Luchino Visconti

From Page to Screen:
the Role of Literature in the Films of

Luchino Visconti
Lucia Di Rosa
A thesis submitted in confomity with the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.)
Graduate Department of ltalian Studies
University of Toronto
@ Copyright by Lucia Di Rosa 2001
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From Page to Screen: the Role of Literatuce in the Films af Luchino Vionti
By Lucia Di Rosa
Ph.D., 2001
Department of Mi an Studies
University of Toronto
Abstract
This dissertation focuses on the role that literature plays in the cinema of Luchino
Visconti. The Milanese director baseci nine of his fourteen feature films on literary works. As
such, a study of his cinerna provides ample opportunity to analyze the ways in which literature
can be used to create cinema.
I have developed the hypothesis that there can be different modes of cinematic
adaptation. 1 have termed these modes source. infience, and blueprint. I have selected three
films from Visconti's filmography to illustrate how each mode can be defined. Chapter 1
examines Visconti's second film, La terra trema (The b t h Trembles. 1948). This chapter
illustrates how a literary source can give a film a precise artistic, historical, and ideological
grounding; at the sarne time, the source's message can be rnoulded in order to modemize the
meaning of adaptation. I have labelleci this use of literature as "source." Chapter 2 examines
the 1954 film, Senso (The Wonton Countess). This chapter analyzes the way in which Visconti
em ploys speci fic literary and artisti c "influences" to advance his experiment with cinematic
neorealism in a unique way. Combining a critical rereading of history and the genre of
melodrama, Visconti heads in a new and controvenial direction with Senro. Finally, Chapter 3
examines il Gattopardo ( 7he Leopmd, 1963). This chapter presents a case in which Visconti
foilows a literary text very closely, to the point that one can speak of that text as a "bluepnnt-"
Based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's 1958 novel, the film aims to prove that similar
effects can be achieved in Iiterahire and in film despite the differences between the two media.
1 wish to thank the individuals who have aided me on the long joumey through the
writing of this dissertation. 1 extend my gratitude to my dissertation cornmittee, Rocco
Capoui. Luca Somigli, and Manuela Gien, for their valuable feedback. 1 would partcularly
like to acknowledge Professor Gi en for her pragmatism and for her dedication to this project.
She has been a tremendous guide and resource, and 1 am delighted to share t hi s milestone with
her. Many thanks also 30 to Emanuele Licastro and to Arnilcare Iannucci. who graciously
agreed to be a part of my commi ttee.
Next, 1 wish to thank Olga Pugliese and Guido Pugliese, who have offered me support,
encouragement, and friendship. as well as opportunities for study and work.
in conclusion, I wish to extend my gratitude to my family. In pa&ular, I wish to thank
Mridui Bama and Chandana Bamah for their encouragement and good wishes. Many, many
thanks to my husband, Rustom Barua, for things too numerous to mention, but mainly for his
infinite endurance and patience. Last but not least, 1 wish to thank my parents, Girolamo and
Maria, for everything that they have done. and for everything that they are. I thank them not
only for their support, but also for their tenacity, their conviction, and their strength.
