Luchino VISCONTI
L’Innocente (The Innocent): When Visconti films the male ego
L’Innocente (The Innocent) is shown this year at Cannes Classics, marking the return of Luchino Visconti’s final film to the Festival de Cannes, almost fifty years since its first screening in 1976. Visconti, also director of Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) filmed aristocracy and male domination in what was to be his last film.
This feature film was adapted from Gabriele D’Annunzio’s novel, and follows Tullio Hermil, an aristocrat from Rome played by Giancarlo Giannini, who is charming and toxic in equal measure. Believing himself to be a free, modern man, he takes on numerous mistresses right under the nose of his wife, Giuliana, played by Laura Antonelli. This carries on until she in turn falls in love with another man and becomes pregnant.
Luchino Visconti, then weakened by a stroke and virtually paralyzed, directed his last film from his wheelchair. Initially, the director dreamed of bringing together Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, and Helmut Berger; but ultimately, he directed Giancarlo Giannini alongside Laura Antonelli and Jennifer O’Neill.
Luchino Visconti portrays a man who is incapable of accepting the freedom for women that he demands for himself. As soon as Giuliana allows herself to desire the same thing, everything Tullio considers modern or liberated becomes unbearable to him.
In 1976, L’Innocente (The Innocent) was met with a cool reception at Cannes. This year, it returns in a restored 4K version, remastered by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, in collaboration with MFE-MEDIAFOREUROPE N.V, RTI and StudioCanal.
L’Innocente (The Innocent) depicts men who are convinced that they are progressive, so long as the rules continue to work in their favor. Underneath the 19th-century costumes, the film (from 1976) is already exploring themes of ego, emotional possessiveness, and masculinity, themes that resonate with today’s struggles.
