Senso

Saw Senso, a fairly dismal melodrama about the doomed love affair between an Italian Contessa and an Austrian soldier named Mahler (although he is not supposed to be the composer of the same name) set during tha Austrian occupatin of Italy in 1866. The film is pretty clear about the doomed nature of their affair. When they first meet, he tells her that he only derives self-worth from his face and from the affection of women. Later on, the Contessa has second thoughts which Mahler quiets by callously talking about how he's risking treason and the firing squad to see her and so on. This could be sincerely meant but the camera closes in on his face, furtively glancing at the Contessa to see what effect his words have had.

The film sets their romance against the backdrop of war and occupation, the chaos of the outside world driving the Contessa deeper into the arms of her Don Juan and also highlighting the unnatural calm of their situation. I wonder if there was a parallel between his country's occupation of hers and his occupation of her heart. I kept hoping for one, but for the most part the film is about the cruel exploitation of this sheltered woman. This culminates in a grand finale where the Contessa must walk the streets of a recently freed city as joyous soldiers anonymously paw at her body. I found this film kind of tiring.

The film is shot in a sumptuous, opulent style, full of lush color and beautiful houses. The actors are always immaculately dressed in gorgeous clothes and, even when the soldier is meant to be roughing it in the woods, his white cape is spotless. I assumed that this would be a cream-puff of a film, having to do only with the hysterical emotions of rich twits and... for the most part it is, but I wish the film weren't so cruel. It's not as bad as, say, The Passion of Joan of Arc (to say nothing of the true masterpieces of pain, like Dancer in the Dark,) but it's surprisingly unpleasant when it wants to be.