Senso

1954, Italy, Luchino Visconti, 118 min.

With Farley Granger, Alida Valli, and Heinz Moog

Introduced by Rubin Programs director Tim McHenry

“Don’t think about the consequences of an impulsive act or that are dictated by an unforgivable lightness.”

Alida Valli (The Third Man, Eyes Without a Face) stars as a nineteenth-century Italian countess who, amid 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 (Rope, Strangers on a Train). Gilded with fearless performances, ornate costumes and sets, and a rich classical soundtrack, Visconti’s operatic melodrama is an extraordinary evocation of reckless emotions and deranged lust from one of the cinema’s great sensualists.

“”¦this is an opera without release, in which the passion of the two lovers turns inward and corrosive, leading to a final, unforgettably staged scene of betrayal.” —Dave Kehr, The New York Times