Venice, 1866; Countess Livia Serpieri implores Franz Mahler for her rebel cousin’s release from jail following his participation in an anti-Austrian demonstration. She falls in love with the Austrian lieutenant. Their sordid extramarital affair begins the process of her degradation. Her heart urges her pursuit of the lieutenant even after the sexual profligate has cold-shouldered, really, betrayed her, and she ends up betraying the cause that had led to their initial meeting.







Whatever Anton Bruckner had in mind when writing his majestic Seventh Symphony, it probably wasn't as the score to a postwar Italian love story set during the Italian-Austrian conflicts of the Risorgiamento. Though the use of pre-existing classical music as backdrop for films is to be discouraged, here it works in surprising ways. Alida Valli is the Countess Livia Serpieri, in a loveless marriage to an older, collaborationist official. At the opera (Venice's La Fenice during Il Trovatore!) she meets up with a dashing young Austrian officer, Farley Granger. (Digression: After a handful of American films -- They Live by Night, Rope, Side Street, Strangers on a Train -- Granger journeyed to Italy to work with Visconti then fell off the screen for years, only to resurface in a few schlock films in the late 60s and early 70s. What happened to him?) They kindle up a clandestine and dangerous affair -- the wealthy older woman and the manipulative wastrel. After wheedling a small fortune out of her to bribe a doctor who declares him unfit to serve, he dumps her. But hell hath no fury....Luchino Visconti, assisted by the young Franco Zeffirelli -- both were opera directors, too -- pulls out all the stops, ending with a finale reminiscent of Tosca (but with a twist). Senso is a shameless and unforgettable wallow in Italianate passion -- unabashed verismo translated to the silver screen. IMDB comment





Bellísimo melodrama en el que, abandonando ya el neorrealismo de sus comienzos, se recogen todos los temas que posteriormente apuntalarán la filmografia del italiano Luchino Visconti. Sacado de un relato breve de Camillo Boito, el libretista de Giuseppe Verdi, la compleja descripción de las pasiones humanas que contiene (amor, engaños, venganza) bien la hubiera podido firmar Stendhal de haber tenido una cámara. El guión lo escribió Visconti junto a su colaboradora Suso Cecchi D’Amico, participando también en él las plumas de Tennesse Williams y Paul Bowles. El marco es la agitada Italia del "Risorgimento", en vísperas de la unificación del país. El Veneto se halla ocupado en la primavera de 1866 por las fuerzas austriacas, y con la ayuda de Prusia, los soldados italianos se aprestan a expulsar a los invasores. Como si fuera una de las heroínas de Max Ophüls, una condesa se enamora de un oficial austriaco, pero éste, lejos de ser un héroe romántico, resulta ser unvividor con pocos escrúpulos al que no le faltan las amantes.






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