Synopsis

Luchino Viscontiâs 1954 film about the affair between an Italian countess (Alida Valli) with partisan sympathies and an Austrian officer from the occupying army (Farley Granger), set during Garibaldiâs war of independence in the 1860s, is one of the most extraordinary historical films ever made.

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Rarely have the dramas of history and romantic passion been so skillfully and compellingly intertwined. It also marks one of the mediumâs most creative uses of color. Visconti and his cinematographers Aldo Graziati (who tragically died during the shoot) and Robert Krasker fashioned a palette that was both delicate and vivid, rich in its historical associations and its evocations of landscape painting of the period. -- Kent Jones

Cast: Alida Valli, Farley Granger, Heinz Moog, Rina Morelli, Christian Marquand, Sergio Fantoni, Tino Bianchi, Ernst Nadherny

San Francisco (World Cinema), Locarno (Piazza Grande), Venice (Competition), Cannes (Cannes Classics), Berlinale (Retrospective)

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