Set in 1930s Germany, the film revolves around a steel industrial family who have decided to do business with Nazi Germany in its ascent only for the association to cause the family to unravel from the death of their patriarch as well as the activities of a few including an heir whose amoral behavior would help maintain more chaos. It is a film that explores a family who makes a deal with the Nazis which would benefit them financially and socially but it would also begin their downfall. The film’s screenplay opens with a dinner celebrating the birthday of Baron Joachim von Essenbeck (Albrecht Schoenhals) who is beloved by many in his family yet is reluctant to associate himself with the Nazis despite his conservative views. Yet, the night is shattered by the news of the Reichstag fire while son-in-law Herbert Thalmann (Umberto Osini) is another person who isn’t fond of the Nazis where the night ends badly when the baron is found dead with gunshot wounds on his body as the gun belonged to Thalmann though he is innocent yet is forced to flee knowing that he’s an outspoken critic of the Nazis.
The baron’s death sets everything in place as his daughter-in-law Sophie (Ingrid Thulin) is having an affair with the family’s executive Friedrich Bruckmann (Dirk Bogarde) who is also friends with a cousin of Sophie’s late husband in the SS officer Aschenbach (Helmut Griem) as they seek to take control of the family business with the approval of the baron’s grandson and Sophie’s son Martin (Helmut Berger) who inherits much of the share as he allows Bruckman to take control instead of the baron’s boorish nephew in Konstantin (Reinhard Kolldehoff). It would eventually cause a power struggle within the family as Herbert’s wife Elizabeth (Charlotte Rampling) asks Sophie to clear Herbert’s name unaware of her role in implicating Herbert. Meanwhile, Konstantin discovers something about Martin’s amoral lifestyle as he would use it as blackmail to get control of the family business to sell arms to the SA that Konstantin is a part of. Yet, it is Aschenbach that would stir things up as well as find ways to get Martin back on board but also find ways to do whatever he wants in order to ensure that the Nazis have a future. It all plays into a family dealing with the demands of a new world and how it would create chaos within this family as many of them scheme and do whatever they can to crave power as well as revel in decadence.
Luchino Visconti’s direction is definitely wondrous as it plays into a moment in time that is based on a real-life family known as the Krupp who would help create steel and weaponry for the Nazis only for their then-patriarch to be charged with war crimes. Shot on various locations in Austria, parts of then-West Germany, and interiors shot at Cinecitta Studios, in Rome, Italy with some of it near Dusseldorf and the Austrian village of Unterach am Attersee as Bad Wiessee. Visconti’s usage of the wide and medium shots don’t just play into the home of the von Essenbeck but also the world they live in as Visconti would create some unique compositions and framing that includes the opening party where Martin would be in drag as Marlene Dietrich as he performs in front of his family as it’s interrupted by the news of the Reichstag fire. Visconti also plays up a world that is lavish but also terrifying considering the world that this family lives in with some not wanting to be part of the Nazis. At the center of the turmoil is Martin as he is someone that has a lot of power but also does activities that are immoral as he’s also bisexual and molests children including a couple of his own cousins that Konstantin is aware of.
Visconti would also use close-ups to create some dramatic suspense as well as the sense of fear that would loom in Sophie and Friedrich as they would conspire to gain whatever power with Aschenbach being the man they turn to. Even as it means playing a role in an act of violence as there’s a key sequence late in the film’s second act that was originally cut from the film’s American release back in 1969 as it was spoken largely in German where a major event in Nazi Germany’s history takes place as much of the film is spoken in English for its American release with an alternate Italian dubbing for its European release. It is a key sequence that wouldn’t just play into this corruption that this family would be involved in but also a shift in power from within with Aschenbach stirring the pot. Yet, Visconti would create something that does feel operatic while also playing into some things that were considered taboo as it relates to the growing immorality that Martin would gain. Even as he would gain a few allies but also do things that would eventually destroy the reputation of his family. Overall, Visconti crafts a chilling yet disturbing film about a family’s fall from grace in their association with the Nazis.
Cinematographers Armando Nannuzzi and Pasqualino De Santis do amazing work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of colorful lighting for some of the interior scenes at night as well as maintaining some vibrant and low-key colors for some of the daytime exterior scenes. Editor Ruggero Mastroianni does excellent work with the editing as it has some unique jump-cuts to play into the suspense and drama as well as some rhythmic cuts that add to some terrifying moments in the film. Art directors Pasquale Romano and Enzo Del Prato do brilliant work with the look of the von Essenbeck family estate with all of its rooms that are lavish and full of wide spaces as well as the main office of the factory that the family runs.
