The Life and Times of Count Luchino Visconti

How dare you? Adam Low, without apparent shame, puts his name to this fake tribute. It's not even a serious study or analysis or commentary of the great Visconti's work. Yes it's long and portentous, yes we do have some wonderful clips from the films that, most people interested on the subject, have already seen. But what resounds the longest leaving the most lasting impression is the gossip. The last and loudest voice comes from a third rate German actor, ranting and raving. The appropriately named Mr.Low directed this, hoping, I imagine, to get better ratings than his previous, more to the point, but deadly boring documentary on Kurosawa. Well I have news for you Mr Low and your cohorts. You missed a great opportunity and I for one, won't give you another.

This two-hour documentary scarcely has time to explore the multiple facets of Count Luchino Visconti di Modrone: aristocrat, Marxist, soldier, homosexual, painter, opera director, horse trainer. Amazingly, he even found time to direct a few films - at least half of them masterpieces, and none of them less than intriguing. His most cherished themes were the Decay of Beauty and the Beauty of Decay. No surprise then, if - in interviews with his surviving friends, lovers and colleagues - we see a vicious circle of Decayed Beauties, who delight in dissing each other now the Great Man is safely out of earshot.

Hence a bloated Helmut Berger - actor, protege and live-in lover - as he reminisces about a black Afghan hound named Rocco. "I hated that dog," Berger hisses. "It reminded me of Alain Delon." The French actor was his predecessor in Visconti's films and (so it is strongly hinted) Visconti's bed, although nobody can say so directly for legal reasons. As if to put Berger in his place, a haggard Charlotte Rampling purrs cattily: "Helmut had no style. He had no culture. He was just a skiing waiter with a big bum." Another ex-lover, the director and notorious right-winger Franco Zeffirelli, growls and grumbles about the number of Communists who attended Visconti's funeral in 1976. A stark contrast, no doubt, to the Forza Italia goons who will turn out in droves when Zeffirelli goes to meet his maker.

In the midst of all this unlovely sniping, the genius of Visconti can still emerge untarnished. We see spectacular clips from his better-known films, but no mention at all of his more obscure ones. OK, I'd just as soon forget Bellissima and The Stranger, but as for Sandra, which may be his great unexplored masterwork...it hurt to see it left out yet again! His opera and theatre work get similarly short shrift (no clips, you see) apart from an ancient archive interview with Maria Callas. Given this film's limited appeal (i.e. purely for sad Visconti obsessives like me) I wonder that director Adam Low did not take an extra hour and cover Il Maestro in greater depth.

David Melville

Having seen Carlo Lizzani's documentary on Luchino Visconti, I was bound to higher expectations before watching this film made three years later by Adam Low. But the viewer like me did get dissatisfied... I faced a need for critical opinion, which I generally don't like giving due to the fact there are no documentaries that will satisfy every viewer. There are also no documentaries that will examine a theme totally. But when I read the reviews already written on this title, I also felt a bit confused. People sometimes don't know what to criticize. Therefore, to be clear, I'll divide this film into two major parts that differ considerably: the former one about Visconti before his director's career and latter one about Visconti the director.

The aristocratic background, all the hobbies, the wealth that young Luchino experienced and enjoyed are clearly presented. His effort in horse racing is mentioned as well as his relation with his mother so much disturbed after his parents' divorce. We also get a very accurate idea of where Luchino was brought up as a real count of Milano: in riches galore, with nannies, cooks with access to everything, in TRUE ARISTOCRACY. For instance, his father's splendid villa at Grazzano and other marvelous villas prove that. There is also an emphasis on Visconti's crucial visit in Paris in the 1930s where he met eminent people ("left wingers") who later had impact on his style and message in art. That clearly explains the idea of a communist with the aristocratic upbringing (a contrast at first sight).

However, the part about his director's career, which started with OSSESSIONE during WWII and ended with INNOCENTE just before the director's death in 1976, is poorly executed. His movies are not discussed well. Why? Because there are very few people who really have something to say. Franco Zeffirelli, the director, remembers the works on LA TERRA TREMA and that is all right. There are also some interviews with Franco Rosi. But later, such movies like IL GATTOPARDO, LA CADUTA DEI REI, LA MORTE A VENEZIA or LUDWIG are mostly discussed by Helmut Berger. Although I liked the actor in the role of Ludwig, I did not like the interviews of his. Moreover, some thoughts he reveals are not accurate to entail in such a documentary... There is no mention of significant works of Visconti like CONVERSATION PIECE, there are no interviews with eminent cast Burt Lancaster. A mention about Silvana Mangano and Romy Schneider should also be made. There is one footage interview with Maria Callas that appears to be interesting but that is only a short bit. Franco Zeffirelli, though I appreciate him as a director, makes fun of it all rather than says something really precious. For instance, he mentions the event how Visconti separated from him after years of service. Therefore, I say: simplified and unsatisfactory.

What I find a strong point here are footage interviews with Visconti himself. As a result, we may get his own opinion about his works. For instance, I very much appreciate the words he says about death regarding it as a normal chapter of life and as natural as birth itself. He also discusses his health problems after the stroke while filming LUDWIG.

I believe it is better to see LUCHINO VISCONTI (1999) by Carlo Lizzani than this doc. Although it is shorter and condensed as a whole, you will get a better idea of the director. Visconti would be furious about that and the fury of his usually turned people's emotions and viewpoints into stone... 4/10

Luchino Visconti, the artist with the sword. Courage should be the first word associated with his entire opus. Film. Theater. Music. Revolutions, artistic, cultural, personal. A legacy with powerful consequences and endless ramifications. He introduced the neorealism through the work of an American novelist James Cain in "Ossesione" He gave Anna Magnani the most extraordinarily beautiful close ups of her career. He gave us Alain Delon and Maria Callas. But the last word about his life and work rests on the talents of a certain Adam Low and the voice of Helmut Berger. What a terrible fate.

For those interested, there is a 61 minute documentary by director Carlo Lizzani (a man who really knew Visconti) titled LUCHINO VISCONTI A PORTRAIT. It is out on DVD distributed by Image Entertainment

One of portraits of a great director. Explored sides of his personality in a chain of testimonies of colaborators, reminding his masterpieces, origins, roots of gestures and attitudes.

A hommage, no doubts, but one maybe too personal.

I am very indulgent about second part ( the first being maybe enough for be the documentary itself ) for my faibless for Helmut Berger. But his subjective comentaries , the feeling, in few moments, to be him the star of film is not always just nice.

The result - a travel , maybe in too hurry steps, across an univers familiar for his admirers.

The sketch of a credo, reconstructed in some measure, defining the life and work to a circle of impressive events defining biography and films, his tirany and his art of persuasion, his interesting details and the axis of relation with two colaborators.

A noble Italian as master of a luxurious univers.

It is the thing who real matters in this case.