After the dissolution of the Republic of Venice in the Napoleonic Wars, the Austrian Empire ruled the region of Lombardy-Venetia from 1815-1866. Venice, 1866. An opera is interupted by a clash between Italian patriots and the Austrian soldiers, and one of the Italians, Roberto, is arrested. He is the cousin of countess Livia, who tries to plead with the Austrian officer Franz to acquit Roberto. Even though married to the older count Serpieri, Livia starts a passionate affair with Franz. The Third Italian War of Independence breaks out, with Italians wanting Lombardy-Venetia to unite with Italy, so Livia goes to her estate in Aldeno. Franz shows up there, and persuades her to give him money of the Italian rebels to bribe a doctor to get exempt from serving as a soldier. Later, Livia travels back to Venice to see Franz again, but only finds him with a prostitute in his apartment. She gives the letter of bribe to the Austrian officer who arrests and shoots Franz for desertion.
Included in Roger Ebert's list of Great Movies, historical drama "Senso" could play in a double bill with Luchino Visconti's other film "The Leopard", which also explored the theme of Risorgimento (the unification of Italy in the 1860s), but also, at least partially, with "Obssession", except that here the gender roles are switched, and the older countess Livia is obssessed with passionate love for the younger man, Franz, who, though, just exploits her for her money. Unlike the overlong 3-hour "The Leopard", where Visconti's conventional style was not able to hold the attention of the viewers for so long, "Senso" has an ideal running time of two hours and is concise in displaying this rarely talked about historical era where the Lombardy-Venetia regions were under Austrian occupation, but strived for independence and unification with Italy. The movie has an elegant narration with smooth use of colors (bright colors in the first half, when Livia thinks Franz truly loves her; dark colors in the last third, when Livia discovers Franz is only after her money) and exterior shots of Venice, whose architecture is fascinating in any movie.
Visconti assembled an allegorical story where Livia, an Italian, is the symbol for the Italian lands of Lombardy-Venetia still under the spell of Austrian officer Franz, the symbol for the Austrian occupation. The dialogues and the visual style are mostly conventional, though there are some remarkable lift-offs—for instance, as the war breaks out, the Italian rebel Roberto says to Livia: "We no longer have any rights, Livia, only duties. We must learn to forget ourselves." His idealism is contrasted with Franz's nihilism, who later says: "What is war, after all, if not the most conveniant means to force men to think and act in the way that most suits their leaders?" Livia will thus get disappointed in both the patriotism and love, whereas her break-up with the washed-up Franz in the end goes almost perfectly together with the Italian lands breaking all ties with the Austrian rule. Visconti doesn't dwell much on the war, except in two great sequences—one appears 89 minutes into the film, when three rows of Italian soldiers emerge behinds three rows containing a dozen haystacks, march towards the meadow, an Austrian cavalry spots them from above and starts running towards them down the hill. Another one appears 94 minutes into the film. While stumbling here and there from its too conventional style, "Senso" is a clever, cultured, sophisticated and ambitious historical parable tied to a private affair of the couple.
Grade:+++
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