on the other, for example: : :" "Early Sorrow by Thomas Mann, the author of Buddenbrooks... an author who evoked remote realities: : :" "Which Visconti was to deal with 39 years later in Death in Venice." "But who was Visconti?" "His discretion and modesty in those years were proverbial." "A nobleman, yes, but we couldn't even remotely imagine... the fairy-tale setting in which he was raised:" "Luchino's father, Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone: : :" "Was the heir of a family that for many centuries had played: : :" "A leading role in the history of Milan and the surrounding provinces:" "At the beginning of the century, Giuseppe Visconti restored: : :" "A 13th-century castle in Grazzano, near Piacenza: : :" "And began to build a medieval village:" "He either designed the dwellings and shops himself: : :" "Or he had others design them:" "He increased farming and crafts: : :" "And opened a school of professions:" "It was in this unique setting that Luchino Visconti: : :" "Born in 1906, the fourth of seven children, spent his holidays:" "And it was here in Grazzano that Luchino first experienced: : :" "The fascination of the family theater: : :" "Where friends and relatives performed periodically: : :" "A fascination which he also found in the other summer house: : :" "Villa Erba on Lake Como, in Cernobbio: : :" "Inherited by his mother: : :" "From her father, Carlo Erba, founder of a large pharmaceutical company:" "Here, too, concerts and shows were decisive events: : :" "In his musical education, which was to greatly influence: : :" "The future artistic career of Visconti, a man of cinema and theater:" "However, it was here that the archetype of the family: : :" "And the key figure of the mother: : :" "Was consolidated in Luchino's unconscious:" "In Milan, a few hundred meters away from La Scala: : :" "Stands the Palazzo Visconti: : :" "For many months a place for study and society life: : :" "Where the center of attention was a certain legendary figure in music:" "Maestro Arturo Toscanini:" "After sporadic studies, escapes and journeys in search of himself: : :" "Visconti took to horse racing, and successfully too:" "It was not a pastime or game for him: : :" "As is the case with many young aristocrats: : :" "But rather a profession:" "Luchino, in his early twenties, was an innovator:" "He had stables built the English way: : :" "And these stables, now converted into small villas: : :" "Are still visible today near the San Siro racetrack:" "He bred "Sanzio,"a horse nobody was willing to bet on: : :" "And made a champion of him:" "But he lost Pupe, his first great love: : :" "Because her father, Prince Windischgraetz: : :" "Considered his profession and extravagant life undignified:" "In 1934 he approached great cinema by chance:" "The Hungarian director Machaty: : :" "Who caused an uproar in Venice with Hedy Lamarr's nude scene: : :" "In his film Estasi... was one of the few who saw the amateur film made by Visconti: : :" "Starring Niki Arrivabene, the future wife of his brother Edoardo:" "Machaty seized on Luchino's talent and received him in Vienna:" "He arranged for him to meet an English producer in London: : :" "But nothing came of it:" "Frequenting Coco Chanel in Paris was more fruitful:" "Coco Chanel, who adored him: : :" "Arranged for him to meet famous artists and intellectuals: : :" "Such as Jean Cocteau andJean Renoir, who was to become his master:" "Visconti was greatly influenced by Coco Chanel... because, like her... he spent a lot of time with painters... such as Dali, Picasso, Braque and Matisse... as well as many writers and poets." "But he never told me at the time that he wanted to do cinema... never:" "Despite the fact that he had been Renoir's assistant: : :" "I'd never have thought that a young man like him worked:" "On the set, Luchino didn't have a specific assignment:" "He helped out as set dresser and assistant costumer:" "But has fate had been sealed, because in the Renoir clan: : :" "He experienced the passion of the Left and the People's Front:" "Later, when he came to Rome with Renoir: : :" "Who was filming the screen adaptation of Sardou's tragedy Tosca... the young aristocrat was ready to meet the group at Cinema." "But Renoir's stay in Rome was interrupted in 1940: :" "When Italy went to war side by side with Nazi Germany:" "With the experience of Tosca, Luchino was ready to take the big step:" "In his villa in Rome, today no longer the property of the Visconti family: : :" "And then in Ferrara on the Po, he wrote Ossessione... the story of a lower-class "dark lady": : :" "Who involves a young drifter in a murder: : :" "To cash in on an insurance premium:" "Ossessione is the manifesto of the secret strength of Neorealism: : :" "The hybridization of the profound culture: : :" "Of 20th-century art, literature and cinema, not only Italian: : :" "And of the declared will to discover, with