LUCHINO VISCONTI

Luchino Visconti di Modrone, born into an affluent noble family in Milan, was an Italian cinema, theatre, and opera director, and screenwriter. He was born in November 02, 1906, and received exposure to art, music, and theatre at a very young age. He joined the Italian Communist Party during the Second World War. His first film as director was Ossessione (1943), for which he wrote the screenplay along with Gianni Puccini, Antonio Pietrangeli, and Giuseppe De Santis. Ossessione was Visconti's first neorealist movie, the Italian version of James M. Cain's novel “The Postman Always Rings Twice”. Visconti's films usually followed the neorealist style. His 1954 film Senso offered a change, combining themes of realism and romanticism instead. Senso really brings out Visconti's love of the opera. However, the 1960 film Rocco e I suoi fratelli saw a return to neorealism. Visconti's works during the 1960s adopted a more personal touch. His 1963 film The Leopard (based on the novel) had some pertinent scenes deleted by Twentieth-Century Fox, the distributor in USA and UK, which drew sharp criticism from Visconti. The Damned (1969), nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Screenplay", is one of Visconti's best-known works till today. It portrays a German industrialist's family which slowly begins to disintegrate during the Nazi consolidation of power during the 1930s. Visconti's final film was The Innocent (1976), in which he returns to his recurring interest in infidelity and betrayal. For the theatre, Visconti directed many performances during 1946 to 1960. His Falstaff (opera) for the Vienna State Opera received critical acclaim.

A lot of Visconti's films deal with the issues of moral disintegration of families. Ossessione was about a woman who murders her husband. Bellissima (1951) examines a stage mother hell-bent on exploiting her daughter. And Rocco e I suoi fratelli chronicles a rural family seeking a better life in the city. Visconti's segment in 1962's Boccaccio was a study of casual adultery, and his last film The Innocent, illustrated the consequences of an aristocrat's neglecting his wife. The upper class and their trials were recurring subjects of Visconti's work; as mentioned, he came from an affluent noble family, and like many sympathizers of communism, maintained a lavish lifestyle. Visconti worked effectively and repeatedly with Anna Magnani, Silvana Mangano Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni, Alain Delon, Dirk Bogarde, and Helmut Berger. The director also wrote the screenplays for many of his own films, including successful adaptations of novels by both Albert Camus (The Stranger [1967]) and Thomas Mann (Death in Venice, [1971]). Visconti died on March 17, 1976.

Select Filmography:
Ossessione (1943)
La terra trema (1948)
Bellissima (1951)
Senso (1954)
Le notti bianche (1957)
Rocco and his Brothers (1960)
The Leopard (1963)
Sandra (1965)
The Stranger (1967)
The Damned (1969)
Death in Venice (1971)
The Innocent (1976)

Notable Awards:
Silver Lion – Le notti bianche
Special Prize (Venice Film Festival) – Rocco and his Brothers
FIPRESCI Prize (Venice Film Festival) – Rocco and his Brothers
Palme d'Or – The Leopard
Golden Lion – Sandra
25th Anniversary Prize (Cannes Film Festival) – Death in Venice