All language subtitles for Luchino Visconti

His life was very theatrical,
and so were his films.

His theater was melodrama...

and I believe melodrama
was the field...

in which Visconti
concentrated his skills...

his voracious observation,
his taste...

and his recovery
and hybridization of cultures.

What's so funny?

He is, so to speak,
the narrator of decadence...

and of the dissolution
of German society...

and he has described these themes
perhaps better...

than any German director
could have.

Luchino Visconti:
Music, theater, cinema:

The world of the great European
aristocracy and bourgeoisie: : :

And the world
of Sicilian fishermen:

Brave new choices onstage
and on-screen: : :

And brave choices
in his life too:

I was lucky enough
to witness firsthand...

here, at the center of Rome,
near the Trevi fountain...

in Piazza della Pilotta: : :

Where the magazine Cinema
had its headquarters: : :

One of Visconti's choices
that turned out to be decisive...

not only for himself
but for Italian cinema as a whole.

His approach to Cinema:

Cinema's editor, Vittorio,
was the son of il Duce:

In those years, the Fascist regime called
for the renewal of Italian cinema: : :

And by using its own words,
which urged filmmakers to create: : :

A new type of cinema closer
to popular feelings and settings: : :

The staff of the magazine managed
to "smuggle in": : :

The more radical ideas of those
who were anxious to abandon: : :

The contradictions of fascism: : :

A regime which promoted social
and populist reforms at home: : :

But was an aggressor of poorer peoples
on an international level:

Visconti approached this group
with humbleness and modesty:

His only qualification was that
he had met Renoir in Paris:

It was 1939, and he was deeply affected
by the death of his mother:

This is Piazza della Pilotta:

Through this entrance,
the editorial office of Cinema: : :

In those years,
1940, 1941, 1942...

the Puccini brothers, De Santis,
Purificato, Alicata, Rossellini...

Visconti, Antonioni and myself
used to come and go.

The editorial office was
on the ground floor, over there.

Here in the first room
sat the editor, Vittorio Mussolini...

who was also a producer...

and this is where Un Piloto Ritorna
by Rossellini was conceived.

These were the rooms
of the editorial staff...

where we used to write our articles
against conformist cinema...

and where dreams took shape...

dreams that later became
literary nourishment for Neorealism.

The array of choices that linked us
with European and American culture:

The dream of Visconti was,
on the one hand, the work of Verga: : :

The screen adaptation of
I Malavoglia...

Jeli il Pastore
and L'Amante di Gramigna...

and, on the other, for example: : :

Early Sorrow by Thomas Mann,
the author of Buddenbrooks...

an author who evoked
remote realities: : :

Which Visconti was to deal with
39 years later in Death in Venice.

But who was Visconti?

His discretion and modesty
in those years were proverbial.

A nobleman, yes, but we couldn't even
remotely imagine...

the fairy-tale setting
in which he was raised:

Luchino's father,
Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone: : :

Was the heir of a family
that for many centuries had played: : :

A leading role in the history of Milan
and the surrounding provinces:

At the beginning of the century,
Giuseppe Visconti restored: : :

A 13th-century castle in Grazzano,
near Piacenza: : :

And began to build
a medieval village:

He either designed
the dwellings and shops himself: : :

Or he had others design them:

He increased farming and crafts: : :

And opened a school
of professions:

It was in this unique setting
that Luchino Visconti: : :

Born in 1906, the fourth of seven
children, spent his holidays:

And it was here in Grazzano
that Luchino first experienced: : :

The fascination
of the family theater: : :

Where friends and relatives
performed periodically: : :

A fascination which he also found
in the other summer house: : :

Villa Erba on Lake Como,
in Cernobbio: : :

Inherited by his mother: : :

From her father, Carlo Erba, founder
of a large pharmaceutical company:

Here, too, concerts and shows
were decisive events: : :

In his musical education,
which was to greatly influence: : :

The future artistic career of Visconti,
a man of cinema and theater:

However, it was here that
the archetype of the family: : :

And the key figure
of the mother: : :

Was consolidated
in Luchino's unconscious:

In Milan, a few hundred meters away
from La Scala: : :

Stands the Palazzo Visconti: : :

