Strange Animals: Three from Luchino Visconti
A to-the-manor-born Count descended from the former ruling family of Milan and a one-time card-carrying member of the Italian Communist Party, an open homosexual and a practicing Catholic, Visconti’s seeming contradictions combined to create a filmography unlike any other. Reflecting both an aesthete’s taste for hedonistic, opulent decadence and a historical vision of class conflict steeped in Marx and Engels, Visconti’s sumptuously stylish films of ruling-class rot and fraught families made him one of the premier figures of mid-century arthouse and, in the words of Martin Scorsese, “one of the greatest artists in the history of cinema.”
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Rocco and His Brothers
Directed by Luchino Visconti | 179 mins | 1960
Set in Visconti’s ancestral home of Milan, his epic devotional tragedy centers on a clan who emigrate north in search of better prospects, only to see their close-knit family unit torn apart when brother Rocco (Alain Delon), rising in the ranks as a ... -
Conversation Piece
Directed by Luchino Visconti | 121 mins | 1974
The solitary existence of an aging art historian (Burt Lancaster) is interrupted when the top floor of his Roman palazzo is invaded by a vulgar marchesa and her entourage, including young gigolo Helmut Berger. -
Boccaccio '70
Directed by Vittorrio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli, and Luchino Visconti | 205 mins | 1962
An anthology comedy exploring love and the liberated woman in contemporary Italy, Boccaccio ’70 reteams Loren with De Sica in the spicy story of a shy lottery winner who hopes to cash in with ...