Costume designer Piero Tosi does fantastic work with the costumes from the designs of the Nazi uniforms as well as the dresses that Sophie and Elizabeth wears as well as the clothes that the men wear including the Marlene Dietrich costume that Martin wears for his performance. The sound work of Renato Cudueri and Vittorio Trentino is superb for its approach to natural sound as well as the mixing to play into some of the drama and terror with a key sequence in the film. The film’s music by Maurice Jarre is incredible for its rich orchestral score filled with sumptuous string and woodwind arrangements that play into the sense of decadence and chaos that looms throughout the film with a couple of songs from those times including songs that were sung by Marlene Dietrich.
The film’s marvelous cast feature some notable small roles from Karin Mittendorf and Valentina Ricci in their respective roles as Herbert and Elizabeth’s daughters in Thilde and Erika, Irina Wanka as a young Jewish girl that Martin meets as she lives next door to Martin’s girlfriend, Nora Ricci as the von Essenbeck estate governess who runs the house, and Florinda Bolkan as Martin’s girlfriend Olga whom he doesn’t see often as well as the fact that there is no real commitment between the two towards the end as it relates to Martin’s own descent into immorality. Albrecht Schoenhals is terrific as Baron Joachim von Essenbeck as the family patriarch who is reluctant in aligning himself with Nazi Germany as well as having issues with their ideal that would unfortunately lead to his assassination. Reinhard Kolldehoff is superb as the baron’s nephew Konstantin who is also an officer for the SA paramilitary group as he wants to run the family business in the hopes of winning favor of Adolf Hitler towards the SA as he eventually becomes disillusioned with Hitler during a key moment in the film.
Charlotte Rampling is fantastic as Herbert’s wife Elizabeth who is troubled by her husband’s disappearance knowing that he didn’t kill the baron while is also someone who isn’t fond of the Nazi ideals as she asks Sophie for help only to be unaware that Sophie is the one who framed her husband. Renaud Verley is excellent as Konstantin’s nephew Gunther as a young man who is hoping to not be involved in the war as he is also close to Herbert and Elizabeth where he later succumbs to Aschenbach’s circle. Umberto Osini is brilliant as Herbert Thalmann as a man married to the family who is beloved by many though he isn’t fond of the Nazis as he is later accused of killing the baron forcing him to go into exile. Helmut Griem is amazing as Aschenbach as a SS officer who stirs the pot within the von Essenbeck family as he manipulates his way into the family’s affairs as he was a cousin of Sophie’s dead husband as he also does whatever he can to cling on to power by association.
Ingrid Thulin is incredible as Sophie as the baron’s daughter-in-law who is having an affair with Friedrich much to the baron’s disapproval as she is a woman that is hoping to have more power within the family as well as being the mastermind of killing the baron where she hopes to maintain shared control with Friedrich where she also would do anything including going against her family. Dirk Bogarde is phenomenal as Friedrich Bruckmann as a social-climbing executive of the family business who is having an affair with Sophie as he hopes to gain power only to involve himself with things that would push the family away as well as become Aschenbach’s puppet for a time. Finally, there’s Helmut Berger in a tremendous breakout performance as Martin von Essenbeck as the baron’s amoral grandson who likes to involve himself in things that are considered obscene as well as using his status to do what he wants only to find himself in trouble where he turns to Aschenbach as Berger exudes charisma but also something very dark from within as he leans towards the ideas of Nazism.
Gotterdammerung is a spectacular film from Luchino Visconti. Featuring a great ensemble cast, stylish visuals, Maurice Jarre’s exhilarating music score, and a look into a family’s descent into immorality and chaos. It is a film that explores the life of family during the early years of Nazi Germany and how everything they used to believe in crumble into a world that is full of hate. In the end, Gotterdammerung is a tremendous film from Luchino Visconti.