For many months a place
for study and society life: : :

Where the center of attention
was a certain legendary figure in music:

Maestro Arturo Toscanini:

After sporadic studies, escapes and
journeys in search of himself: : :

Visconti took to horse racing,
and successfully too:

It was not a pastime
or game for him: : :

As is the case
with many young aristocrats: : :

But rather a profession:

Luchino, in his early twenties,
was an innovator:

He had stables built
the English way: : :

And these stables,
now converted into small villas: : :

Are still visible today
near the San Siro racetrack:

He bred "Sanzio,"a horse
nobody was willing to bet on: : :

And made a champion of him:

But he lost Pupe,
his first great love: : :

Because her father,
Prince Windischgraetz: : :

Considered his profession
and extravagant life undignified:

In 1934 he approached
great cinema by chance:

The Hungarian director Machaty: : :

Who caused an uproar in Venice
with Hedy Lamarr's nude scene: : :

In his film Estasi...

was one of the few who saw
the amateur film made by Visconti: : :

Starring Niki Arrivabene,
the future wife of his brother Edoardo:

Machaty seized on Luchino's talent
and received him in Vienna:

He arranged for him to meet
an English producer in London: : :

But nothing came of it:

Frequenting Coco Chanel in Paris
was more fruitful:

Coco Chanel, who adored him: : :

Arranged for him to meet
famous artists and intellectuals: : :

Such as Jean Cocteau andJean Renoir,
who was to become his master:

Visconti was greatly influenced
by Coco Chanel...

because, like her...

he spent a lot of time
with painters...

such as Dali, Picasso,
Braque and Matisse...

as well as many writers
and poets.

But he never told me at the time
that he wanted to do cinema... never:

Despite the fact that he had been
Renoir's assistant: : :

I'd never have thought
that a young man like him worked:

On the set, Luchino didn't have
a specific assignment:

He helped out as set dresser
and assistant costumer:

But has fate had been sealed,
because in the Renoir clan: : :

He experienced the passion of the Left
and the People's Front:

Later, when he came to Rome
with Renoir: : :

Who was filming the screen adaptation
of Sardou's tragedy Tosca...

the young aristocrat was ready
to meet the group at Cinema.

But Renoir's stay in Rome
was interrupted in 1940:: :

When Italy went to war
side by side with Nazi Germany:

With the experience of Tosca,
Luchino was ready to take the big step:

In his villa in Rome, today no longer
the property of the Visconti family: : :

And then in Ferrara on the Po,
he wrote Ossessione...

the story of a lower-class
"dark lady": : :

Who involves a young drifter
in a murder: : :

To cash in on an insurance premium:

Ossessione is the manifesto
of the secret strength of Neorealism: : :

The hybridization
of the profound culture: : :

Of 20th-century art, literature
and cinema, not only Italian: : :

And of the declared will to discover,
with disenchantment and violence: : :

The images offered up by a country
which cinema had long ignored:

The operation which Ossessione heralds
will be a pretext for harsh criticism:

One of its creators states it
quite openly:

Before leaving for America...

Renoir left him this adaption...

of Cain's
The Postman Always Rings Twice:

We tried to set
this typically American story...

in an Italian reality...

and we chose the reality
which everyone was familiar with...

of Ferrara and its surroundings,
the countryside around Ferrara: : :

With its big motorways
and small restaurants: : :

Because in our view it resembled: : :

Or, at any rate, was closer to: : :

The myth of American culture: : :

As we imagined and perceived it
in those years:

Can I get something
to eat here?

I said, can I get
something to eat here?

- I can pay.
- Okay, but you eat in the other room.

Wait out there and I'll serve you.

It's good.

You got something to do
with that fatso out there?

He's my husband.

He's lucky to have
a woman like you.

When I began on Ossessione,
I was making my first motion picture.

I chose Anna
as the leading actress...

which wasn't easy at the time...

because the producers didn't believe
in Anna as a dramatic actress.

They thought of her
as a comic actress:

She had played that lovely role
in De Sica's Teresa Venerdi:

But I believed she could be
a dramatic actress...

and so she left for Ferrara with me
to start the film:

Unfortunately, she was already
expecting her son, Luca.