iii
~NTROOUC~ON ESTABLISHINO f HE PARAMETERS: VISCONTI, NEOREAUSM, AND
LJTERATURE 6
0.1 A Critical Perspective 11
0.2 Literature and Cinerna: the Ties that Bind 15
0.3 The Use of Literature in Cinematic Neorealism 24
0.3.1 An Unexpected Combination 24
0.3.2 The Shift Towards Neorealism: a Rupture? 28
0.3.3 Literary Neorealism vs. Cinematic Neorealism 34
0.4 Visconti's Filmography 41
CHAPTER 1 LA TERRA TREMA 49
1 .l The Development of a Neorealist Sensibility 50
1.1.1 l talian Cinema from Fascism to Neorealism 51
1.1.2 Visconti's "Formative Yearsn 59
1.2 The Significance of Verga 64
1.2.1 Verga vs. Visconti 66
1.2.2 The Risorgimento vs. the Reconstruction 68
1.2.3 The Southem Question 70
1.2.4 Art as Experiment 72
1 -3 1 Malavoglia as Source: an Analysis 78
1.3.1 The "Visual" in Verga and Visconti 81
1 -3.2 Character 84
1.3.3 Language 86
1.4 Conclusion 91
2.1 Realism vs. Spectacle
2.2 Senso as Spectacle
2.3 Melodrama and Influence
2.3.1 Defining "Melodrama"
2.3.2 Melodrama and Visconti
2.3.3 Melodrama and Senso
Table of Contents v
2.4 Senso as tnffueme: an Analysis
2.4.1 Opera as Melodrarna
2.4.2 Il Trovatore
2.4.3 Giuseppe Verdi
2.4.4 Visual Arts
2.4.5 Literature
2.5 Conclusion
3.1 Blueprint = Adaptation?
3.2 On Adaptation
3.3 11 Gattopardo as Blueprint: an Analysis
3.3.1 Plot StfUdufe
3.3.2 The Depiction of Death
3.3.3 Narrative Strategies
3.3.4 A Textual Cornparison of the Bal1 Scene
3.4 Conclusion
C. 1 Other Areas for Study
C.2 How Can One Speak about 'Adaptationn?
Establishing the Parameters:
Visconti, Neorealism, and
Literature
Quando ebbe risolti alcuni dei suo problemi tecnici. il cinema,
da d ~ i ~ e n t c ~ r i o divenuto rocconto, comprese che alla
letteratura era Iegato il suo destino.
(De Santis and Alicata 62)
Neorealism constitutes ia vi a maestra of Italian film. [. . .] it is
the point of deparnire for ail serious postwar cinematic practice.
and [. . .] each director had to corne to tenns with it in some way
I- . .l
(Marcus, ItuIiun Fiirn xvi i)
Visconti is the on1 y filmmaker who has trul y succeeded in
perpeniting the literary tradition of the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries.
(Bacon 188)
Luchino Visconti, the Milanese filmmaker who hel ped to define post-World War II
Italian cinema is celebrated for his contributions to Itaiian neoredism. To be sure, while his
art stic contributions in the advancement of neorealkt ideals are noteworthy, there are other
associations that one can make when one thinks of Visconti and of his body of work. One can
think of him as one of the principal mteurs of Italian post-World-War II film. One can also
make a strong association between the works of Visconti and the world of literature. Of
Visconti's feahire films. a mere five, Bellissima (Bellissima, 1 95 1 ), hghe srelle d d brsa . . .
( M u , 1965), La c h t a degli &i (Ine Dmned, 1 %9), Lucibig (Lucibig, 1973), and
6
Establishing the Parameters: Visconti, Neorealism. and Literature 7
G n p p dijtmiglitz in m interno (Conveisatian Piece, 19743. do not have a primary witten
source. And, even among these, precise literary references and allusions can be uncovered
without too great an effort. As interesting as it may prove to discem and categorize the ongins
of the many literary references in Visconti's cinema, it is an exercise that has been attempted
and successfully executed by many critics. It is also an exercise that exhausts i tsel f quite
quickly; to know that Proust and Dostoevsky, for example. are influences on the directa is
important, but to limit oneself to uncovenng the precise reference points in which shades of
these two authors may be found in Visconti's body of work, is not productive nor original. It is
far more useful, rather, to approach Visconti's cinema wi th the intention of seeing the process
by which that which is "literary" is transfomeci into that which is "cinematic," and to evaluate
the ways in which as has been suggested that which in Visconti is "cinematic," can also be
termed "literary." Because a filmmaker's working process does not develop in a vacuum. it is
crucial to evaluate the histoncal, social. and aesthetic environment of the pend in which the
films were made, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the works in question.
1 would li ke to postdate that Visconti's cinema provides examples of a variety of
methods for adaptation. Specifically, I can identie three different modes of adaptation in
Visconti, which I would li ke to define as source, influence, and blueprint . l These three modes
constitute three different uses of literature in the process of creation of the cinematic text. I
will explore one of these modes in each chapter of the dissertation, using one of Visconti's
films to illustrate each mode. The modes can be best defined by describing the way in which
each is contextualized in the three chapters of this work. To begin with, Chapter I examines
an instance in which the director uses a distinct literary source to breathe life into his film and
'1 developed tbis idea of the three different uses of literahre in Visconti during a
meeting with Manuela Gieri. 1 wish to acknowledge her contribution hem.