Luchino Visconti Films: (Obsessione) – (Giorni di gloria) – (La Terra Firma) – (Bellissima) – (Appunti su un fatto di cronaca) – (We, the Women) – Senso – White Nights - Rocco and His Brothers - (Boccaccio ’70-Il lavoro) – The Leopard - Sandra – (The Stranger (1967 film)) – The Witches (1967 film)- The Witch Burned Alive – Death in Venice - (Alla ricerca di Tadzio) – (Ludwig) – (Conversation Piece) – The Innocent (1976 film)
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Set in the small town of Ferrera, Italy from 1938 to 1943, the film is an exploration of the life of an upper-class Jewish family who live nearby the home of a richer Jewish family known as the Finzi-Continis whose lavish garden is an idyllic landscape that becomes an escape during the growth of Fascism in Italy. The film is an exploration of the lives of these two upper-class Jewish families as one of them is in love with the daughter of the richer family ever since they were children as they deal with the growing world around them with this lavish garden being a place of wonder. The film’s screenplay by Vittorio Bonicelli and Ugo Pirro does feature bits of flashback as it relates to its two young leads in Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio) and Micol Finzi-Contini (Dominique Sanda) who knew each other as kids with the latter’s family home being this haven where they can play tennis and have fun at this lavish garden that includes Micol’s younger brother Alberto (Helmut Berger) and their friend Giampiero Malnate (Fabio Testi).
The first act is about the life of the Finzi-Continis and the garden that is their escape with the second act being about Giorgio’s pursuit of Micol as she rejects him believing he’s not good enough for her. Even as the second act also play into this chaos with Italy becoming a more Fascist state with Giorgio’s father Beniamino (Romolo Valli) trying to keep the family together as he sends his younger son Ernesto (Raffaele Curri) to France to study. It also play into the world that is crumbling where Giorgio had already been expelled from the tennis club and later a library where he is unable to study because he is Jewish while interracial marriages are also banned. The film explore Giorgio’s own encounter with the real world while Micol has isolated herself in the family home not wanting to deal with the real world with Alberto becoming ill. The third act does play into Italy entering World War II as life for Jews become more difficult with Giorgio pleading with Micol to be with him while also coming to terms that life will never be the same as the garden itself is a shell of its former self.
Vittorio De Sica’s direction is definitely full of gorgeous imagery and a sense of realism as it is shot largely on location in Ferrera with some of it in Venice with the garden shot at the park of Villa Ada near Rome. De Sica’s usage of the wide and medium shots do help play into the many locations in the film but also the world that is the garden at the Finzi-Contini estate where many of the young people play tennis and involve themselves with many activities as a way to escape from this growing threat of war that is to come. Even as De Sica would maintain this air of intimacy in the direction with the medium shots and close-ups inside the homes of Giorgio’s family and the Finzi-Continis where it showed a world where Giorgio’s family do perform certain Jewish traditions while the latter maintain this presentation of being posh and not overtly Jewish to raise concerns with the authorities.
De Sica also play into this sense of beauty that is the Finzi-Contini estate from the road way outside their home where Giorgio would ride his bike on as well as where he would park his bike and climb over its wall. The garden is the centerpiece of this estate filled with trees including a few palm trees and other things as it is a place where everyone can escape from the real world yet as the film progresses. The garden becomes less idyllic despite the beauty it presents itself but without many people there. It doesn’t feel the same as the third act has an air of coldness that looms along with a sense of danger in the fact that anyone who is Jewish, communist, or not wanting to be a part of this world of Fascist Italy is fucked. De Sica’s ending is ambiguous as it relates to the fate of characters but it also presents a world that is lost and could never return with those also filled with regret of the future they could’ve had. Overall, De Sica crafts an intoxicating yet harrowing film about two upper-class Jewish families dealing with the growing changes in Fascist Italy.
Cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri does amazing work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of soft lighting for a few interior scenes along with some natural and lush lighting for the scenes at the garden during the spring and summer as well as low-key lighting for the scenes at night and in the winter time. Editor Adriana Novelli does excellent work with the editing with some stylish jump-cuts for some of the bike ride scenes through the forest as well as a few montages including some of the flashbacks as it play into Giorgio and Micol’s time as teenagers. Production/costume designer Giancarlo Bartolini Salimbeni and set decorator Franco D’Andria does brilliant work with the look of the homes of Giorgio’s family with its modest furniture that is a sharp contrast to the more spacious interiors at the Finzi-Contini estate with its large library where Giorgio is allowed to study while the costumes are also exquisite in the posh dresses that Micol wears that is another sharp contrast to the modest suits that Giorgio wears.