She had deceived me, telling me
she was only two months pregnant...

when she was actually
five months along.

So I called Clara Calamai
and she played the role.

Many of the interiors in Ossessione
were filmed in real places: : :

But many were built on the stage
of the Municipal Theater of Ferrara: : :

Where we are now standing
with Massimo Girotti:

Massimo, before we talk about
the shoot, I have a question for you:

When you read the script
for the first time: : :

When you heard about the story: : :

What was your initial reaction, first
as an Italian, and then as an actor?

The war was going on.
It was a climate of political arrogance.

People were making
propaganda films...

and talking about heroism,
battles and death...

while news about crime was ignored
even by the press.

What was your reaction
when you read the story of Ossessione?

I understood that it was not
a mainstream film...

but what struck me the most
was this character, so real, so rough...

for me, who at that point
had made seven or eight movies...

but they were all adventure movies
or comedies:

How did you get along
with Luchino Visconti?

He never really explained
what he wanted you to do.

He often tried to talk you into it
by spoofing what you had done...

and this was all the worse for me,
given my nature.

To tell you "Don't do this,"
he used to tease you?

He would tease you.

I have many important memories
of Ossessione: : :

And not all happy ones...

because the task
was such a daunting one...

and because perhaps my talents
were not suited...

to the importance
and dramatic power of the role.

I've said it time and again:
It was very tough for me.

But one image
has remained very vividly...

fondly and sweetly in my memory...

namely, the landscape, the shores.

That image has remained
unchanged: : :

And very tender:

I can still see the figures
of Gino and Giovanna:

I can almost see them
and cannot help feeling something here.

In 1944 in Rome, which had been
declared an "open city": : :

Which would later become
the title of one of Rossellini's films: : :

Visconti joined the Resistance: : :

Hid Allied prisoners in his villa: : :

And risked execution:

As soon as the front line
moved north: : :

Luchino became involved in making
a documentary, Giorni di Gloria...

and then poured all his energy
into stage productions:

His first play,
Cocteau's Les parents terribles...

was both a hit and a scandal:

Luchino Visconti had the courage
to present a play to the Roman public...

as a cultural
rather than a societal event.

He faced huge difficulties,
but he succeeded in imposing his will.

The audience was not allowed to enter
the theater once the curtain was up...

and there was only one intermission.

He won the battle.

Les parents terribles
was a great success...

and ran for 50 performances, which
was quite extraordinary for those days.

There was greater uproar
and even greater success: : :

When Visconti staged Achard's Adamo,
which deals with homosexuality:

Adamo was a battle,
and a glorious one too: : :

Because it ended in triumph...

and also because... I think...
the play was very beautiful...

but, above all,
it came after all those protests...

of a clearly political
and moralistic nature...

which unleashed
the enthusiasm of supporters.

It should be said
that even among the left-wingers...

the people whom he loved
and portrayed on the screen...

prejudice and conformist thinking
were very strong.

I remember that in June 1946...

when there was
the monarch/republic referendum...

I was standing over there,
under the platform...

together with Luchino Visconti
and Peppe De Santis.

The piazza was crowded
for the rally:

Togliatti, Nenni and Parri
spoke from the platform:

At a certain point, Nenni,
the great socialist leader...

who was very eloquent
and always swayed the crowd...

as the utmost insult
to Umberto di Savoia...

future king of Italy,
shouted the following abuse:

"Would you vote
for a homosexual prince?"

This phrase, uttered expressly
to create an impact on the crowd...

caused a threatening roar
of indignation:

I gave Luchino a quick glance.

He was proud, impassive...

but I imagined the pain he must have
felt in feeling isolated and different...

among those people
he loved and respected.

The reaction of the Milanese audience
to Tobacco Road...

was of an entirely different,
but equally violent, kind:

Tobacco Road shocked the well-to-do
Milanese audience at the time: : :

Because our company was much
loved by the Milanese bourgeoisie: : :

Where Laura Adani would do a bit of
everything, but it was always pleasant.

She was our "Lalla."

I was a nice young man, with a racket
in my hand or dressed for golf.

We were all nice and charming,
and they adored us.

But in the play
we were boors who ate turnips.