Establishing the Parameters: Visconti, Neoreaiism, and Literature 8
to giue it a precise ariistic, historid, and ideologid grounding in so doing, he moulds the
source and changes it substantially in order to modernize the message of the original. Thus,
one witnesses the use of literature as "source." I shall use La tenu trema (The Earth Trembles,
1948) to examine this mode. Visconti's second feature film owes much to its Verghian source,
and the parailels between the two texts and between their larger contexts are examined in
Chapter 1. The ways in which Verga's 188 1 novel influenced cinematic neorealism are also
andyzed in this chapter, as are the principal aesthetic and social tenets that influenced Verga
and that manifest themselves in / Mafavogfia. In Chapter 2.1 will examine the way in which
t he director draws from his own literary encyclopedia2 to enrich his films with distinct,
literary "influences;" Senso ( me Wmton Cmntess, 1954) is the film that I will use to
illustrate this point. Based on Camillo Boito's 1883 novella, S mo combines an astounding
variety of influences from the worlds of literature, visual art, and opera. The film showaises
Visconti's penchant for the melodramatic, a theatrical f om which, not accidentally, has
historicaily borrowed from various genres and media, resul ting in a modem, eclectic genre.
Chapter 3 examines a case in which Visconti follows a literary text very closely, to the point
that one can speak of that text as a "blueprint:" II Gatiopmdo (The Leopad, 1963) will be the
focus of rny study here. My notion of blueprint cornes closest to the general, mainstream
notion of the term "adaptation,' in that it partially follows the assumption that a film director
consciously strives to be faithful to a source text that he has chosen, in some form or another.
The panuneters and limits for studying an adaptation in ciose relation to ia original fext are
7
-1 am using the term "encyclopaedia" in the way Umberto Eco uses it throughout The
Role of the Reaur (see Role 7, for example). Eco speaks about the notion of
encyclopaedia as a sort of personai, ailturai repertoire. Eco uses the term in reference
to the d e r of a text, not its creator, but 1 believe it is relevant to use it here, for
Visconti must be thought of as a reader of his source texts as well as a creator of new,
cinematic texts.
Establishing the Parameters: Visconti, Neorealism, and Literature 9
examinecl in Chapter 3. However, it rnust be clear thai generalky spealung, the notion of
fidelity i n adaptation is one that 1 wish to explore only in very specific, well-defined ways.
and only in my discussion of II Gattopardo. My analysis ofthe 1963 film will aim to show
that thematic, contextual, and even fornial elements of a narrative literary text can be
"translated" and depicted by the cinematic medium. 1 will demonstrate that conventions
unique to the cinematic medium cm be used as alternatives for literary techniques, and that,
when used skillfully, such conventions can be used to express a variety of elernents that exist
in a literary tem. Generally. however. it is my contention that an exploration of the fidelity of
an adaptation is quite limited, subjective. and also diminishes the value of the cinematic
medium itself. The notion that a cinematic adaptation can or should resemble closely the text
on which it is based, implies that the ultimate success of the film depends on its adherence to
the original. This implication is unappealing, for I maintain that as a medium, film is
autonomous, and does not need to rely on other media to give it meaning or value. My interest
in the influence of literature on film stems fiom the idea that learning about the source text
and about the prwess of adaptation can enrich one's expenence of a film. However, 1 in no
way wish to imply that a study of the literaaire on which any given film is based, is necessary
for an appreciation of that film. or, more to the point, for an aesthetic judgement to be made
about the film.
From the outset, it is important to acknowledge that different methods of employing
literature and literary references within cinerna are often interspened and used freely within
one film. In other words, I do not mean to suggest that the modes of adaptation identified hen
are explicitly adhered to by Visconti, n m that each film seems to manifest only one of the
defhed modes. Rather, the definitions of these modes have been developed as twls to aid in
Establishing the Parameten: Visconti, Neorealism, and Literahire 10
ihe identification of specific. rec~~nizable tendencies and techniques. The three films that L
have chosen seem to illustrate three different tendencies well, and 1 therefore believe that they
will be suitable for the type of analysis that 1 wish to undertake. Moreover. as a sort of "unit,"
these three films are matched well together for other reasons. For one thing, each one
represents a different phase in the director's career, having been made. respective1 y. in 1 948.
