Think of Me as Your Shadow
Senso (1954)
directed by Luchino Visconti
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
watched on Netflix Instant
Alida Valli (she's in Suspiria, too?) looks much better throwing shade at Joseph Cotton in The Third Man than she does playing a love-struck countess. A withering stare of disdain suits her more than wide-eyed infatuation. If melodrama ever found a happy home (across the continent from me), it's here. The very first scene, elaborate in an opera house, appears to exist simply so that Visconti can drift from Valli's reflection in the mirror of a private room to the curtain rising on a tremendous painted castle and the light of a crystal chandelier with hundreds of burning candles.
Senso is a beautiful movie, and Technicolor its own pleasure-cruise, but who cares about aristocrats? The loveliest moment comes when the countess rides away from her country estate at dawn. There is no villa in the frame, and the horse-drawn carriage is small against the pink blush of the rising sun. Earlier, someone talks of the smells of summer, specifically ripe wheat. But ripe wheat is a working smell: the smell of farmers in fields with scythes.
Of course, you do not need to be rich to indulge in a little indolent lounging - a great movie pastime and a great Sunday morning (and afternoon, and night). When the countess and the officer finally meet for their first illicit rendezvous, they do not do much (after the obvious event) for hours. He speaks of everyday details - the rustle of curtains, the sound of a blowfly at the window - that become important in the context of a particular recollection. Ever after, a blowfly's buzz is not the same sound.
I liked that, much more than lines like "I was no longer mistress of my own feelings." When the countess, looking for her soldier, intrudes upon the barracks of Austrian officers, she finds a harmonized wonderland of half-dressed men. They size her up and try to intimidate her, but their embarrassment and discomfort is clear. Why would Farley Granger ever prefer Livia's company to theirs?
directed by Luchino Visconti
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
watched on Netflix Instant
Alida Valli (she's in Suspiria, too?) looks much better throwing shade at Joseph Cotton in The Third Man than she does playing a love-struck countess. A withering stare of disdain suits her more than wide-eyed infatuation. If melodrama ever found a happy home (across the continent from me), it's here. The very first scene, elaborate in an opera house, appears to exist simply so that Visconti can drift from Valli's reflection in the mirror of a private room to the curtain rising on a tremendous painted castle and the light of a crystal chandelier with hundreds of burning candles.
Senso is a beautiful movie, and Technicolor its own pleasure-cruise, but who cares about aristocrats? The loveliest moment comes when the countess rides away from her country estate at dawn. There is no villa in the frame, and the horse-drawn carriage is small against the pink blush of the rising sun. Earlier, someone talks of the smells of summer, specifically ripe wheat. But ripe wheat is a working smell: the smell of farmers in fields with scythes.
Of course, you do not need to be rich to indulge in a little indolent lounging - a great movie pastime and a great Sunday morning (and afternoon, and night). When the countess and the officer finally meet for their first illicit rendezvous, they do not do much (after the obvious event) for hours. He speaks of everyday details - the rustle of curtains, the sound of a blowfly at the window - that become important in the context of a particular recollection. Ever after, a blowfly's buzz is not the same sound.
I liked that, much more than lines like "I was no longer mistress of my own feelings." When the countess, looking for her soldier, intrudes upon the barracks of Austrian officers, she finds a harmonized wonderland of half-dressed men. They size her up and try to intimidate her, but their embarrassment and discomfort is clear. Why would Farley Granger ever prefer Livia's company to theirs?
posted by NPK at 10:31 AM
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