I played the grandson who runs over
his grandmother in a car...

and couldn't care less.

I remember, at a certain point,
when the grandmother is killed...

somebody from the audience cried,
"But that's his grandmother!"

But Luchino wanted things here
to proceed just like in Caldwell's play.

I remember that at the time there were
arguments and controversy: : :

Over how I interpreted Figaro.

Especially the finale of Figaro...

when the "Carmagnola"
was sung from backstage: : :

And then the famous masked ball:

When the dancers took off their masks,
they were skeletons:

This heralded the French Revolution,
the Terror:

It was heavily criticized:
They called it an outrage:

But I witnessed many more outrageous
things to which no one objected:

After many successful
stage productions: : :

Such as Crime and Punishment
and The Glass Menagerie...

the opportunity to film a documentary
in Sicily for the Communist Party: : :

In view of the elections in 1948:: :

Gradually turned into a trilogy: : :

About farm laborers, fishermen
and sulphur miners:

Only by allocating the funds himself
would Visconti be able: : :

To shoot the first episode
about the fishermen: : :

Based on Verga's I Malavoglia...

a novel which he had dreamed of
even before Ossessione.

The film tells the story of the revolt
of poor fishermen against wholesalers: : :

And the defeat of'Ntoni
and his family:

A few frames of this masterpiece
are suffiicient to understand: : :

How in Visconti a strong passion
could be transformed: : :

Into a new, vigorous narrative
and formal style:

The repercussions of defeat
on the family: : :

And the risk
of its dissolution: : :

Anticipate the structure
of so many of Visconti's other films:

But many saw in 'Ntoni's
furious rowing: : :

Who, after the defeat, goes back
to being a simple fisherman: : :

A rage that would serve
to fuel new uprisings:

A truly legendary movie.

We had no resources.

There were only a few of us.

Each of us did
three, four or five jobs...

each of which today takes
five or six people to do.

The crew in Sicily came to a halt
and was waiting for news...

as to whether we would go on
with the movie or not.

Naturally there was no money
to pay either wages or a per diem.

At this point,
Visconti and I returned to Rome:

To send money to the crew: : :

To fill the gap, so to speak: : :

Visconti decided to take
his family jewels: : :

To a pawnshop...

to pawn them
to raise some money...

to send to Sicily immediately.

He didn't give us a penny.
He didn't pay anyone.

He'd rather give you
a beautiful silk handkerchief...

than pay you the 10,000 lire
that the handkerchief would cost.

He often gave us wonderful gifts
and then left us without a penny.

Those were not easy years
in that respect...

but it was so rewarding
in many other ways.

The things you learned with him!
You were at the top of the world.

Visconti made you feel
you were at a level...

other poor mortals
couldn't even reach.

After the poverty in
La Terra Trema...

Visconti, backed by Dali,
reacts with the opulence of Rosalinda.

I felt ridiculous in that costume
designed by Salvador Dali:

"Mr. Visconti, I look like a whore
with this big blond wig...

and my skinny legs
in these stockings."

"You don't understand. You look
as if you've stepped out of a painting."

So I thought, "Well, I suppose
he's educated and aristocratic...

while we're just a bunch of boors."

In 1949, Visconti staged
A Streetcar Named Desire.

There was a study of the characters
of this play: : :

Which perhaps was not so great
from the standpoint of structure...

but was seething with ideas,
and above all...

had a store of aggressiveness and
eroticism which he conveyed skillfully.

I remember that Tennessee Williams,
who saw the play in Rome...

said that of all the performances...

that he had seen
outside the United States...

it was undoubtedly the one closest
to what he felt as the author.

Here, too, and to a greater extent...

Visconti was an extraordinary director,
an actor's director.

For example, his relationship with me
was really that of master and guide...

and I felt that his guiding hand
was right: : :

And I followed his direction
down to the smallest detail.

Visconti didn't love
Alfieri's tragedy Oreste...

but, like a Renaissance artist: : :

He didn't refuse the opportunity
offered by a commemorative bicentennial:

Halfway through the rehearsals,
Visconti had a fit:

He attacked me and said,
"Go drive a bus!

You look like an ape
when you come on stage!