1954 and 1963. La ferra irema, Visconti's second film and the first piece covered in this study.
represents a time in the director's life when he was at his most political and experimental. It is
a key piece not only within the director's filmography but also in Italian post-war cinema, for
it stands as a watenhed within the spect m of attempts at neorealism. The chapter on La
terra nema will deive into the history of cinematic neorealism a littie more deepi y, and will
focus on the way that Verga and more specifically I Makntogla were used to take the
neorealist experiment into a very specific direction. Senso. the second film in this study. was
made in the mid-1950s. a time when the direztor had achieved rnaninty and success. and had
begun to experiment both with a more "theatrical" manifestation of cinematic expression. as
well as with literary influences that were not as ovedy poli tical or "neorealist" in any way.
but that served his politicai purposes well nonetheless. II Gattopardo. the final film in the
analysis, was made as Visconti was entering what couid be considered the final stage in his
career. It was produced when the director was at the peak of his success, and had flly
developed his critical and directorial skills. Finally, my choice of films stems from the faa
that there are certain crucial issues within the filmography of Visconti, that are prevalent in
these films. These issues can both help to showcase Visconti's aesthec and social
"priorities," so to sp& and can also provide a certain unity to my study. Thematically. these
include the issue of Itaiian history, with particular attention to Italian Ri s o ~me no and to the
pestione meridimade, the d l e "Southem question" Aesthetically, these films probe to a
greater or lesser degree the role of art in the representation oflife. Therefore, my choices
provide enough of a variety to help me to undentand Visconti's artistic sensibilities and yet
supply a certain degree of continuity or uni ty.
Several issues that are necessary to lay t he groundwork for this study will be discussed
in the remainder of the Introduction. These indude:
+ an elucidation on the issue of literature and film from a critical
perspective;
0 a survey of the history of the exchanges between literature and film,
specifically in Italy;
0 an examination of the rise of neorealism i n Italy. and of the
relationship b e ~ e e n literature and film dunng the years in which
cinematic neorealism was prevalent;
+ a review of the filmography of Luchino Visconti, and specifically
the positioning of the films in question within it.
0.1 A Critical Perspective
Al though the relationship between literanire and film has grown exaernel y complex
over the decades, the most consemative, mainmeam criticid discussions on this topic have
traditionally revolved around the notion of fidelity of the adaptation. The discussion of the
faithfulness of a film to its literary source has often taken centre-stage in discussions
regarding the relationship between literature and cinema. Hiaorically, it has not been
uncornmon for films that are based on literary works to be judged pnmarily on whether they
are "faithful" to their originals. In film criticism, however, many have acknowledged,
pardcularly in more recent times, that a study of adnpution based on fidelity critism is
unsati sfactory .
Fidelity criticism depends on a notion of the text as having and
rendering up to the (intelligent) reader a single, correct ' meaning'
which the film-maker has either adhered to or in some sense violated
or tarnpered with. [. . .] the fidelity approach seems a doomed
enterprise and fidelity criticism unillurninating. That is. the critic who
quibbles at failures of fidelity is really saying no more than: "This
reading of the original does not tally with mine in these and these
ways."
(McFarlane 8-9)
As previously stated, judging a film by comparing it to its literary source diminishes
the film and limits the appreciation that one can feel for it. I would argue that this type of
approach in judging a film is outdated and is a throwback to the very early days of cinema, to
a time in which critics, writea, and filmmakers scrarnbled to prove (or perhaps to disprove)
the artistic merit of film, for it calls into question the potentialities of the cinematic medium in
being able to express certain concepts. Moreover, in an age where the lines beween media are
increasingly blurred and genres contarninate each other constantly, it would seem that a more
"holistic" approach towards examining the complex relationship between literature and film
wouId be necessary.
Prior to focusing on the specific socio-historical context of my topic, that of Visconti
aiid the years in which he worked, it is necessary to examine the issue of literature and film
from a theoretical perspective. Many theories of literature and film have sought to define
Establ ishing the Parameters: Visconti, Neorealism , and Literature 1 3
critena for comparing the two media. In the introduction ta the colledion entitled Fz h and
Fiction. the DyMmcs of Exchange, Keith Cohen wurites:
50th words and images are sets of signs that belong to systems and
[...] at a certain levei of abstraction, these systems bear resemblances
to one another. More specifically, within each system there are rnany
different codes (perceptual referential, symbolic). What makes
possible, then, a study of the relation between two separate sign
systems, like novel and film, is the fact that the same codes may
reappear in more than one system.
