Senso
This lush, Technicolor tragic romance from Luchino Visconti stars Alida Valli as a nineteenth-century Italian countess who, during the Austrian occupation of her country, puts her marriage and political principles on the line by engaging in a torrid affair with a dashing Austrian lieutenant, played by Farley Granger. Gilded with ornate costumes and sets and a rich classical soundtrack, and featuring fearless performances, this operatic melodrama is an extraordinary evocation of reckless emotions and deranged lust, from one of the cinema’s great sensualists.
Senso was restored by StudioCanal, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale, and the Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata. Restoration funding provided by Gucci, The Film Foundation, and Comitato Italia 150.
Special Features
- The celebrated Film Foundation/Cineteca di Bologna digital restoration, created in consultation with cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno and Martin Scorsese, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- The Wanton Countess, the rarely seen English-language version of the film
- The Making of “Senso,” a new documentary featuring Rotunno, assistant director Francesco Rosi, costume designer Piero Tosi, and Caterina D’Amico, daughter of screenwriter Suso Cecchi D’Amico and author of Life and Work of Luchino Visconti
- Viva VERDI, a new documentary on Visconti, Senso, and opera
- Visual essay by film scholar Peter Cowie
- “Man of Three Worlds: Luchino Visconti,” a 1966 BBC program exploring Visconti’s mastery of cinema, theater, and opera direction
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by filmmaker and author Mark Rappaport and an excerpt from actor Farley Granger’s autobiography, Include Me Out
New cover by Glenn Orbik
Special Features
- The celebrated Film Foundation/Cineteca di Bologna digital restoration, created in consultation with cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno and Martin Scorsese, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- The Wanton Countess, the rarely seen English-language version of the film
- The Making of “Senso,” a new documentary featuring Rotunno, assistant director Francesco Rosi, costume designer Piero Tosi, and Caterina D’Amico, daughter of screenwriter Suso Cecchi D’Amico and author of Life and Work of Luchino Visconti
- Viva VERDI, a new documentary on Visconti, Senso, and opera
- Visual essay by film scholar Peter Cowie
- “Man of Three Worlds: Luchino Visconti,” a 1966 BBC program exploring Visconti’s mastery of cinema, theater, and opera direction
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by filmmaker and author Mark Rappaport and an excerpt from actor Farley Granger’s autobiography, Include Me Out
New cover by Glenn Orbik
Cast
- Alida Valli
- Countess Livia Serpieri
- Farley Granger
- Lieutenant Franz Mahler
- Heinz Moog
- Count Serpieri
- Rina Morelli
- Laura, the maid
- Massimo Girotti
- Roberto Ussoni
- Marcella Mariani
- Clara
Credits
- Director
- Luchino Visconti
- Screenplay
- Luchino Visconti
- Screenplay
- Suso Cecchi D’Amico
- From the novel by
- Camillo Boito
- Dialogue collaboration
- Tennessee Williams
- Dialogue collaboration
- Paul Bowles
- Photographed by
- G. R. Aldo
- Photographed by
- Robert Krasker
- Photographed by
- Giuseppe Rotunno
- Assistant directors
- Francesco Rosi
- Assistant directors
- Franco Zeffirelli
- Editing
- Mario Serandrei
- Costumes
- Marcel Escoffier
- Costumes
- Piero Tosi
Edition introduction to Senso