Why on earth
did you take up drama?"

At the time I had a supporter
in Rina Morelli...

who was very protective
and used to hiss from backstage...

"Don't answer back!"

I said, "He called me
for this role!

I know I look like an ape.

I'm not used to this 18th-century
costume with sequins and feathers."

So the situation was very critical:

The following afternoon,
before going to the theater...

I stopped in a bar and gulped down
two or three glasses of cognac.

So I arrived, let's say, a little tipsy.

After rehearsal,
he said, "Well done today."

I thought, "I get it: I've got to take
to drinking to make this work!"

With Troilus and Cressida...

Visconti put himself to the test
with the open spaces: : :

Of the "Musical May"in Florence:

Extraordinary magnificence and outlays
unheard of in Italian theater:

Then, at last, the meeting
with Anna Magnani:

Based on an idea of Zavattini
and a screenplay: : :

Written together with Suso Cecchi
D'Amico and Francesco Rosi: : :

The story of a humble woman: : :

Who dreams of a future
as a movie star for her daughter:

What's so funny?

What are they saying?
They're saying bad things.

Why are they laughing so much?

What's so funny?

She's a midget!

Anna was an inexhaustible source
of ideas and inspiration.

While acting, she used to come up
with one every two minutes.

The scene where Anna is sitting
on the bench and crying with the child...

when she realizes all is lost,
that her illusions are over...

and she calls out for help
almost unconsciously and weeps...

that is something she made up:

She cried "help"
almost instinctively:

Help for who? We don't know:
Help for her, for everyone:

She is really extraordinary here:

Help!

I asked Suso Cecchi D'Amico: : :

Who from Bellissima onwards became
one of Visconti's closest assistants: : :

What the outcome was
of turning to such a bitter film: : :

After the opulence of the stage:

Bellissima went over quite nicely
with the audience: : :

But, nevertheless,
it wasn't easy: : :

To find another movie to make:

In terms of commitment,
Luchino was always a cause of concern...

so many projects were taken up...

discussed and then set aside.

Luchino's creative energy was again
channeled into stage productions:

It was the first time
I had done Chekhov: : :

And he's the author
who has fascinated me the most: : :

And who had always fascinated me,
but whom I'd put off: : :

Because even today
he is extremely diffiicult:

When I decided
to come to terms with him: : :

I did so with the most diffiicult
of his plays: : :

Which in my view is
Three Sisters.

1866, the year
of what would prove to be: : :

The final battle
with the Austro-Hungarian Empire: : :

Which dominated northern Italy
for many years:

Senso portrays the Risorgimento
without rhetoric: : :

And it is in this view of history,
not only of the present: : :

That the ties with the great ethical
imperatives of Neorealism are visible:

A break with the previous decade,
as has always been said: : :

But also profound continuity:

The film triggered many controversies
similar to those of the Neorealist period:

In this film
there are no winners or losers:

The Italian army, scarcely united
with the volunteer forces: : :

Is defeated and manages
to achieve a partial goal: : :

Only through the political machinations
of the Europe of those days:

Austria wins the battle at Custoza
but later loses the war:

This setting is reflected in the
ambiguity of the two main characters:

The Italian noblewoman and the
corrupt Austrian offiicer and deserter:

Senso was shot using
his experience from the stage.

That is to say, he would rehearse
a scene for a whole day...

and then shoot it the next day.

I am a deserter
because I am a coward...

and I don't regret being
a deserter or a coward.

What do I care
that my fellow countrymen...

won a battle today
in a place called Custoza...

when I know
that we'll lose the war...

and not only the war?

In a few years' time,
Austria will be finished...

and an entire world
will disappear...

the one to which
you and I belong.

The new world of which your cousin
speaks is of no interest to me.

It's better not to be involved
in these matters...

and to take pleasure
where you find it.

You share my views.

Otherwise you wouldn't have given me
money to pay you for an hour of love.

That's enough! It's too late!
It's over!

I'm not your romantic hero...

and I don't love you anymore.

The abandoned Livia
will take revenge: : :

By reporting her lover
to the Austrian command: : :

Thus causing his execution:

After Senso, the paths followed
by Visconti in film and theater: : :

Seem to converge:

It is not merely by chance that
in this period he meets Maria Callas:

La Vestale, La Sonnambula...

and the unforgettable
La Traviata and Anne Boleyn.

