Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageSenso (1954)
Director: Luchino Visconti
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Like other Visconti melodramas, sumptuous in its Technicolor expressionism, Senso sees heterosexual love through homosexual eyes: Farley Granger (in the Helmut Berger role) plays the young Austrian officer in the force occupying Venice in the 1860s, and Alida Valli (in the Burt Lancaster role) the older, married woman who falls insanely in love with him, betraying her husband, her principles, and finally Italy itself in the headlong folly of her passion. The man sadistically exploits his own beauty and willingly prostitutes himself; the woman submits to one humiliation after another, her masochism finally indistinguishable from madness. Fassbinder's version of this story was called The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Visconti, using English dialogue by Tennessee Williams and Paul Bowles, generates emotions so violent that even his operatic vision can barely contain them.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Luchino Visconti
Producer: Domenico Forges Davanzati
Cast: Alida Valli, Farley Granger, Massimo Girotti, Heinz Moog, Rina Morelli, Marcella Mariani, Christian Marquand full cast
Duration: 115 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now