Fiction. Based on James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, the first acclaimed work of Italian neorealism is a gritty, earthy (and unlicensed) adaptation of the famous noir novella, much closer in tone and spirit to Cain’s tale than the 1946 Hollywood version. The interior of the restaurant is meticulously detailed, offering further elements of social realism, from the elderly punters sitting at a table playing a hand game to the hunter standing by the piano and the dogs sniffing Gino’s sockless feet and worn-out shoes. Summary: Set in the Po Delta, Ossessione tells the doomed love story of a handsome vagabond and a frustrated wife. Arguably ‘the boldest representation of the realistic trend’ in the early 1940s (Thompson and Bordwell 2003: 280) was Ossessione, the result of Visconti’s collaboration with Cinema contributors Giuseppe De Santis, Mario Alicata and Gianni Puccini. Read reviews, check member ratings of Ossessione movie. Robert will do anything to fill the void left by his estranged daughter--even if that means replacing her. Added to Watchlist. Quando poi questi perseguita lei e la sua famiglia, Stephanie imparerà la più […] 1 Ossessione DVD commentary. Review: Neo-realist (avant la lettre), unremittingly depressing version of The Postman Always Rings Twice, effectively set in the Po Valley. The film opens in solemn ceremony, as a group of men in military formalwear offer a toast to the queen. At a time when Italian cinema was focusing on tales of the rich and beautiful, Ossessione brought to the screen an image of provincial Italy never shown before. Ossessione Image Entertainment 1943 / B&W / 1:33 flat / 112, 135, 142 min. 100 Years of Memorable Movie Title Screens: 1943 : Above Suspicion (1943) Action in the North Atlantic (1943) The Adventures of Tartu (1943, UK) Film. You take a bite and then you pass it on to someone else who also can live.’. For his part, Gino is a drifter with no stable occupation who does not care for financial security and does not want to ‘settle down’. Also, any digital products should be considered no longer available or used unless the item is listed as new. When Gino stops in Bragana’s roadside gas-station restaurant for a meal, he meets the owner’s young spouse, Giovanna. The precursor of Italian neo-realism was Luchino Visconti's gritty Ossessione (1943, It. The following are excerpts from Vincent Canby's review, which appeared Oct. 2, 1976. (Visconti was not allowed to explore his homosexuality on film the way Fassbinder was, but look carefully in Ossessione for two men dancing together in the cafe.) . This cultural difference applies to everything, even the film’s visual aesthetic. A landmark film in both Neo-Realist and giallo traditions, the legacy of Ossessione lives and breathes in every frame. In that it attacked established social conventions, and in particular the morality and sanctity of marriage, procreation and family life, values strongly upheld by the Fascist government, Ossessione is certainly a film critical of Fascism. Inescapably attracted to each other, they soon begin a passionate affair, and eventually Gino agrees to help Giovanna kill Bragana in a staged car accident. Movie Groups James M. Cain Adaptations Synopsis / Plot "Ossessione", made in 1942 and banned in Italy by Mussolini, is a powerful delineation of the ill-fated love between Gino, a virile young drifter who arrives by chance at a roadside restaurant and filling station, and Giovanna, the beautiful young wife of the fat old man who owns the place. Cast: Clara Calamai (Giovanna); Massimo Girotti (Gino); Juan de Landa (Bragana); Elio Marcuzzo (Lo Spagnuolo/The Spaniard).]. Looking at Bellissima from our perspective, with Visconti’s entire career to look back on, the film doesn’t seem as much of an anomaly as it must have appeared on its release. Direction: Luchino Visconti and Visconti. Mira Liehm has observed that while only a minority of the films made during Mussolini’s regime promoted Fascism openly, most productions were sentimental comedies and romantic melodramas – known as ‘white telephone films’ (in reference to the iconography of American high-society comedies) – that were intended to have little in common with everyday life (1984: 21). Lopate, Phillip, "A Master Who Confounded the Categorizers: Luchino Visconti Was an Aristocrat Whose Politics Were Progressive, a Neo-Realist Who Delighted in Melodrama and Decadence," in The New York Times , 16 November 1997. It is common in non-Hollywood films to have characters very reluctant to go on with their desires. Ossessione (DVD, 2002) Luchino Visconti - Rare! Four days before the unsinkable ship began to fill with ice cold sea water, Rose a… Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Synopsis submission guide. When Gino stops in Bragana’s roadside gas-station restaurant for a meal, he meets the owner’s young spouse, Giovanna. Tweet. As Marcia Landy has argued, ‘the film dissects the social and sexual relations that underpin idealised fantasies of heterosexual romance leading to marriage, probing the craving for financial security and social conformity that are identified with violence and loss of freedom’ (2000: 214). Luchino Visconti's impressive first feature, "Ossessione" is a combo neo-realist/noir. This week's films. Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband. Luchino Visconti made his debut as a director with this film noir based very loosely on James Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice.The film was made during World War II and was almost immediately banned by Mussolini, who tried to have all existing prints … She is unsatisfied with her older husband Bragana : she only married him for money. OSSESSIONE, 1943, 131 min., Dir. Original title: Ossessione. Reviews in chronological order (Total 0 reviews) Post a review. Her plan is to replace Bragana with Gino and invest the life insurance money in expanding the family business and improving their lifestyle. Ossessione (1943) Tweet. Michelle (Keri Russell) fa la baby sitter dai Bertrand, una coppia con due figli che conduce una vita agiata e brillante. Luchino Visconti. Ossessione is a key work of Italian cinema, cited by writers such as Marcia Landy as the first work of Italian Neo-Realism (rather than the more frequently cited Rome, Citta Aperta). Jane Eyre (1943 film) DVDs, The Emperor's New Groove DVDs, Bad News Bears DVDs, 1943 The Count of Monte Cristo DVDs & Blu-ray Discs, Orange Is the New Black DVDs, DVDs, NCIS: New Orleans DVDs & Blu-ray Discs, Orange Is the New Black DVDs & Blu-ray Discs, Star Wars: A New Hope DVDs & Blu-ray Discs, Escape from New York DVDs & Blu-ray Discs Editor: Mario Serandrei. Screenwriters: Mario Alicata, Gianni Puccini, Giuseppe De Santis, Luchino Visconti. Throughout the film, incidental actions carried out in the background of the dramatic action – people riding bicycles, a hotel guest brushing her hair by a window – are common. Furthermore, as the camera follows one of the drivers as he crosses the road, calling Bragana’s name to attract his attention, we can see in the background another incidental detail – a man riding his bicycle. the film goes directly to where the lives play out up and down coastal italy. Synopsis. Ossessione “Golden Oldie” choices this year could not be disputed: Renoir’s Nana (1926) and Visconti’s Ossessione (1942). Country. Nagel, Josef, "Der Rhytmus der Pferde," in Film-Dienst (Cologne), vol. Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction, New York, McGraw-Hill, 2003. French Title: Les Amants Diabolique. Parents Guide. | It has been scanned on the Spirit 4K (as 2K RGB data) then processed using DaVinci Revival restoration software. The gaze is present but in this film its desire is clearly directed on a man and, if we accept Mulvey's notion that the camera has been constructed as a male gaze, then in Ossessione that gaze is homosexual. Ossessione. Ossessione is a superior film, which instead of neatly bringing all of the elements of the noir thriller together comes across as more of a character study. But Bragana is inhibiting for their passion, and Giovanna refuses to run away with Gino. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films, Edited by Sarah Barrow, Sabine Haenni and John White, first published in 2015. Summary: ... A Story of Children and Film review â Mark Cousins's 'spine-tingling' visual essay. Clara Calamai Massimo Girotti Dhia Cristiani. The material used is a "Master positive" 2nd generation originally from the print Visconti managed to hide from the fascists. 