For me, La Scala is "the theater,"
the absolute theater:

This is the main reason for working
behind the curtain at last: : :

The curtain that used to shake...

before the beginning of a spectacle
which moved me greatly.

At last I was working
behind the curtain.

The second reason was the opportunity
to work with Maria Callas.

He had an enormous feeling
for opera.

I had one of the most beautiful
experiences of my life.

I had permission to follow
the last weeks of rehearsal...

of La Traviata:

Maria Callas learned to walk: : :

When she worked with him
for the first time...

and from then on
he was a sort of father to her...

the wizard who made her
into what we all remember...

with such deep emotion.

Look, Natalia! The sky!

It's beautiful.

What's happening?

It's snowing!

It's snowing!

Notti Bianche,
based on a novel by Dostoyevsky: : :

Was coproduced and shot entirely
at Cinecitta:

Something make-believe
reminding us of the stage: : :

But which seems to be aimed at
creating an enchanted atmosphere: : :

Around the characters
to underscore their fragility:

A wager on the vital resources
of every human being: : :

Even in defeat:

With Mario and the Magician...

the music for the stage production
was composed by Franco Mannino...

the meeting with Thomas Mann
which he had dreamed of for years:

The anecdote I'd like to tell
is from the meeting with Thomas Mann:

Luchino told Thomas Mann
in detail...

how he had adapted
Mann's original story...

the libretto he had written
to stage it.

While he spoke,
he was incredibly pale in the face.

When he had finished...

Thomas Mann remained motionless
for a while...

which seemed a lifetime: : :

And then turned
to Luchino and said: : :

"I, too, had pondered at length
how to stage it...

and had reached
exactly the same conclusions."

All the color flooded back
into Luchino's face!

When I was offered
the opportunity to close...

the Goldoni Festival in Venice...

I was undecided
among several plays...

especially Goldoni's
most important plays...

such as II bugiardo,
and La bottega del caffe:

But then I opted for
L 'Impresario delle Smirne: : :

Precisely because it is
one of Goldoni's minor plays...

still linked to the
commedia dell'arte in a certain way.

It was a canvas on which
I could do as I liked.

I could enjoy myself
and turn it into a spectacle.

With Maratona di danza...

Visconti talked Henze into an original
mix of refined and folk music:

With Rocco and His Brothers...

he responded to the echoes coming
from the country's lower classes: : :

Which triggered the moral tension in him
that underlies all his cinema:

Milan in the "50s witnessed
mass migration: : :

From the south to the north:

To analyze this phenomenon: : :

Visconti drew on his innermost self: :
The family:

The title is a tribute
to a famous title...

from the beloved Thomas Mann:
Joseph and His Brothers:

With Rocco,
Visconti seems to foresee: : :

The rage that will explode
a few years later:

He wanted a story
about a mother and her five sons.

Five, like the fingers
on a hand.

I said, "But I know nothing about that."
"There must be five."

I started my career in Italy:

That is no secret:

I matured
both as an actor and as a man...

thanks to Visconti...

because he taught me everything
right from the very beginning.

I was very lucky to be chosen
by Visconti...

to play the part of Rocco in
Rocco and His Brothers.

The price of social conflict
and its defeats: : :

Grew in the early '60s: : :

And ruptures led
to violence and crime:

The film won second place
at the Venice Film Festival: : :

But Luchino did not collect
his prize:

Embittered by the attacks
of the conservative press: : :

He canceled all engagements
in Italy: : :

And in 1961 presented Alain Delon
and Romy Schneider in their debut: : :

On the Paris stage:

Palermo: The villa of
Tomasi di Lampedusa: : :

The author of The Leopard...

an image that seemed ready
to enter Visconti's world:

The Leopard
was a new opportunity: : :

To put the Risorgimento
into the right perspective:

Against the background
of Garibaldi's sweeping victories: : :

The calm cynicism
of the main character: : :

Seems to herald the basic feature
of the following century: : :

A century in which compromise
will eventually co-opt: : :

