L’INNOCENTE

Mutual infidelities and an unwelcome pregnancy disrupt the routines of a Roman bourgeois couple. Visconti’s final film, this melodrama shines for its flawless recreation of the era and the beauty of its lighting, sets, and costumes. But it is a film about humanity, its responsibilities, and its morality, set against the backdrop of the late 19th century: “Tullio and Giuliana belong to the Italian bourgeoisie responsible for the rise of fascism,” Visconti declared. “It is the story of the disintegration not only of a family, but also of a certain society and a certain Italy.”
Laura Antonelli, in her role as a woman trapped by marriage and its contradictions, by a passion that is now little more than a fantasized memory, is magnificent.