(Cohen 3)
Cohen acknowledges that this last idea, Le., that the appearance of like codes in the
two different systems of signs rnakes possible a comparative study of film and fiction, comes
From Christian Metz's seminal work, Langage et cinma. And certain1 y, such a study shotdd
be possible. Bnan McFarlane, in discussing the issue of adaptation, concun that elements can
be ''transferred" successfully between one medium and another. He defines what he means by
"transfer" Le.. elements that can be reproduced "faithflly" in film. Elements that can be
msferred include: story (as opposed to plot); "distributional functions" (as defined by
Roland ~anhes'); characters' functions within a plot (as defined by Vladimir propp'); and
mythical and psychological motifs (as defined by Claude ~vi-~trauss'), (McFarlane 23-26).
On the other hanci. one element that cannot be n i n s f e d is the plot.
The plot component of narrative texts mu t be seen not as the
definitive component, but as one among rnany. In fiction we find
descriptive, imagistic, symbolic, rhythmic, and other components that
have little to do with plot construction; similarly, in film we find
See '7ntroduction to the Structurai Analysis of Narratives," in Barthes's lmoge -
MUSIC - Texr (79- 1 24).
' ~ e e Propp's seminal work, Morphology of the Folkaie.
'sec Sh-trcfura~ AnthropoIogy, pariidarly "The Structural Study of Myth" (206-3 1 ).
Establishing the Parameten: Visconti, Neorealism, and Merature 14
photographie montage. pra~emic, musical and other components
equally slighted by plot obsessiveness. In a given tex& any of these
components may have far greater aesthetic significance than the plot.
[. . . ] Novel / film relationships are wonh studying - as source
relations, as paralle1 cultural perspectives, as repositones of shared
codes containing simi lar structural elements and the Iike. Creative
filmmakers have made complex and satisfying films based upon good
novels and have certainly been helped in the process by the existence
of the novels. [. . .] But the films neither draw their aesthetic value
From the novels nor recreate them. any more than Verdi's Otelio draws
its aesthetic d u e from Shakespeare's play, or Shakespeare's play
draws its value from i ts source, Cinthio's Hecatomilhi. The filmmaker
creates a film using a number of elements present in the novel to form
an aesthetic constnict functioning in an essentiaily different way with
radicaily di fferent materials.
(Luhr 36)
The debate on whether or not a true adaptation is possible can be interesting, but it constitutes
only a small part of any discussion on the relationship between film and literature. in Chapter
3, Rcland Barthes's "Structurai Analysis of Narratives" will be used to concretize many of the
ideas reproduced here by McFariane, Luhr and othen, and will help to establish some
parameters for discussing a literary adaptation in this light. However, the influences of the
cultural and social milieu in which the source text was produced, as well as the context in
which the filmmaker lived and worked, dl contribute to shape the film derived from the
literary work. It is essentiai, therefore, to unravel the many sources and influences that the
cinematic text employs.
Establishing the Parameten: Visconti, Neorealism, and Literature 15
0.2 Literature and Cinema: the Ties that Bind
Since the advent of the medium of cinema, filmmakers have sought to produce films
with appealing, gripping content. Born at the end of the nineteenth century, the seemingly
rnagical medium captivated the imagination of creative people who wished to capture the
adventure and the d m a of life. Even pnor to the distinction of proper genres within the
medium. it became clear that the human propulsion to tell stones, to narrate, would dominate
in film. And, of course. the appeal of the narrative was not lost on early filmgoers, either.
Seeing newsreel-type footage may have thrilled audiencs, but it was their thint for the strong
story that aliowed film to becorne a dominant form of entertainment (and art).
By the time [ofj Edwin Porter's The Great Train Robbery ( 1 903). in
which scenes set in different locations are spliced together to tell a
story, the cinema's future as a narrative a was settied, and no
subsequent development of its techniques has threatened the
supremacy of that function.
(McFarlane 12)
Given that narrative film was so appealing even early on, it is not surpnsing that
filmmakers looked to literature for inspiration and for a starting point for their cinematic
As soon as the cinema began to see itself as a narrative entertainment,
the idea of ransacking the novel - that already established repository
of narrative fiction - for source matenal got underway, and the
process has continued more or less unabated for ninety years.