Any true, profound thrust
towards moral and civil reform: : :

And in which the passions of youth
will be but mere ripples on a calm sea:

Verdi's waltz for solo piano: : :

Which film editor Serandrei found
at an antique dealer: : :

And gave to Visconti: : :

Was later validated by Toscanini: : :

As Piero Tosi, one of Visconti's
loyal assistants, tells us:

The orchestrated version would be used
for the famous ball scene:

Claudia Cardinale,
together with Tosi: : :

Revisits the scene that made her famous
throughout the world:

Did you know that one day, when we were
having lunch with Toscanini...

he took this piece of paper
out of his pocket...

and it was this waltz:

- This waltz?
- Yes, an original waltz by Verdi.

This was the beautiful music
we listened to for months.

- Yes, a whole month.
- A month and ten days, to be exact.

The difficulties in shooting the scene
from The Leopard at Palazzo Gangi.

There were many rooms...
I remember about 16 or 18...

all of which had to be illuminated
at all times and ready for use...

for the cameras which Visconti placed
to make an experimental shot:

One camera frames the first scene.

The actors then exit
and enter another scene...

framed by a second camera,
and so on for a third camera.

So there was very little space
for the lighting.

The second problem was lighting
and blowing out: : :

Tens of thousands of candles:

During the shoot,
they would constantly drip...

onto the necks of the crew,
the actors and the director.

Visconti dreamed of Laurence Olivier
for the leading role: : :

But in the end
he had to settle for Burt Lancaster:

The beautiful church of Ciminna: : :

A small town quite far away
from Palermo, tempted Visconti:

The valuable heritage
of Neorealism and drama: : :

Had made Visconti very bold: : :

In the way he manipulated the landscape
and urban reality:

The church stood isolated
in a modern space...

and Visconti wanted to transform
this space into one from the past...

by covering all these modern buildings
with a false facade:

A brother in love with his sister in
Sandra of a Thousand Delights...

and the solitary rebellion
in Camus' The Stranger...

pave the way
for ambiguous passions: : :

And the shadowiness
of the German trilogy:

The slaughters among the Nazis: : :

And the collusion of the German
upper middle class with the Nazis: : :

Are narrated through the story
of a family:

Once again, a film about a family: : :

But this time torn
by political passions: : :

And within it, a love-hate relationship
between mother and son: : :

Which will culminate
in incest:

The Lido of Venice, where even today
you can still find places: : :

Where time seems
to have come to a halt: : :

Was the ideal setting
for the movie: : :

Which confirmed Luchino's love
for Thomas Mann's works:

After the film,
this hall in the Hotel des Bains: : :

Was named "Visconti Hall:"

The themes of solitude and death
come boldly to the fore in this film: : :

Although they are mitigated
by the indelible figure of the mother:

As soon as we met,
he talked to me about this character...

and the more he spoke,
the more frightened I became...

because the more he talked, the more
he expected me to be his mother.

He didn't speak of her directly,
but I understood:

He told me of how his mother
used to put on this scarf.

He wanted to see if I could
put this scarf on by myself.

These things thrilled me and
at the same time scared me even more.

However, in the end he told me...

"Now, honestly, not only for
Death in Venice: : :

The mother ofTadzio,
the mother of beauty, of death...

in my memory
you will always be...

associated with my mother."

To take a closer look
at the relationship: : :

Between Visconti and Mann: : :

Let's listen to the words
of the scholar Nathalie Biefield: : :

At the "Buddenbrook House": : :

The museum of Thomas
and Heinrich Mann in Lubeck:

I think both works
are transnational...

and marked
by European civilization.

For example, if you look at the film
Death in Venice: : :

And then you read the novella...

you will realize that they are based
on Greek mythology...

which they both knew very well.

In other words,
they both moved in similar fields.

Just look how in Buddenbrooks: : :

Thomas Mann describes the decadence
of a family in Lubeck.

Mann describes a supranational and
supraregional phenomenon for his times:

His love for the representation
of certain rituals...

dinners, concerts, family meetings,
his love for decor...

have led many to speak of Visconti
as a decadent author:

In my view,
by plunging his representations: : :

As, for example, in The Damned...

in the dull, deformed light
of the Nazi era: : :

He urged us to distance ourselves
from these characters and milieus: : :

And later, with Ludwig,
Visconti appeared not as a "decadent": : :

But as a "narrator of decadence:"

I agree with what Micciche
wrote about The Leopard.