disenchantment and violence: : :" "The images offered up by a country which cinema had long ignored:" "The operation which Ossessione heralds will be a pretext for harsh criticism:" "One of its creators states it quite openly:" "Before leaving for America..." "Renoir left him this adaption... of Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice:" "We tried to set this typically American story... in an Italian reality... and we chose the reality which everyone was familiar with... of Ferrara and its surroundings, the countryside around Ferrara: : :" "With its big motorways and small restaurants: : :" "Because in our view it resembled: : :" "Or, at any rate, was closer to: : :" "The myth of American culture: : :" "As we imagined and perceived it in those years:" "Can I get something to eat here?" "I said, can I get something to eat here?" " I can pay." " Okay, but you eat in the other room." "Wait out there and I'll serve you." "It's good." "You got something to do with that fatso out there?" "He's my husband." "He's lucky to have a woman like you." "When I began on Ossessione, I was making my first motion picture." "I chose Anna as the leading actress... which wasn't easy at the time... because the producers didn't believe in Anna as a dramatic actress." "They thought of her as a comic actress:" "She had played that lovely role in De Sica's Teresa Venerdi:" "But I believed she could be a dramatic actress... and so she left for Ferrara with me to start the film:" "Unfortunately, she was already expecting her son, Luca." "She had deceived me, telling me she was only two months pregnant... when she was actually five months along." "So I called Clara Calamai and she played the role." "Many of the interiors in Ossessione were filmed in real places: : :" "But many were built on the stage of the Municipal Theater of Ferrara: : :" "Where we are now standing with Massimo Girotti:" "Massimo, before we talk about the shoot, I have a question for you:" "When you read the script for the first time: : :" "When you heard about the story: : :" "What was your initial reaction, first as an Italian, and then as an actor?" "The war was going on." "It was a climate of political arrogance." "People were making propaganda films... and talking about heroism, battles and death... while news about crime was ignored even by the press." "What was your reaction when you read the story of Ossessione?" "I understood that it was not a mainstream film... but what struck me the most was this character, so real, so rough... for me, who at that point had made seven or eight movies... but they were all adventure movies or comedies:" "How did you get along with Luchino Visconti?" "He never really explained what he wanted you to do." "He often tried to talk you into it by spoofing what you had done... and this was all the worse for me, given my nature." "To tell you "Don't do this," he used to tease you?" "He would tease you." "I have many important memories of Ossessione: : :" "And not all happy ones... because the task was such a daunting one... and because perhaps my talents were not suited... to the importance and dramatic power of the role." "I've said it time and again:" "It was very tough for me." "But one image has remained very vividly... fondly and sweetly in my memory... namely, the landscape, the shores." "That image has remained unchanged: : :" "And very tender:" "I can still see the figures of Gino and Giovanna:" "I can almost see them and cannot help feeling something here." "In 1944 in Rome, which had been declared an "open city": : :" "Which would later become the title of one of Rossellini's films: : :" "Visconti joined the Resistance: : :" "Hid Allied prisoners in his villa: : :" "And risked execution:" "As soon as the front line moved north: : :" "Luchino became involved in making a documentary, Giorni di Gloria... and then poured all his energy into stage productions:" "His first play, Cocteau's Les parents terribles... was both a hit and a scandal:" "Luchino Visconti had the courage to present a play to the Roman public... as a cultural rather than a societal event." "He faced huge difficulties, but he succeeded in imposing his will." "The audience was not allowed to enter the theater once the curtain was up... and there was only one intermission." "He won the battle." "Les parents terribles was a great success... and ran for 50 performances, which was quite extraordinary for those days." "There was greater uproar and even greater success: : :" "When Visconti staged Achard's Adamo, which deals with homosexuality:" "Adamo was a battle, and a glorious one too: : :" "Because it ended in triumph... and also because..." "I think..." "the play was very beautiful... but, above all, it came after all those protests... of a clearly political and moralistic nature... which unleashed the enthusiasm of supporters." "It should be said that even among the left-wingers... the