The Innocent [DVD]

This is a review of the Nouveaux Pictures release of 2004.Visconti's final movie (he died in 1976 before post-production had been completed) is one of his greatest. Set in Rome in the second half of the nineteenth century, it opens with Visconti's signature style, as we pan in on an old book - Gabriele d'Annunzio's `L'Innocente' - lying on a bed of silk as the credits roll. This film has the classic beauty-in-decay trope that draws one to Visconti's pictures, but unfortunately it also has some of his movies' less appealing features such as the sometimes poor dubbing.We are then transferred into the heart of a society salon where Visconti's usual attention to period detail is in full evidence. We are immediately taken to the heart of the story where a husband (Tullio, played by Giancarlo Giannini), his wife Giuliana (Laura Antonelli), and his mistress Teresa Raffo (Jennifer O'Neill) all uncomfortably share a part of the room for the briefest of periods. Tullio leaves his wife for his mistress, but comes to realise the wife he has rejected has commenced an independent life of her own: envy of his mistress turns to jealousy of his wife. Having taken a spoilt pleasure in humiliating his wife in salon society, he now seeks to rejuvenate his marriage. This is the essence of the story. When the mother tells her son that his wife is obviously pregnant, the look on the Tullio's face says everything, for he knows that the child cannot be his. It is clear that he wants his wife to lose the baby. In a wonderfully paced finale, at Christmas mass the husband's actions lead to the destruction of the purest innocence.Shot not so much in Rome as in a couple of villas in the Campagna, the film consists virtually entirely of sumptuous interior scenes. Indeed, the cinematography is luxuriant. There is a lush beauty as the husband gazes afresh from a short distance at his beautiful wife amidst the fecund bowers of their summer house, accompanied by a soundtrack of a quasi-Mahlerian allegretto. "Let's try to be two new people who meet here for the first time ... If we don't succeed, we'll sink back into unhappiness and misery." But what the self-obsessed husband wants from his wife is for her to act the part of his new mistress!The film, superbly acted by the leading players, is not so much about infidelities, but rather about their consequences: deceits lead to dissolution. The husband tells his mistress, "The day I no longer had a taste for life, felt no curiosity, I would end it all." In reply, the mistress says, "Those are things one says. But there comes a time when one ceases to live and begins merely to exist. But we don't realise it, and if we are unfortunate enough to do so, our hopes turn to eternal life." (Was this Visconti's own view as he neared the end?)There are, alas, no extras.

I started watching this film last night and it was included (ie free) with my Prime membership. Today it says I have to rent or buy the film to continue watching. %*#@ you, Amazon!

The movie has a very good story but it could have been a bit more exciting there are times when it becomes really slow and flat

This is Visconti lusher than ever in his final film, based on a novel by Gabriele D'Annunzio, which powerfully evokes the sense of `decadentismo'. The two unfaithful spouses and the mistress exchange lethal barbs with frigid good manners against a background of lavish bric-a-brac. The lavishnes of presentation only underscores the sense of a terrible spiritual void.

I'm not reviewing this magnificent film, only the technical aspects of the DVD which has been digitally remastered from a restored print. The DVD transfer is not anamorphic so presentation is in 4x3 letterbox format. However it's ok to watch in 14:9 zoom but you will get black bars top and bottom; left and right and a lower quality image. This is compounded by the original picture ratio of 2.35:1 used by the director. The subtitles are below the picture so you cannot zoom to 16:9 unless your Italian is fluent. This was a problem in the early days of DVD when most people had 4x3 TVs but it is a disgrace that a reasonably new DVD should be produced in this way. There are no extras. I recommend you avoid the DVD for this reason and seek out a screening elsewhere.

paced and atmospheric

A feast for the eyes and a story of love and tragedy. The subtelty of the acting is breath taking. Unique film making.

Excellent movie.