Senso '45

The marketing for this film refers to Tinto Brass's much earlier works, The Key, and Salon Kitty. Although Brass made many films since, this referral is entirely appropriate, as the style of Senso '45 is very much inspired by (if not derived from) these pictures, especially The Key. For the uninitiated: this is soft pornography of the classy kind.

As in both of these films, Brass sets the story during WWII. As in The Key, we have as central character a woman well past her twenties (in this case even well past her thirties) who explores her sexuality. Her lover is a blond SS officer, whose mannerisms recall the character played by Helmut Berger in Salon Kitty. Slightly unusual for Brass is to move from comedic to dramatic territory, but this shift proved useful when it came to depicting the dark and obsessive side of the central relationship.

The casting of Anna Galiena was excellent, and not just regarding her acting abilities. On the one hand, there is no credibility-stretching age gap between her and her husband (as there was between Sandrelli and Finlay in The Key). On the other, she looks fantastic for her age, even in the nude, and thus the sexual chemistry between Livia and Helmut appears quite real, despite the 20 year age gap between Galiena and Garko. Still, Gabriel Garko's SS officer leaves something to be desired, most simply put: his hair colour does. Garko's hair had been dyed straw blond, but he does not look like a blond man at all. Perhaps Italians do not have an eye for this, or, more likely, it was too late to change casting and Brass insisted on a blond SS man for this leading part, so he went ahead regardless. This bit of sacrificed realism is certainly at odds with the drama.

I was quite amazed by this passionate, old-fashioned style tragic romance. The costumes, the cinematography, Ennio Morricone's sweeping score, all come together to create an absolute classic of it's genre. Anna Galiena and Gabriel Garko are beautiful together as doomed lovers that find each other in the desperate, waning days of the second World War. Helmut Schulz, played by the impossibly sensual Garko, is a sleazy and corrupt young SS officer, addicted to gambling, women, and to other of life's excesses. His decadent lifestyle does not come cheap, and when the beautiful but lonely Livia, (in an amazingly elegant performance by the wonderful Anna Galiena) offers to financially support Helmut, the amoral man does not refuse. Director Tinto Brass photographs the present day in glorious black and white, while we see, in blazing color the erotic love affair as it unfolded, in a series of flashbacks described by Livia, while en route to Venice. "Senso 45/Black Angel" is Tinto Brass' most serious work. It seems like he wanted to create something impressive here, and he did just that. A much more accomplished film than his "Salon Kitty." Effectively capturing the decadence of Fascist Italy, 1945 in a dizzying orgy scene, filled with graphic and strange sexuality and drug taking, a trademark of Tinto Brass, and unforgettable images of Anna and her SS lover in desperate embraces in shadowy back alleys or sparse rooms, with rays of sunlight filtering through lace curtains. It is hard to describe the beauty and elegance of this film. For fans of erotic romance, and films that possess this specifically European style of film making, this intoxicating art-house film is certain to impress. As of yet "Black Angel" has not had a DVD release for North America, but there is a wonderful edition from the UK that offers an uncensored, widescreen version, in original Italian with English subtitles.

In 1945, while traveling with her lawyer Ugo Oggiano (Franco Branciaroli), who is in love with her, the wealthy forty-one years old Livia Mazzoni (Anna Galiena) recalls her affair with her lover, the German officer Helmut Schultz (Gabriel Garko). Livia is married with the producer Carlo (Antonio Salines), who is twenty-eight years older than she. The sex in their marriage is totally unsatisfactory to Livia. When Livia meets the Helmut, who is also a smuggler addicted in gambling, she feels passion, desire and lust for him, becoming his sex slave, and financially supporting him in the gamble. Later, when she meets him in Venice, dirty secrets about their relationship are disclosed. "Senso '45" has a good story, the cast has a great performance, the photography is beautiful, but I did not like this film. There are too much exposures of the naked actors and actresses, many ridiculous situations, like for example, the party in the brothel, and every situation is a motive for a sex scene. What else could I expect from Tinto Brass? This sick director, who became famous with Caligola, makes this type of soft porn movie only, and I was aware of that. "Senso '45" is only recommended for fans of this director. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Luxúria" ("Lust")

A film by Tinto Brass, the purveyer of 70s-style soft porn, all stockings and suspenders, swaying boobs, bent over as$es. It belongs to another era, before video and DVD, before the freeze frame and the chapter selection. You'd have to sit and watch the titillation unfold, unable to speed things up or cut to the action.

That said, the women are far removed from the hard, anonymous, blonde Croydon-facelifts of hardcore, they have a bit of va-va-vooom! Some of the couplings did put me in mind of the school librarian being chatted up by the hopeful deputy head, it's that sort of world.

This film is set in Venice in the dying months of the Second World War. It has an enjoyable European sensibility that is refreshing and some of the photography of wartime Venice is lovely, especially the dawn shots, which are often used to great effect in war films, the only respite from human cruelty and betrayal, a vivid stripping back to essentials.

The story is about an aristocratic woman (Anna Galiena, very good) falling for a young blond brute of a Nazi, cheating on her husband. It's all very straightforward. Generally you'd think you couldn't go wrong with a classy sex orgy featuring Nazi uniforms, cocaine and blow jobs, but thanks to the composer - Ennio Morricone no less - using oboes and trumpets to fashion a comical, inquisitive little tune better suited to the playout credits of Miss Marple Investigates on Sunday afternoon, they manage to...

I can't officially recommend it - it's kind of rubbish really - but it has something going for it, you can see where Paul Verhoven got his inspiration for Black Books, and it's all a bit Allo Allo without the laughs (which some may prefer, of course).

Franco and Brass, even Argento matter to me. They have intuition that inspires. Yes, they make vulgar and sometimes nonsensical films. But that is just a matter of degree compared to Hollywood fare, right?

What I like about Brass isn't about the women or situations, but how he chooses to frame and light the photographs. This is related to women's fashion magazines, where we know the models are insipid beings, and the clothes bordering on the ridiculous. They simply provide a narrative vocabulary for the artist to explore and exploit.

Brass does well sometimes, but he falls into a crevice when he relies on Nazi images in the context of sex. Here he reaches too far in trying to make something like "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" with the tone of "Europa." The film here clearly reaches to an analogy of Italy as a fading sexual beauty, confused in her passions and easily seduced by fascism. This could pay off, but the filmmaker himself is seduced into making a different film — one he instinctively knows.

There is a war between the film he can make and the film he wants to, but alas this war is not interesting. Nor is the woman or the Italy she represents.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.