Review of Senso (1954) by Walter M — 26 Sep 2012

"Senso" begins at the opera in Venice in 1866. During an intermission, a less than spontaneous demonstration breaks out in favor of Italian independence. Roberto Ussoni(Massimo Girotti) gets so carried away with exuberance that he challenges Franz Mahler(Farley Granger), a young Austrian officer, to a duel. Luckily for Roberto, his cousin Livia(Alida Valli) intercedes on his behalf, so he is only exiled for a year, like quite a few other of his comrades. But Livia's dealings with Franz do not end there, as her attraction grows despite the whole husband(Heinz Moog) thing.

"Senso" is a sexy, deeply resonant and moving melodrama that contains a lot of interesting history. With some smart thoughts on occupation, this story is set at a pivotal time and place and made not that long after World War II. That being said, this is not and was probably never intended to be an Italian "Gone with the Wind." By comparison, "Senso" is much more intimate than epic in its exploration of a torrid love affair where more than one taboo is broken and the participants lose track of everything going on around them. While I normally have no problem with this sort of behavior, here it is clear that everybody has to decide which side they are on.