Hair stylist Anna Cristofani and makeup artist Giulio Natalucci do fantastic work with the different hairstyles that Micol would wear throughout the film as it went from stylish to eventually becoming less so as the film progresses. The special effects work of Ettore Catalucci is terrific for some of the minimal shots that play into Alberto’s own sickly state as well as imagery to help make the film feel dreamlike. The sound work of Max Galinsky and Massimo Loffredi, with additional work for its restoration by Stefano Di Fiore, is superb for the sound as it help play into the atmosphere of the locations including the town with the speech over the declaration of war from Italy being a key moment. The film’s music by Manuel De Sica, with additional contributions by Bill Conti, is incredible for its lush and somber orchestral-piano score that play into the drama and romantic tension that looms throughout the film as well as themes that are upbeat that play into happier moments as it is a highlight of the film.
The film’s wonderful ensemble cast feature some notable small roles from Giampaolo Duregon as a friend of the Finzi-Contis in Bruno, Marcella Gentile as Giorgio’s young sister Fanny, Raffaele Curi as Giorgio’s younger brother Ernesto who goes to France to study, Barbara Pilavin as Giorgio’s mother, Ettore Gere as the majordomo Perotti, Inna Alexeievna as Alberto and Micol’s grandmother, Katina Morisani as Alberto and Mico’s mother, Cinzia Bruno as the young Micol, Alessandro D’Alatri as the young Giorgio, and Camillo Cesarei as Ermanno Finzi-Conti as the patriarch of the Finzi-Contini who allowed Giorgio to study in his library as he always liked Giorgio feeling he is a good match for Micol and a good friend to Alberto.
Romolo Valli is excellent as Giorgio’s father as a businessman who is proud of his Jewish heritage but would hide during the growth of Fascism as he is concerned for Giorgio as it relates to Micol as well as what will happen to the family knowing something is going wrong. Fabio Testi is brilliant as Giampiero Malnate as a family friend of the Finzi-Contis who is also a communist that isn’t fond of Fascism while he would later lament over the state of the Finzi-Conti with being isolated as he would be called up to military service as he and Giorgio also deal the world around them. Helmut Berger is amazing as Micol’s younger brother Alberto as a young man who idolized Malnate and love Giorgio as a friend as he also deals with illness while becoming aware of some of the drama involving Micol and Giorgio.
Lino Capolicchio is incredible as Giorgio as a young man from an upper-class Jewish family who is in love with Micol and wants to spend the rest of his life with her as he also deals with the changes around him as he’s kicked out of clubs and university because he’s Jewish as he also laments over everything as well as this paradise that is the Finzi-Conti garden that becomes less idyllic. Finally, there’s Dominique Sanda in a phenomenal performance as Micol Finzi-Conti as a young woman who is a childhood friend of Giorgio as someone who is trying to distance herself from the real world while isolating herself as a way to shield from that reality including Giorgio feeling that he’s not good enough for her. Even as she deals with the reality that she and her family eventually have to face as well as what she could’ve had.
Il giardino dei Finzi Contini is a magnificent film from Vittorio De Sica. Featuring a great ensemble cast, ravishing visuals, its themes of isolation and longing during a tumultuous time in Italy’s history, and a rich music score by Manuel De Sica. It is a film that explore life in Fascist Italy just before and during World War II as well as its effects on two upper-class Jewish families where one deal with what is happening while another is trying to not see the truth. In the end, Il giardino dei Finzi Contini is an outstanding film from Vittorio De Sica.
Vittorio De Sica Films: (Rose scarlatte) - (Maddalena, zero in condotta) - (Teresa Venerdi) - (Un garibaldino al convento) - (The Children Are Watching Us) - (La porta del cielo) - (Shoeshine) - (Heart and Soul (1948 film)) - Bicycle Thieves - Miracle in Milan – Umberto D. - (It Happened in the Park) - (Terminal Station) - (The Gold of Naples) - (The Roof) - (Anna of Brooklyn) - Two Women (1960 film) - (The Last Judgment) - (Boccaccio ‘70) - (The Condemned of Altona) - (Il Boom) - Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - Marriage Italian Style - (Un monde nouveau) - (After the Fox) - (Woman Times Seven) - The Witches (1967 film)- An Evening Like the Others - (A Place for Lovers) - (Sunflowers (1970 film)) - (Lo chiameremo Andrea) - (A Brief Vacation) - (The Voyage)
© thevoid99 2022