17 Ossessione is a film about survival in every sense. His luck unfortunately ran out on April 15, 1912 after colliding with an iceberg in the northern Mid-Atlantic. As Nowell-Smith notes, Visconti’s Ossessione converted “Cain’s parable of arbitrariness into a demonstration of necessity”. Full Review. Film details. It is followed by countless other toasts, until finally this cream of the British aristocracy is galloping around the banquet hall on each other's shoulders, in a boozy game of horses and riders. Inescapably attracted to each other, they soon begin a passionate affair, and eventually Gino agrees to help Giovanna kill Bragana in a staged car … Category. “Ossessione” [“Obsession”) was shown at the 1976 New York Film Festival. One of the features of Ossessione that has contributed to its characterisation as a forerunner of a new filmic style (or even as the first manifestation of a new filmic style) is its attention to incidental characters and incidental details of places and people. The collaboration introduced Visconti to the Italian film world and, in particular, to a group of anti-fascist critics and filmmakers who gathered around the journal Cinema. Lizzie mcguire; Lizzie mcguire film streaming vk [3] [8] Critical reception A reviewer for The New York Times called Fear, Anxiety & Depression "an amiable, uninspired spoof of the notion that agony and art go together" that acknowledges its debts to other film makers (such as Woody Allen in Ira's character and mannerisms) but lacking a "distinctive voice or vision". Pierre Sorlin, Italian National Cinema 1896–1996, London and New York, Routledge, 1996. There are no reviews yet for this film. A love story doomed by the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. A pattern of unwanted or intrusive thoughts or urges that recur persistently, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety. Ossessione. Seeing the two is a really interesting comparison. ), the Italian director's first film. Year. 'Ossessione' was one of Visconti's early films, that alone is reason enough to watch this film. Open for comments. Production Company: Industrie Cinematografiche Italiane. Terrified at his imminent entry into the adult world of irreversible responsibilities, Carlo finds himself tempted by a bewitching 18 year old girl, Francesca, whom he meets by chance at a wedding. Loosely adapted from James M. Cain's pulp novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, it enraged fascist censors and inspired the term neo-realism. Plot Keywords Description Ossessione (Marceau, Late 1940s). Ossessione reeks of primal, base, and animalistic emotions. According to Liehm, Lo Spagnuolo is the embodiment ‘of a state of mind and attitudes towards human problems carrying in themselves the possibility of antifascism’ (1984: 55). A paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home. Gino leaves, only to return because he can't get her out of his blood. The festival program calls Ossessione (★★★) the “first neo-realist film,” and while this is hardly the truth, it is the first film of one of the key directors of our time. She cannot renounce financial security but wants out nonetheless – on her own terms. Alyssa moves into a luxury apartment complex but is unaware she is being watched by her disturbed landlord, Robert, via hidden cameras. 172–93. A butler moves through the room with drinks on a tray, and as he walks toward the camera his jacket hitches up and we get a huge close-up of a gun tucked into his belt. Unexpectedly, the attraction between the unhappy woman and the enigmatic stranger is as fascinating as it is irresistible--and in the desperate plight of a sinful whirlwind romance--before long, an all-consuming passion will demand a cathartic means of escape. In 1940 Visconti assisted Renoir with a film version of Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Tosca. Marcia Landy, Fascism in Film: The Italian Commercial Cinema, 1931–1943, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1986. In his work on Visconti Henry Bacon has suggested that the director ‘took as his starting point the ability of the film to create an illusion of a fictional world’ but also emphasised narrative structure and verisimilitude in acting and mise en scène to make a ‘statement about reality’ (1998: 13). Genre. Ossessione fatale (1991) Plot Summary (1) Tony is a young man with a gambling habit: he loses $10,000 in a poker game with Drumond, the boss of the neighborhood, and has 24 hours to settle the debt. A landmark film in both Neo-Realist and giallo traditions, the legacy of Ossessione lives and breathes in every frame. Centred on the gritty daily lives of those at the margins of society, Ossessione anticipated some of the themes and styles that were to become characteristic of Italian Neorealism – the distinctive and influential approach to fictional filmmaking that would blossom in post-Second World War Italy – in its use of professional and non-professional actors, its preference for location filming, its attention to incidental characters and small details of places and people, its empathy for the disenfranchised and its strong emphasis on the link between narrative, characters and landscape. This is, for instance, exemplified by the juxtaposition of