O Inocente

I saw "L' Innocent" in the mid-eighties, at at time when I was discovering a lot of Visconti's films from his last period ("Death in Venice"--my favorite--, "The Damned," and "Conversation Piece") It made a very favorable impression then; but I do agree with the viewer who dwelt on the languid pace of the film, highlighted by the sensuous musical score. What saddens me is that not one of the viewers commenting on the film --I have little to add regarding the plot, and am trying to avoid spoilers-has remarked that it is based on a novel by Gabriele D'Annunzio (né Gaetano Raspagnetta), the most popular and yet one of the most aristocratic "fin-de-siecle" writers in turn-of-the century Italy. Visconti, the majority of whose films are based on European 19th and 20th century novels, was extremely faithful to D'Annunzio' book, down to the morbidest details. D'Annunzio was a sensual man and what was regarded in his day as a "decadent" poet and novelist. His scenarios were usually luxurious, his characters were often relentless pleasure-seekers, albeit dissatisfied in their passionate search for the ultimate fulfillment of the senses. Tullio, the character so intensely played by Giancarlo Giannini, is a would-be Nietschean "superman", beyond good and evil, as "L'Innocent'(the novel) was inspired by the Italian poet's readings of the German philosopher.

Despite the slow pace of the film, I believe "L'Innocent' to be one of its director's most characteristic achievements. The glowing beauty of its female stars (fragile, yet alluring Jennifer O'Neill and earthy Laura Antonelli)and Giancarlo Giannini's seething intensity alone make this movie a worthwhile experience for cinema lovers who favor art over technology and substance over mindless, noisy violence.

Tullio Hermil (Giancarlo Giannini) is a chauvinist aristocrat who flaunts his mistress (Jennifer O'Neill) to his wife (Laura Antonelli), but when he believes she has been unfaithful he becomes enamored of her again.

This movie is notable for being the last film made by Italian director Luchino Visconti, perhaps best known for "The Leopard". This time around he has really brought himself up to the 1970s and is not shy with the sensuality. Even the film's promo art seems to highlight the nudity, which is odd.

What strikes me about the movie is the casting of Jennifer O'Neill. I suspect that it was largely due to her look. She was a weak actress in "Rio Lobo", but seems to recover here (helped by the dubbing). She would go on to appear in "Scanners"... anyone who has worked with Visconti, Hawks and Cronenberg deserves some respect.

Luchino Visconti is one of my favorite directors. I think Death in Venice is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. This film begins with the credits shown over a book with its pages being turned by a hand reminding me of Jeanne Cocteau's beginning for Beauty and the Beast (1946). Tullio (Giancarlo Gianni) is an aristocrat married to Laura Antonelli but he fools around shamelessly with Jennifer O'Neil. He's a bullshit artist at high speed, but one day he gets his come-uppance. He seems not to care about Antonelli's feelings, and one day she cheats on him with a novelist/writer. She is left pregnant, and Tullio is devastated. He cannot accept the child (who all thinks is his own). Visconti's films always have a certain disdain for rich people, and here his contempt is risen to art while telling a very engaging story. Gianni's performance is powerful stuff, while Antonelli is both beautiful and sad in equal measures. Not as good as Death in Venice but excellent nonetheless.

A wealthy and arrogant aristocrat openly has an affair with another woman, thus driving his wife to start her own affair with a writer that leads to a pregnancy and baby. Giancarlo Giannini is magnificent in a role that instills in the viewer zero sympathy and outright hostility. The film heads into what can only be described as one of the most memorably tragic conclusions since Shakespeare, and is also one of the most beautifully filmed and costumed movies ever, with sumptuous deep red wallpapered rooms with velvet curtains. Wealth and position can cut both ways, with Giannini's role going down into a dark and bankrupt morality that in the end is like a swamp.

Luchino Visconti's l'Innocente is a beautiful film. Magnificent details fill up the screen on every shot, as he has done so masterfully with other period films. It's also a strange, intense and erotic story set in the high society of Rome in the late 1800s. Giancarlo Gianinni is magnificent as an erratic, determined, egotistical and passionate man who alternates between arrogance and jealously, between lucidity and rage. Laura Antonelli is wonderful as his beautiful, repressed and enigmatic wife, who quietly surprises us at various points in this torrid tale. Jennifer O'Neill is very good as a mysterious and detached object of desire. This is a melodrama with some deeply disturbing themes. Occasionally, supporting characters show flashes of morality that contrast with the self-indulgent and self-destructive natures of the three protagonists. But the film does not need to have one character to provide a moral compass for the story, because the audience can see all too clearly everyone's very bad behavior.