(McFarlane 6-7)
Even in the time of film's i nhcy, pioneers in the genre such as Georges Mlis used
narrative li terahire as a resource in their filmmaking. For example, Mlies's very earl y project,
Establishing aie Parameten: Visconti, Neorealism, and Literature 16
Le voyage dcmr la lune (A Trip ta he Mmn, 1902b was based on a Jules Verne stoq (Wagner
in Italy, the process of adapting narrative works into films was as popular as in other
countries, and, in fact it may be said that Italian cinerna relied on literature to define its
existence:
Tra il 1905 e il 1912 i l cinema itdiano, nato "ritardato" (e quicdi
constinilionalmente ipotonico), ci fa assistere a una massiccia
immissione di vitamine e proteine letterarie ne1 suo corpo. "In
principio fuit traductio": gi dai primi soggetti si assiste a un processo
di conversione, ridefinizione e riduzione di tutti i motivi della
memoria storica e letteraria, concepita corne un unico testo, un
giacimcnto aureo inestinguibile entro cui attingere a larghe mani sema
il minimo complesso di inferiona. L'epica, il romanzo. il teatro. la
poesia, la letteratura popolare, subiscono Io stesso trattamento. [. . .]
Nei primi anni il cinema italiano non introduce ne1 suo spazio visivo, e
ne1 suo elementare sistema combinatorio, alcun elemento nuovo: la
riduzione del testo ai suoi elementi minimali consente di fissare
ne11 'irnmaginazione del destinatario, O ripropom. in una variante
animata, immagini e stereotipi letterari noti. 1 momenti risultanti da
questa operaione sono quelli M, i gesti quelli codificati dalla
tradizione dei manual i ottocenteschi di recitazione teatrale e l i r i a.
(Brunetta, Cent 'ami 50-5 1)
In addition, not only was there an aspect of reliance on literature to create a film style and a
film language, but an idea aiso developed in ltaly arnong producen that the cinema could be
used as a vehicle for widening the public's cultural horizons (by introducing them to
literature) and as a method of exporting the national (literary) culture outside the country's
borders (Brunetta, Cent 'mi 5 1-52). What occurred, therefore, was a proliferation of
transformations from page to screen in the first deoides of the cinema in Italy:
Establishing the Parameters: Visconti, Neorealism, and Lierature 17
Tra 1'8 e il '23 si di t uui u cinque versioni dei Promessi s @ , nel
19 13 si realizza un'importatnte trascrizione del Pilgrim S Progress di
John Bunyan destinata soprattutto al mercato amencano. Ne1 1908 un
Rigoletto apre la strada a un filone ricchissimo di trascrizioni
cinematogratche di opere liriche. L'anno successivo entra in campo
Shakespeare. La Safi tenta di muoversi dai classici ai contemporanei.
da1 fadieton al libro di successo contemporaneo. Ne1 1909 la Safi.
o h a un contratto con D'Annunzio per la realiuazione di sei film
tratti dalle sue opere, realiva la prima versione dei Promessi Sposi e
una Sepolta vivo da1 romanzo omonimo di Mastriani. L'anno
successivo sar la volta di Xavier de Montpin, mentre tutte le case,
dalla Film d'arte alla Cines, saccheggeranno la storia, i l teatro, la
Bib bia, i Vangeli, la lettentura popolare, passando dalla Beutrice
Cenci di Francesca Venosta a Cyrano de Bergerac di Rostand. O a
Capitm Fracassa di Gauthier.
(Brunetta, Cent 'mni 52)
h the later part of this phase, most specifically in the decade following the end Worid
War 1, Italian cinema saw a p e r d of high production. but of relatively lowquality films.
While on the international scene, revolutionary figures nich as Lang, Pabst, Eisenstein,
Lubitsch, Bufiuel, and Vidor, were producing films that would becorne classics and shape the
direction of the medium, Itaiian audiences were being presented outlandish, improbable, and
melodrarnatic tales, many of them about nobles in dimess. The tag lines for some of these
films reveal much about this type of cinema: (Brunetta, Cenr 'anni 138-39): "Nel castello di
Corteille si agitano tragedie sentimentali, intrighi dovuti a lontani rancori," (from L 'mante
de& luna, ( n e M m Lover, Achille Consalvi, 1919)); "La principessa Dusnella di Belfiore
viene sorpresa, accanto a una polvenera nell'atto di dar fuoco a un potente esplosivo. Tutte le
apparenze sono contro di lei." ( h m A-to della morte, Amleto Palemi, 1920). As a final
example, Gian Piero Brunetta describes Augusto Genina's Principe &If 'imposibife ( n e
Prince of the I mp ~ ~ b I e , 1919) in the following way: "il principe di Avrezac [. . .] talmente
annoiato della propria v i q che decide di farsi passare per 1' assassino di un uomo ne1 cui
cadavere hainunpato per ca& (Buetta, Ce a 'unni L39). in what perhaps may be defined
as the first pend of "crisis" within the Italian cinema (one hesitates to utilize this somewhat
over-used term in the context of the 1talia.n national cinema), filmmakers could not manage to
keep up with the fierce international cornpetition:
I pionieri e i direttori artistici pi blasonati non awenono la necessit
di rinnovarsi, di esplorare nuove possibilit narrative e stilistiche.