the dark and claustrophobic interiors of the restaurant 402 Ossessione/Obsession (1942) and of Bragana’s home with the scenes shot on location in Ancona. Producer: Libero Solaroli. As Nowell-Smith notes, Visconti’s Ossessione converted “Cain’s parable of arbitrariness into a demonstration of necessity”. The owner, Giuseppe Bragana, offers him temporary work, which he accepts - because he is attracted to his employer's wife, Giovanna. At the time Ossessione was circulated clandestinely, but its social authenticity had a profound effect on young Italian directors [like Vittorio] De Sica and [Cesare] Zavattini [, who] adopted a similarly uncompromising approach to bourgeois family life. As such, although it never made overt reference to politics or the war, it has been credited as an anti-fascist film, particularly because of the character of Lo Spagnuolo (The Spaniard). The movie opens in New Orleans at a party celebrating a 10th wedding anniversary: Michael and Elizabeth Courtland are still deeply in love, so right away we know they're in trouble. Nor did it deal with themes central to Italian post-war reconstruction such as unemployment, shortage of housing, and social strife, which are among the thematic concerns traditionally associated with Italian Neorealism. Ossessione follows Cain's plot very closely, but immerses the story in the reality of life in an Italian village, using simplicity and poverty as driving forces. Directed by Luchino Visconti. A landmark film in both Neo-Realist and giallo traditions, the legacy of Ossessione lives and breathes in every frame. A young man who travels from town to town, performing, and who Gino encounters during his wanderings, Lo Spagnuolo has no counterpart in Cain’s novel. Time Out says. 1. Condemned to a loveless marriage, the dejected housewife, Giovanna, sees a ray of light shine in her miserable life, when the untamed and alluring vagabond, Gino, happens upon her boorish husband's truck-stop roadhouse. Synopsis. Synopsis The fortuitous encounter with young and virile Gino seems to offer her passion and liberation. "Ossessione", made in 1942 and banned in Italy by Mussolini, is a powerful delineation of the ill-fated love between Gino, a virile young drifter who arrives by chance at a roadside restaurant and filling station, and Giovanna, the beautiful young wife of the fat old man who owns the place. The way out Gino offers, to a life of wandering from place to place, is too financially uncertain for Giovanna to accept. Stephanie, insegnante di scuola superiore, infrange ogni regola morale quando finisce con l’avere un approccio molto fisico con uno dei suoi studenti. Luchino Visconti’s directorial debut Ossessione stands as an aesthetic and thematic watershed in the history of Italian cinema. Italy. Gino, a young and handsome tramp, stops in a small roadside inn run by Giovanna. Ossessione (1943 Italy 140 mins) Prod. STARTS PLACE SCRIPT AT 1 00.00.01 Ext road Ossessione, made in 1942, was the result of a collaboration between the director Luchino Visconti and a team of [credits screenwriters who were also critics on the film journal Cinema. Whereas a Film Noir (quite rightfully for the genre) would revel and wallow in the dirty details of the scheming and the execution, Ossessione is much more subtle in its execution, as if the murder is more just the by-product of the complex power relationships between the protagonists, rather than a living, breathing entity in itself. Bringing the extraterrestrial into his suburban California house, Elliott introduces E.T., as the alien is dubbed, to his brother and his little sister, Gertie, … "Ossessione", made in 1942 and banned in Italy by Mussolini, is a powerful delineation of the ill-fated love between Gino, a virile young drifter who arrives by chance at a roadside restaurant and filling station, and Giovanna, the beautiful young wife of the fat old man who owns the place. Crime. Elliott Stein Film Comment Magazine. Ossessione Director: Luchino Visconti Cast: Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti Distributor: Image MPAA rating: Unrated First date: 1943 US DVD Release Date: 2002-07-16 Luchino Visconti’s first feature film, it is considered by many to be the first Italian neorealist film, though there is some debate about whether such a categorization is accurate. Visconti's stunning feature debut transposes The Postman Always Rings Twice to the endless, empty lowlands of the Po Delta. David Forgacs and Lesley Caldwell. Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, Luchino Visconti, London, British Film Institute, 2003. [3] It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. Ossessione reeks of primal, base, and animalistic emotions. Set against a backdrop of rundown bars, dirty buildings and potholed roads, Ossessione challenged ideological aspects typical of the established social order of the time, from the sanctity of marriage and family values, to oppressive social conformity, and in particular the enforced claustrophobia of domesticity, to money as a determining factor in human relationships. Ossessione Review Drifter Gino begins an affair with Giovanna when he happens upon the truck-stop inn she runs with her older husband, Bragana. The editors of Cinema, who loved American fiction and held in high esteem the works of the French Popular Front, Soviet directors and the Sicilian late nineteenth-century veristic writer Giovanni Verga, argued that Italian films should be inspired by verism, a literary movement that emphasised the importance of depicting objectively the lives of the disenfranchised and that had a profound impact on Italian culture, fostering a new interest in realism among filmmakers (Bacon 1998: 9–13). Ossessione has been widely credited as a major precursor of Neorealist filmmaking, although it neither denounced the horror of the Second World War nor celebrated the heroism of the Resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation of Italy. whatever Visconti was doing here he got it right. With Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, Dhia Cristiani, Elio Marcuzzo. Recording date 24/2/2003, The Sound Company, 24 Gosfield St, W1 SEQ. 7, 26 March 1996. The film did not receive a wide release in the United States, and was mostly panned by the critics, who nevertheless found many scenes to be hilarious. As such, Ossessione does not dwell on the shadows, the plotting, the crime, the blood so much as it focuses on the passions and all-consuming obsessions of its central pairing. It is significant that Lo Spagnuolo’s association with nonconformity and a freer life do not translate into selfish individualism. Ossessione is a film directed by Luchino Visconti with Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, Juan de Landa, Dhia Cristiani, Vittorio Duse .... Year: 1943. Claretta Micheletti Tonetti, Luchino Visconti, Boston, Twayne Publishers, 1983. This, arguably, is the birth of Neo-Realism. An example comes immediately after the opening credits have rolled in a scene shot on location, as two truck drivers, played by non-professional actors, arrive at Bragana’s roadside service station to fill up their lorry. . Based on James M. Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (the director never got around to securing the rights), it sometimes is considered the first Italian Neo-Realist film. Rent Ossessione (1942) film for FREE as part of our trial offer. And yet, while the young Gino despises the petty bourgeois values Giovanna is enslaved to, he is unable to curb his passion and relinquish the woman who has become his obsession. See details - Ossessione (DVD, 2002… Giovanna dies instantly and Gino is apprehended. Because this isn’t film noir. Giovanna's husband disgusts her; every time he touches her she wants to scream. However, is there a way to flee from guilt's damned prison? Ossessione. Featuring. Film Synopsis G ino Costa, an itinerant labourer, arrives at a roadside café-cum-petrol station. It was released on July 18, 2019, by Netflix. Not to mention that this adaption of 'The Postman always rings twice' came out around the same time as the American film starring Lana Turner. Meanwhile, the film carefully avoids any picturesque use of the landscape. The term ‘neo-realism’ was first applied . | Young drifter Gino (Massimo Girotti) stops at a diner/gas station, where he is immediately attracted to Giovana (Clara Calamai), the young wife of the owner, Giussepe (Juan de Landa). Be the first to contribute! Visconti’s cinematic style was first significantly influenced by Jean Renoir, who Visconti credited with helping him not only develop his interest in cinema, but also raise his political consciousness as he got close to the Popular Front (Tonetti 1983: 20–1). Overview of Ossessione, 1976, directed by Luchino Visconti, with Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, Juan de Landa, at Turner Classic Movies Secret Obsession is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed by Peter Sullivan, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kraig Wenman.It stars Brenda Song, Mike Vogel, Dennis Haysbert, and Ashley Scott.. Cinematographers: Aldo Tonti, Domenico Scala. First Post-War Release French Grande (47" X 63").