Senso details
| Format: | PG DVD |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Farley Granger, Alida Valli, Christian Marquand, Massimo Girotti |
| Director: | Luchino Visconti |
| Genres: | Drama - Romantic, World Cinema - Italian |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
Senso |
PG Feature |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 1 hour 56 minutes |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | Currently unavailable |
| Main languages: | Italian |
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Most helpful review
A wonderful, majestic piece of work
By Savage (632 reviews) from London, England , 06 Sep 2007[Highly rated reviewer]
Fabulous to find not just that 'Senso' has been released on a new disc, but that it's the full version, in Italian: there aren't many films around that have, down the years, been so badly hacked around as this one. And it comes up as bright and sparkling as ever, with its tale of doomed passion set against the Italian revolution, as Visconti turned his back with a flourish on the neo-realist movement which his Communism had originally led his to espouse with such fervour.
He starts with a barn-storming scene from 'Il trovatore' and continues in full-on operatic mode, creating sublime, resplendent backdrops and wondrous compositions against which to set his tale of love and betrayal, of the naivete of an older woman against the fickle shallowness of the prettiest of young men (here played by Farley Granger). Alida Valli is magnificent, and even if the film never quite gets the balance right between its ultimately sordid central story, and the momentous events in the background, this remains a key work of fifties cinema.- Was this review helpful to you?
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(7)Tear jerker
By a customer , 25 Sep 2011This film was long enough at 116 minutes; hard to imagine sitting through the 166 minute version. The colour looks colourised, though it isn't. Using the war of 1866 with German-speaking Austrians as the enemy as a vehicle, merely 9 years after the war, to explore themes of love and betrayal is very subtle, but unless you like melodramas there isn't much in this film for most people. The battle scenes are well done.- Was this review helpful to you?
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A great Venice film
By a customer from Chiswick , 17 May 2010Senso, along with Death in Venice, is one of the two great 20th century Venetian films. Visconti's version of Boito's novella strongly hints at parallels with the behaviour of Italians during World War 2, adding a contemporary relevance to the original operatic tale of passion and betrayal. It is visually rich to the point of decadence and the beginning at La Fenice with Verdi's Trovatore sets the tone admirably. The first half of the film is set in the watery city with the same undercurrents of death and decay as the better known Death in Venice but Visconti is his own man and Senso is a masterpiece.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Discount Visconti
By Stephen from North Cornelly, South Wales , 28 Dec 2009Some very nice shots of Venice – and then some fairly stagey looking set based shots form the backdrop to this literary adaptation of Camillo Boito. Does not have the breadth of ‘The Leopard’ nor the depth of ‘Death in Venice’ – but still a Visconti and much to be thankful for in all that. An excellent example of the mire into which Italian Cinema descended before Fellini came riding to the rescue and Visconti bucked his ideas up and upped the anti.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Do Your Duty...
By Melodraman (8 reviews) from Behind the Sofa , 16 Mar 2009THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide
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Companion piece to The Leopard
By a customer from London , 14 Jan 2009Some months back I rented Tinto Brass' Senso 45 aka Dark Angel, in which a Venetian countess embarks on an adulterous affair with a German soldier during the dying months of World War II.
I was intrigued to learn it was a saucy remake of a 1954 film, Senso. This film follows much the same plot, except 1) There is no full blown sex orgy in which a conga line is led by a woman in stockings and suspenders and Nazi uniform carrying a large golden dildo ) It's not set during the same era but during the time of the Italian unification; 1866, Garibaldi and all that. So the Italians are fighting to oust the Austrian empire from the northern states and secure independence.
The countess has a cousin fighting for the Italian cause, so her adultery is a double betrayal.
Watchable stuff and interesting to compare with the Brass effort. It's a fine companion piece to Visconti's The Leopard, set around the same time.- Was this review helpful to you?
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