The themes of the individual's
solitude and unhappiness: : :

Are part of 20th-century culture: : :

Influenced not only by Marx
but also by Freud: : :

With elements not only of Brecht
and Mann, but of Kafka and Proust too:

After Death in Venice, Visconti hoped
to make another big dream come true:

To bring the world of Proust
to the big screen:

But the American coproducers, essential
to close the deal, didn't agree: : :

And Luchino, in one of those acts
of courage that marked his life: : :

Threw himself headfirst
into another grand project: : :

Which he prepared in a few months:
Ludwig.

The castles built
by Ludwig II of Bavaria: : :

Though seldom inhabited by him: : :

Were projections of a fantasy
constantly at odds: : :

With the idea of"king as institution"
and his government:

A wonderful metaphor
for the eternal struggle: : :

Of creative freedom
against rules and dogma:

What are these?

It's something I've had in mind
for some time.

I'd like to build a castle.

Do you remember the Grassmann valley,
above Oberabergam?

There is another place
I like just as much...

and perhaps even more:

Henrikinze.

I'm still not sure.

Maybe we could ride there
tomorrow.

Do you remember Batisha?

It won't be tiring...
on the contrary.

So you can give me your advice.

I won't be here tomorrow,
unfortunately.

I'm traveling on to Zurich.

I cannot receive her.
No! Go!

Elisabeth!

Announce me to His Majesty.

His Majesty is ill
and cannot receive you.

His Majesty says the castle
is at the disposal...

of your Imperial Majesty
for as long as you wish.

Let us return to Kosonovo.

The strain which Luchino endured
to finish Ludwig was incredible:

His illness forced him
to retire to Cernobbio: : :

To an annex of Villa Erba,
to begin editing the film:

- Valentina:
- Here I am:

You should wear darker stockings:

Yes, I know:
They're in my dressing room:

- Your legs were very pale.
- Yes, they're in my dressing room.

So you don't see the difference in color
between the stockings and your thighs.

They sewed them too far up.
I'll sew them myself later.

Despite his illness,
Luchino did not give up:

After directing Pinter's
controversial play: : :

Tanto Tempo Fa
with little success: : :

He directed a beautiful Manon
in Spoleto:

But he did not give up on film:

Medioli and Suso Cecchi
create a story for him: : :

That can be shot
entirely in a theater:

Lancaster accepts the insurance risks
of a possible interruption of the film:

It is the story of a professor,
an elderly man...

who lives alone in a house.

He collects family portraits,
conversation pieces.

I got the idea,
if I may call it that...

from the fact I, too,
own a family portrait.

I got the idea from it.

Hey, did we wake him up?

"If an attractive figure you see,
chase it and embrace it if you can."

Family portraits hanging on the wall
are no longer enough for the professor:

In the end, he prefers
a family in the flesh: : :

Even though the price
he has to pay is high:

You cannot live isolated from the world,
however horrible it may be:

The day Mrs. Brumonti
came to me...

to ask me to rent her the flat...

I refused.

I was afraid of having people
I didn't know near me...

people who might disturb me.

Everything turned out to be far worse
than what I had expected.

If there ever were
impossible tenants...

I believe I had them.

But then I started to think,
as Lietta said...

that it might have been my family...

good or bad,
terribly different from me...

and as I love
this wretched family...

I'd like to do something for it...

as it did something for me
without realizing it.

Visconti explored
the entire 20th century: : :

And could not ignore death:

The secret of The Innocent
is revealed by Tosi: : :

His great set and costume designer
on many stage productions and films:

In The Innocent...

all the preparatory work
done for Proust resurfaced...

because it was set in 1890...

and he clung to some pages
from D'Annunzio: : :

Written before
Remembrance ofThings Past.

I think that by following
a precise line of conduct...

and I believe I followed one
right from the very beginning...

it would be very easy for me today
to do more cinema than I actually do:

But I only do what I feel
is right for me to do: