Ossessione [VHS]

`Ossessione' was Visconti's first film - and what a classic he produced! He had of course learned much of his trade in the 1930s with Jean Renoir, but one is quite astounded at how masterfully he frames his shots and forges atmosphere in this film. Visconti was unquestionably a natural-born director with an eye for detail in both the technical and artistic matters of film-making. `Ossessione' is seen by some as the first of the Italian neo-realist movies with its richness to incidental detail and use of scenes and people incidental to the plot. And already Visconti is at home with large set pieces and long takes, such as the singing contest at Ancona.

The story of Gino and Giovanna's illicit affair and their murder of Giovanna's husband - a story as old as history - was filmed in the Po delta region of Italy, a flat landscape of marshes and reeds - and long causeways on which traffic passes by the hostelry run by Giovanna and her husband. On a hot summer's day, the vagabond Gino happens to drop by, setting in motion the chain of events that will lead to more than one death. This is one film where the ending is made more effective by its very inconclusiveness.

The erotic charge of the whole film is framed around Gino, and not Giovanna; indeed, we first only ever see a close-up of Gino's face through Giovanna's look of lust at first sight. This is not a gay movie, but there are - as usual with a Visconti film - strong homoerotic undertones. The character of the Spaniard, for instance, has an ambiguous sexuality, and some have seen him as Visconti's representative of the anti-Fascist. (The film was made in 1942.)

The quality of the transfer to DVD is not always good, both visually and aurally (there is some hiss on the soundtrack), but the film is nevertheless very watchable. In his book on the director, Henry Bacon says that the original negative was seized by the Fascists so extant copies had to be made from a duplicate. Bacon sees the film as a basic conflict between the insecurity of freedom on the road and the security of societal confinement.

The accompanying commentary is by David Forgacs (Professor of Italian at University College, London) and Lesley Caldwell (Associate Fellow in the Italian Department). They are not film historians, but what they have to say is both informative and insightful. The other extra is a short biography of Visconti.

Visconti's 'Ossessione' was his debut feature, and one made during the war years that got a release as Mussolini approved of it (!) It is the defintive adaptation of James M. Cain's 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' - much better than the 40s film noir of that or the overblown take of it in the 1980s (Albert Camus' 'The Outsider'/'The Stranger' would also be influenced heavily by Cain's novel). It should be noted though, that it was an unofficial version of 'The Postman...', like 'Le Dernier Tournant' in 1939...

While films such as 'Rome, Open City' (1945, Roberto Rossellini) & 'The Bicycle Thieves' (1948, Vittorio de Sica) are cited as formative examples of the movement that would be known as 'Italian Neo-Realism', it's really 'Ossessione' that deserves that status. The use of amateur-actors (or unknowns) and the "realistic" look would be key - and lead towards those celebrated films mentioned previously.

As a debut feature, I think it's great and proves that Cain's dark-tale of adultery and murder could translate into something universal. 'Ossessione' was the start of one of the careers of one of the great European auteurs of the twentieth-century, and deserves to be seen alongside other brilliant works by Visconti such as 'The Leopard', 'Rocco and His Brothers' & 'La Terra Trema.'

A ground-breaking and spellbinding film marvelously understated and very accomplished acting from all involved. Subtle and gripping. A daring film for its time and well worth watching. A very special film.

p.s. Also worth doing some contextual reading about the making of this film.