Film Review: Senso (1954)

Luchino Visconti, considered one of the founders of the Italian Neorealist movement thanks to his 1943 film Ossessione, is actually best known for a different kind of cinema – high-budget period pieces not that different from Hollywood “larger-than-life” epics. One of those is his 1954 film Senso, which stands among Visconti's most ambitious and memorable works.

The film is based on the 1882 novella by Camillo Boito, with a title that could be translated as “sense”, “feeling”, or “lust”. The plot unfolds in the spring of 1866, on the eve of the Third Italian War of Independence. Italy has recently become a unified nation, but parts of the country, including Venice, remain under Austrian rule. The protagonist and narrator, Countess Livia Serpieri (played by Alida Valli), is a woman torn between societal norms and her own desires. Despite her loveless marriage to the elderly and opportunistically pro-Austrian Count Serpieri (played by Heinz Moog), Livia faithfully supports the Italian patriotic cause championed by her cousin, Marquis Roberto Ussoni (played by Massimo Giroti). However, when Ussoni's anti-Austrian demonstration at the Teatro di Fenice leads to his arrest, Livia's attempt to intercede on his behalf brings her into contact with Lieutenant Franz Mahler (played by Farley Granger), a young Austrian officer. Livia becomes smitten with Mahler, and the two embark on a torrid love affair that ultimately leads to heartbreak and betrayal.

Senso showcases the growing capabilities of Italian cinema in the 1950s, which was beginning to rival Hollywood in terms of production values and technical prowess. The film's use of Technicolor allows for a more faithful reconstruction of an important period in Italian history, while the large budget enables the creation of spectacular costumes, props, and battle scenes involving a large number of extras. Visconti even added characters and subplots not present in the original novel to justify the inclusion of these impressive set pieces, especially battle scenes. Inspired by his deep affection for opera, he deliberately staged the opening during a performance of Il Trovatore, and the famous scene was later used as the basis for the reconstruction of the Teatro di Fenice following the 1996 arson attack.

Senso was a deeply personal film for Visconti, who came from a noble family and grew up in the world of aristocratic privilege before becoming a Communist. The film's depiction of the upper classes as hypocritical, immoral, and sexually perverted reflects Visconti's own disillusionment with the aristocracy. Livia Serpieri, played brilliantly by Alida Valli, embodies this hypocrisy as she discards the facade of a "proper" woman to become both an adulterer and a traitor to her own country, all in the name of her uncontrollable lust for the morally challenged Lieutenant Mahler, portrayed by Farley Granger in one of his best roles. Valli, one of the most beautiful actresses of mid-20th-century European cinema, best known for her role in The Third Man, is also very impressive when her character descends into madness; she doesn’t shy away from showing age. This can be seen in the scene when Livia confronts her romantic rival, played by Marcella Mariani, a 19-year-old former Miss Italy, who tragically ended her career and life soon after the production due to a plane crash.

While Senso is a great film, it is not without its flaws. The ending may feel abrupt to some audiences, and Nino Rota's adaptation of Anton Bruckner's classical symphonies as the film's soundtrack is at times disconnected from the plot. Visconti would later find greater success in using Gustav Mahler's work in Death in Venice. However, the film's lavish production values, complex characters, and exploration of themes such as passion and patriotism make it a standout achievement in Visconti's filmography.

An interesting aspect of Senso is that its exploration of sexual manipulation, quite tame by today's standards, looked rather bold for the 1950s and might have been steered towards more exploitative content. This was recognized by Tinto Brass, who in his 2002 remake Senso '45, set during World War II, depicted the film's themes of passion and betrayal with more explicit sexual content.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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