Title: luchino visconti, life as a novel

Genre: Documentary
lenght: 55’
country of origin: italy
year of production: 2008
format: digital betacam, v.o. it., sott. english, sott. francaise

director:
CARLO LIZZANI

subject AND SCREENPLAY:
LUIGI FILIPPO D’AMICO, CARLO LIZZANI

WITH the PARTECIPATION OF:
Luchino Visconti, Jean Marais, Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Massimo Girotti, Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Francesco Rosi, Suso Cecchi d’Amico e Franco Zeffirelli, Carlo Lizzani.

Clip from movies:
Ossessione, Giorni di Gloria, La terra trema, Bellissima, Senso, Le notti bianche, Rocco e i suoi fratelli, Il Gattopardo, La caduta degli Dei, Morte a Venezia, Ludwig, Gruppo di famiglia in un interno, Tosca, Tre sorelle, Un tram che si chiama desiderio, La sonnambula, La traviata.


executive Production:
Laura e Silvia Pettini

Production:
FELIX FILM

co-Production:
RAIUNO CINEMAFICTION – ARTE/NDR

sales:
INTRA COMM (Ex URSS)
CINECITTA' LUCE (polonia)
ERT SA (Grecia)
KOCH VISION/KOCH LORBER FILMS (USA)
MINERVA PICTURES GROUP (grecia/cipro)
VIP 2000- FILM TV PROGRAMS (messico)
B4 CAPITAL S.A. (albania/kosovo)
CNC (francia)
KINOWELT HOME VIDEO (germania)
RAI 5 (italia)
MINISTERO degli ESTERI/RAPPRESENTANZE ITALIANE NEL MONDO (italia)

international distribution:
rai trade; felix film

Synopsis

The “story of Visconti”, his life, films, drama and opera, can only be narrated by looking back at this childhood, adolescence and youth. The many clips from his films and stage productions, used in the documentary “Luchino Visconti”, will become all the clearer from this perspective.

Palazzo Visconti in Via Cervia in Milan, Villa Erba in Cernobbio, the castle of Gozzano, the fascinating Paris of the thirties of Chanel, Cocteau and Renoir and the places of the recurrent proustian dream are the extraordinary setting and scenic background where his natural talentgradually developed and emerged, guided always by his trasgressive rege and creative genius.

The phenomenon of “Ossessione” , wich suddenly in 1942 made Italian cinema emerge from its formere provincialism, cannot be explained without the Paris experience.Behind the realistic plot of “La terra trema”, we can undoubtedly see the master of Verga, but also, like a watermark, though the sophisticated composition of the frames and the rhythm of the dramatic group sequences, the musical education he received from his mother and his great familiarity with the theatrical machinery of the Visconti estates.

These dwellings were not ephemeral and empty sets for Luchino. In each of the villas, the small family theatres, where parents and children used to perform, can still be seen today.

Ceremonials which Visconti transfigured in the group frescoes of his costume films and which were the constant, fascinating frame around his many famous characters: Angelica, Ludwing, Aschenboch.From “Il Gattopardo” to “La caduta degli dei”, from “Death in Venice” to “Gruppo di famiglia in un interno”, he has staged the real and permanent “mise-en-scène” where he matured durino his years in Cernobbio, Grazzano and Paris.

At the turn of the last century of this millennium, which saw the birth of a new form of art, namely Cinema, the purpose of this film is to celebrate an artist who turned the various expressions of the performing arts into poetry to be used as a cultural, social and political instrument who found his stage in the 20th century.

Carlo Lizzani, a historian of Italian cinema, who witnessed many important decision in the life of Visconti, leads us through the places of his childhood and the places where he matured – where he gained his first working experience and was active as a director – by collecting the contributions of Luchino Visconti himself and, among the others, Jean Marais, Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Massimo Girotti, Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Francesco Rosi, Suso Cecchi d’Amico and Franco Zeffirelli.

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