people whom he loved and portrayed on the screen... prejudice and conformist thinking were very strong." "I remember that in June 1946... when there was the monarch/republic referendum..." "I was standing over there, under the platform... together with Luchino Visconti and Peppe De Santis." "The piazza was crowded for the rally:" "Togliatti, Nenni and Parri spoke from the platform:" "At a certain point, Nenni, the great socialist leader... who was very eloquent and always swayed the crowd... as the utmost insult to Umberto di Savoia... future king of Italy, shouted the following abuse:" ""Would you vote for a homosexual prince?"" "This phrase, uttered expressly to create an impact on the crowd... caused a threatening roar of indignation:" "I gave Luchino a quick glance." "He was proud, impassive... but I imagined the pain he must have felt in feeling isolated and different... among those people he loved and respected." "The reaction of the Milanese audience to Tobacco Road... was of an entirely different, but equally violent, kind:" "Tobacco Road shocked the well-to-do Milanese audience at the time: : :" "Because our company was much loved by the Milanese bourgeoisie: : :" "Where Laura Adani would do a bit of everything, but it was always pleasant." "She was our "Lalla."" "I was a nice young man, with a racket in my hand or dressed for golf." "We were all nice and charming, and they adored us." "But in the play we were boors who ate turnips." "I played the grandson who runs over his grandmother in a car... and couldn't care less." "I remember, at a certain point, when the grandmother is killed... somebody from the audience cried, "But that's his grandmother!"" "But Luchino wanted things here to proceed just like in Caldwell's play." "I remember that at the time there were arguments and controversy: : :" "Over how I interpreted Figaro." "Especially the finale of Figaro... when the "Carmagnola" was sung from backstage: : :" "And then the famous masked ball:" "When the dancers took off their masks, they were skeletons:" "This heralded the French Revolution, the Terror:" "It was heavily criticized:" "They called it an outrage:" "But I witnessed many more outrageous things to which no one objected:" "After many successful stage productions: : :" "Such as Crime and Punishment and The Glass Menagerie... the opportunity to film a documentary in Sicily for the Communist Party: : :" "In view of the elections in 1948: :" "Gradually turned into a trilogy: : :" "About farm laborers, fishermen and sulphur miners:" "Only by allocating the funds himself would Visconti be able: : :" "To shoot the first episode about the fishermen: : :" "Based on Verga's I Malavoglia... a novel which he had dreamed of even before Ossessione." "The film tells the story of the revolt of poor fishermen against wholesalers: : :" "And the defeat of'Ntoni and his family:" "A few frames of this masterpiece are suffiicient to understand: : :" "How in Visconti a strong passion could be transformed: : :" "Into a new, vigorous narrative and formal style:" "The repercussions of defeat on the family: : :" "And the risk of its dissolution: : :" "Anticipate the structure of so many of Visconti's other films:" "But many saw in 'Ntoni's furious rowing: : :" "Who, after the defeat, goes back to being a simple fisherman: : :" "A rage that would serve to fuel new uprisings:" "A truly legendary movie." "We had no resources." "There were only a few of us." "Each of us did three, four or five jobs... each of which today takes five or six people to do." "The crew in Sicily came to a halt and was waiting for news... as to whether we would go on with the movie or not." "Naturally there was no money to pay either wages or a per diem." "At this point, Visconti and I returned to Rome:" "To send money to the crew: : :" "To fill the gap, so to speak: : :" "Visconti decided to take his family jewels: : :" "To a pawnshop... to pawn them to raise some money... to send to Sicily immediately." "He didn't give us a penny." "He didn't pay anyone." "He'd rather give you a beautiful silk handkerchief... than pay you the 10,000 lire that the handkerchief would cost." "He often gave us wonderful gifts and then left us without a penny." "Those were not easy years in that respect... but it was so rewarding in many other ways." "The things you learned with him!" "You were at the top of the world." "Visconti made you feel you were at a level... other poor mortals couldn't even reach." "After the poverty in La Terra Trema..." "Visconti, backed by Dali, reacts with the opulence of Rosalinda." "I felt ridiculous in that costume designed by Salvador Dali:" ""Mr. Visconti, I look like a whore with this big blond wig... and my skinny legs in these stockings."" ""You don't understand." "You look as if you've stepped out of a painting."" "So I thought, "Well, I suppose he's educated and aristocratic... while we're just a bunch of boors."" "In 1949, Visconti staged A Streetcar Named Desire." "There was a study of the characters of this play: : :" "Which perhaps was not so great from the standpoint of structure... but was seething with ideas, and above all... had a store of aggressiveness and eroticism which he conveyed skillfully." "I remember that Tennessee Williams, who saw the play in Rome... said that of all the performances... that he had seen outside the United States... it was undoubtedly the one closest to what he felt as the author." "Here, too, and to a greater extent..." "Visconti was an extraordinary director, an actor's director." "For example, his relationship with me was really that of master and guide... and I felt that his guiding hand was right: : :" "And I followed his direction down to the smallest detail." "Visconti didn't love Alfieri's tragedy Oreste... but, like a Renaissance artist: : :" "He didn't refuse the opportunity offered by a commemorative bicentennial:" "Halfway through the rehearsals, Visconti had a fit:" "He attacked me and said, "Go drive a bus!" "You look like an ape when you come on stage!" "Why on earth did you take up drama?"" "At the time I had a supporter in Rina Morelli... who was very protective and used to hiss from backstage..." ""Don't answer back!"" "I said, "He called me for this role!" "I know I look like an ape." "I'm not used to this 18th-century costume with sequins and feathers."" "So the situation was very critical:" "The following afternoon, before going to the theater..." "I stopped in a bar and gulped down two or three glasses of cognac." "So I arrived, let's say, a little tipsy." "After rehearsal, he said, "Well done today."" "I thought, "I get it:" "I've got to take to drinking to make this work!"" "With Troilus and Cressida..." "Visconti put himself to the test with the open spaces: : :" "Of the "Musical May"in Florence:" "Extraordinary magnificence and outlays unheard of in Italian theater:" "Then, at last, the meeting with Anna Magnani:" "Based on an idea of Zavattini and a screenplay: : :" "Written together with Suso Cecchi D'Amico and Francesco Rosi: : :" "The story of a humble woman: : :" "Who dreams of a future as a movie star for her daughter:" "What's so funny?" "What are they saying?" "They're saying bad things." "Why are they laughing so much?" "What's so funny?" "She's a midget!" "Anna was an inexhaustible source of ideas and inspiration." "While acting, she used to come up with one every two minutes." "The scene where Anna is sitting on the bench and crying with the child... when she realizes all is lost, that her illusions are over... and she calls out for help almost unconsciously and weeps... that is something she made up:" "She cried "help" almost instinctively:" "Help for who?" "We don't know:" "Help for her, for everyone:" "She is really extraordinary here:" "Help!" "I asked Suso Cecchi D'Amico: : :" "Who from Bellissima onwards became one of Visconti's closest assistants: : :" "What the outcome was of turning to such a bitter film: : :" "After the opulence of the stage:" "Bellissima went over quite nicely with the audience: : :" "But, nevertheless, it wasn't easy: : :" "To find another movie to make:" "In terms of commitment, Luchino was always a cause of concern... so many projects were taken up... discussed and then set aside." "Luchino's creative energy was again channeled into stage productions:" "It was the first time I had done Chekhov: : :" "And he's the author who has fascinated me the most: : :" "And who had always fascinated me, but whom I'd put off: : :" "Because even today he is extremely diffiicult:" "When I decided to come to terms with him: : :" "I did so with the most diffiicult of his plays: : :" "Which in my view is Three Sisters." "1866, the year of what would prove to be: : :" "The final battle with the Austro-Hungarian Empire: : :" "Which dominated northern Italy for many years:" "Senso portrays the Risorgimento without rhetoric: : :" "And it is in this view of history, not only of the present: : :" "That the ties with the great ethical imperatives of Neorealism are visible:" "A break with the previous decade, as has always been said: : :" "But also profound continuity:" "The film triggered many controversies similar to those of the Neorealist period:" "In this film there are no winners or losers:" "The Italian army, scarcely united with the volunteer forces: : :" "Is defeated and manages to achieve a partial goal: : :" "Only through the political machinations of the Europe of those days:" "Austria wins the battle at Custoza but later loses the war:" "This setting is reflected in the ambiguity of the two main characters:" "The Italian noblewoman and the corrupt Austrian offiicer and deserter:" "Senso was shot using his experience from the stage." "That is to say, he would rehearse a scene for a whole day... and then shoot it the next day." "I am a deserter because I am a coward... and I don't regret being a deserter or a coward." "What do I care that my fellow countrymen... won a battle today in a place called Custoza... when I know that we'll lose the war... and not only the war?" "In a few years' time, Austria will be finished... and an entire world will disappear... the one to which you and I belong." "The new world of which your cousin speaks is of no interest to me." "It's better not to be involved in these matters... and to take pleasure where you find it." "You share my views." "Otherwise you wouldn't have given me money to pay you for an hour of love." "That's enough!" "It's too late!" "It's over!" "I'm not your romantic hero... and I don't love you anymore." "The abandoned Livia will take revenge: : :" "By reporting her lover to the Austrian command: : :" "Thus causing his execution:" "After Senso, the paths followed by Visconti in film and theater: : :" "Seem to converge:" "It is not merely by chance that in this period he meets Maria Callas:" "La Vestale, La Sonnambula... and the unforgettable La Traviata and Anne Boleyn." "For me, La Scala is "the theater," the absolute theater:" "This is the main reason for working behind the curtain at last: : :" "The curtain that used to shake... before the beginning of a spectacle which moved me greatly." "At last I was working behind the curtain." "The second reason was the opportunity to work with Maria Callas." "He had an enormous feeling for opera." "I had one of the most beautiful experiences of my life." "I had permission to follow the last weeks of rehearsal... of La Traviata:" "Maria Callas learned to walk: : :" "When she worked with him for the first time... and from then on he was a sort of father to her... the wizard who made her into what we all remember... with such deep emotion." "Look, Natalia!" "The sky!" "It's beautiful." "What's happening?" "It's snowing!" "It's snowing!" "Notti Bianche, based on a novel by Dostoyevsky: : :" "Was coproduced and shot entirely at Cinecitta:" "Something make-believe reminding us of the stage: : :" "But which seems to be aimed at creating an enchanted atmosphere: : :" "Around the characters to underscore their fragility:" "A wager on the vital resources of every human being: : :" "Even in defeat:" "With Mario and the Magician... the music for the stage production was composed by Franco Mannino... the meeting with Thomas Mann which he had dreamed of for years:" "The anecdote I'd like to tell is from the meeting with Thomas Mann:" "Luchino told Thomas Mann in detail... how he had adapted Mann's original story... the libretto he had written to stage it." "While he spoke, he was incredibly pale in the face." "When he had finished..." "Thomas Mann remained motionless for a while... which seemed a lifetime: : :" "And then turned to Luchino and said: : :" ""I, too, had pondered at length how to stage it... and had reached exactly the same conclusions."" "All the color flooded back into Luchino's face!" "When I was offered the opportunity to close... the Goldoni Festival in Venice..." "I was undecided among several plays... especially Goldoni's most important plays... such as II bugiardo, and La bottega del caffe:" "But then I opted for L 'Impresario delle Smirne: : :" "Precisely because it is one of Goldoni's minor plays... still linked to the commedia dell'arte in a certain way." "It was a canvas on which I could do as I liked." "I could enjoy myself and turn it into a spectacle." "With Maratona di danza..." "Visconti talked Henze into an original mix of refined and folk music:" "With Rocco and His Brothers... he responded to the echoes coming from the country's lower classes: : :" "Which triggered the moral tension in him that underlies all his cinema:" "Milan in the "50s witnessed mass migration: : :" "From the south to the north:" "To analyze this phenomenon: : :" "Visconti drew on his innermost self: :" "The family:" "The title is a tribute to a famous title... from the beloved Thomas Mann:" "Joseph and His Brothers:" "With Rocco, Visconti seems to foresee: : :" "The rage that will explode a few years later:" "He wanted a story about a mother and her five sons." "Five, like the fingers on a hand." "I said, "But I know nothing about that." "There must be five."" "I started my career in Italy:" "That is no secret:" "I matured both as an actor and as a man... thanks to Visconti... because he taught me everything right from the very beginning." "I was very lucky to be chosen by Visconti... to play the part of Rocco in Rocco and His Brothers." "The price of social conflict and its defeats: : :" "Grew in the early '60s: : :" "And ruptures led to violence and crime:" "The film won second place at the Venice Film Festival: : :" "But Luchino did not collect his prize:" "Embittered by the attacks of the conservative press: : :" "He canceled all engagements in Italy: : :" "And in 1961 presented Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in their debut: : :" "On the Paris stage:" "Palermo:" "The villa of Tomasi di Lampedusa: : :" "The author of The Leopard... an image that seemed ready to enter Visconti's world:" "The Leopard was a new opportunity: : :" "To put the Risorgimento into the right perspective:" "Against the background of Garibaldi's sweeping victories: : :" "The calm cynicism of the main character: : :" "Seems to herald the basic feature of the following century: : :" "A century in which compromise will eventually co-opt: : :" "Any true, profound thrust towards moral and civil reform: : :" "And in which the passions of youth will be but mere ripples on a calm sea:" "Verdi's waltz for solo piano: : :" "Which film editor Serandrei found at an antique dealer: : :" "And gave to Visconti: : :" "Was later validated by Toscanini: : :" "As Piero Tosi, one of Visconti's loyal assistants, tells us:" "The orchestrated version would be used for the famous ball scene:" "Claudia Cardinale, together with Tosi: : :" "Revisits the scene that made her famous throughout the world:" "Did you know that one day, when we were having lunch with Toscanini... he took this piece of paper out of his pocket... and it was this waltz:" " This waltz?" " Yes, an original waltz by Verdi." "This was the beautiful music we listened to for months." " Yes, a whole month." " A month and ten days, to be exact." "The difficulties in shooting the scene from The Leopard at Palazzo Gangi." "There were many rooms..." "I remember about 16 or 18... all of which had to be illuminated at all times and ready for use... for the cameras which Visconti placed to make an experimental shot:" "One camera frames the first scene." "The actors then exit and enter another scene... framed by a second camera, and so on for a third camera." "So there was very little space for the lighting." "The second problem was lighting and blowing out: : :" "Tens of thousands of candles:" "During the shoot, they would constantly drip... onto the necks of the crew, the actors and the director." "Visconti dreamed of Laurence Olivier for the leading role: : :" "But in the end he had to settle for Burt Lancaster:" "The beautiful church of Ciminna: : :" "A small town quite far away from Palermo, tempted Visconti:" "The valuable heritage of Neorealism and drama: : :" "Had made Visconti very bold: : :" "In the way he manipulated the landscape and urban reality:" "The church stood isolated in a modern space... and Visconti wanted to transform this space into one from the past... by covering all these modern buildings with a false facade:" "A brother in love with his sister in Sandra of a Thousand Delights... and the solitary rebellion in Camus' The Stranger... pave the way for ambiguous passions: : :" "And the shadowiness of the German trilogy:" "The slaughters among the Nazis: : :" "And the collusion of the German upper middle class with the Nazis: : :" "Are narrated through the story of a family:" "Once again, a film about a family: : :" "But this time torn by political passions: : :" "And within it, a love-hate relationship between mother and son: : :" "Which will culminate in incest:" "The Lido of Venice, where even today you can still find places: : :" "Where time seems to have come to a halt: : :" "Was the ideal setting for the movie: : :" "Which confirmed Luchino's love for Thomas Mann's works:" "After the film, this hall in the Hotel des Bains: : :" "Was named "Visconti Hall:"" "The themes of solitude and death come boldly to the fore in this film: : :" "Although they are mitigated by the indelible figure of the mother:" "As soon as we met, he talked to me about this character... and the more he spoke, the more frightened I became... because the more he talked, the more he expected me to be his mother." "He didn't speak of her directly, but I understood:" "He told me of how his mother used to put on this scarf." "He wanted to see if I could put this scarf on by myself." "These things thrilled me and at the same time scared me even more." "However, in the end he told me..." ""Now, honestly, not only for Death in Venice: : :" "The mother ofTadzio, the mother of beauty, of death... in my memory you will always be... associated with my mother."" "To take a closer look at the relationship: : :" "Between Visconti and Mann: : :" "Let's listen to the words of the scholar Nathalie Biefield: : :" "At the "Buddenbrook House": : :" "The museum of Thomas and Heinrich Mann in Lubeck:" "I think both works are transnational... and marked by European civilization." "For example, if you look at the film Death in Venice: : :" "And then you read the novella... you will realize that they are based on Greek mythology... which they both knew very well." "In other words, they both moved in similar fields." "Just look how in Buddenbrooks: : :" "Thomas Mann describes the decadence of a family in Lubeck." "Mann describes a supranational and supraregional phenomenon for his times:" "His love for the representation of certain rituals... dinners, concerts, family meetings, his love for decor... have led many to speak of Visconti as a decadent author:" "In my view, by plunging his representations: : :" "As, for example, in The Damned... in the dull, deformed light of the Nazi era: : :" "He urged us to distance ourselves from these characters and milieus: : :" "And later, with Ludwig, Visconti appeared not as a "decadent": : :" "But as a "narrator of decadence:"" "I agree with what Micciche wrote about The Leopard." "The themes of the individual's solitude and unhappiness: : :" "Are part of 20th-century culture: : :" "Influenced not only by Marx but also by Freud: : :" "With elements not only of Brecht and Mann, but of Kafka and Proust too:" "After Death in Venice, Visconti hoped to make another big dream come true:" "To bring the world of Proust to the big screen:" "But the American coproducers, essential to close the deal, didn't agree: : :" "And Luchino, in one of those acts of courage that marked his life: : :" "Threw himself headfirst into another grand project: : :" "Which he prepared in a few months:" "Ludwig." "The castles built by Ludwig II of Bavaria: : :" "Though seldom inhabited by him: : :" "Were projections of a fantasy constantly at odds: : :" "With the idea of"king as institution" and his government:" "A wonderful metaphor for the eternal struggle: : :" "Of creative freedom against rules and dogma:" "What are these?" "It's something I've had in mind for some time." "I'd like to build a castle." "Do you remember the Grassmann valley, above Oberabergam?" "There is another place I like just as much... and perhaps even more:" "Henrikinze." "I'm still not sure." "Maybe we could ride there tomorrow." "Do you remember Batisha?" "It won't be tiring..." "on the contrary." "So you can give me your advice." "I won't be here tomorrow, unfortunately." "I'm traveling on to Zurich." "I cannot receive her." "No!" "Go!" "Elisabeth!" "Announce me to His Majesty." "His Majesty is ill and cannot receive you." "His Majesty says the castle is at the disposal... of your Imperial Majesty for as long as you wish." "Let us return to Kosonovo." "The strain which Luchino endured to finish Ludwig was incredible:" "His illness forced him to retire to Cernobbio: : :" "To an annex of Villa Erba, to begin editing the film:" " Valentina:" " Here I am:" "You should wear darker stockings:" "Yes, I know:" "They're in my dressing room:" " Your legs were very pale." " Yes, they're in my dressing room." "So you don't see the difference in color between the stockings and your thighs." "They sewed them too far up." "I'll sew them myself later." "Despite his illness, Luchino did not give up:" "After directing Pinter's controversial play: : :" "Tanto Tempo Fa with little success: : :" "He directed a beautiful Manon in Spoleto:" "But he did not give up on film:" "Medioli and Suso Cecchi create a story for him: : :" "That can be shot entirely in a theater:" "Lancaster accepts the insurance risks of a possible interruption of the film:" "It is the story of a professor, an elderly man... who lives alone in a house." "He collects family portraits, conversation pieces." "I got the idea, if I may call it that... from the fact I, too, own a family portrait." "I got the idea from it." "Hey, did we wake him up?" ""If an attractive figure you see, chase it and embrace it if you can."" "Family portraits hanging on the wall are no longer enough for the professor:" "In the end, he prefers a family in the flesh: : :" "Even though the price he has to pay is high:" "You cannot live isolated from the world, however horrible it may be:" "The day Mrs. Brumonti came to me... to ask me to rent her the flat..." "I refused." "I was afraid of having people I didn't know near me... people who might disturb me." "Everything turned out to be far worse than what I had expected." "If there ever were impossible tenants..." "I believe I had them." "But then I started to think, as Lietta said... that it might have been my family... good or bad, terribly different from me... and as I love this wretched family..." "I'd like to do something for it... as it did something for me without realizing it." "Visconti explored the entire 20th century: : :" "And could not ignore death:" "The secret of The Innocent is revealed by Tosi: : :" "His great set and costume designer on many stage productions and films:" "In The Innocent... all the preparatory work done for Proust resurfaced... because it was set in 1890... and he clung to some pages from D'Annunzio: : :" "Written before Remembrance ofThings Past." "I think that by following a precise line of conduct... and I believe I followed one right from the very beginning... it would be very easy for me today to do more cinema than I actually do:" "But I only do what I feel is right for me to do:"