Rispetto aile altre cinematogafie i l tempo del cinema italiano si cosi
mllentato da sembrare, nei primi anni venti, spinto solo da una
debolissima forza d'inerzia. Da un certo moment0 in poi i diversi
soggem in campo - registi, produttori, attori, cri tici e pubblico -
sono incapaci di comunicare tra loro.
(Brunetta, Cent 'anni 1 43)
Despite this period of struggle, however, Italian filmmaken managed to cling on to
one "lifeline" which helped them to produce films that banked on sources that had proven to
be successfiil: that lifeline was literature (drama included) (Brunetta, Cent 'mni 14247). The
tendency to mate Qnematic venions of successful texts, be these texts classics or pieces
taken from popular literature, continued to drive Qnematic production, and allowed producers
to leverage off the popuiarity or acclaim of the source works even during the film i nduw 's
rnost dificult times. Therefore, as the yean marched on and the F&st regime twk hold of
the coumry and of the film industry, the thk be!ween tit- and film did not weakm.
What did continue to weaken and decline throughout the 1920s, however, was the film
industry in general. By the time Mussolini focused on finding ways that he could use the
industry as a twl to depict his desired image of the country and to thereby spread propaganda
about his Party, the indu- was in a state of complete devastation.
At the beginning of the fascist era, the film industq was in disamayY
The development, in fact the rebuilding, of the Italian film industry
was a formidable task, as formidable as the problems of capitalization
and modemization in other sectors of the industry the regime
attempted to revamp.
(Landy, Fascism in Film 9)
This disarray was caused not only by a lack of creativity within the industry. but also by a lack
ofgood management on the production end, a lack of interest from foreign markets, and
devastating competi tion wi th Hollywood ci nema (Landy, Fascism in Film 9).
With the dawn of the t 930s. the intervention of the Fascist regime in the ltalian fiction
film industry gradually helped certain specific trends in Italian cinema to crystallize and
become well-defined. The power of the medium of film had been recognized by the regime in
the 1920s when they had founded the Istituto Luce in 1924 in order to produce domestic,
documentaiy -sty le newsreels, and to censor thei r foreign counterparts (Landy, Fmcism in
Film 10). However, for the most part, the powers-that-be had lefi the decaying commercial
film industry zlone for a few years following that. Then, in 193 1, the regime designed some
quotas to which cinema ownea had to adhere s mdy in order to help promote Italian films
(Landy, FaFcsm in Film 12). For example, among every ten films shown in theatres, one film
had to be an Italian production. There were also mia rules about the dubbing of foreign films:
no foreign reel could be show unless it had been translated into Italian. Throughout the fim
half of the decade, intervention increased, and in 1934, the regime appointed Luigi Freddi to
the role of director generai of cinematography (Landy, Fascism in Film 12). With this
appointment there began various project and initiatives to harness the potential of the industry
for the shaping of the public image of Italy and Italias, as well as for the h c i a l
advancernent of the
W~th ail the attention placed on film production in the latter half of the l93Os, the
industry saw a p e n d of great success and again, the use of literature continued to be evident.
It would not be appropriate to enter into a discussion of Italian film trends under Fascism in
great detail at this point, for this topic is covered in Chapter 1. However, it would be useful to
point out that the relationship between liteniture and film continued to thrive even as stria
guidelines and restrictions were placed on the film industq. For example, Luigi Freddi (32 1 -
24) lias ail of the films produced by the Cines production Company, either on its own or in
conjunction with Universalcine, and he makes as his first observation regarding the
productions: "Dodici soggetti sono stati da opere letterarie di scritiori corne Grazia Deledda,
Matilde Serao, Luigi Capuana, Aldo Palaueschi, Emilio De Marchi, Maurice Dekobra,
Joseph Conrad, Umberto Notari, Luigi Pirandello, Onorato di Balzac, Ivan Turghenieff,"
(324) with fifieen works based on plays by authors such as Pirandello, d'Annunzio, and
Goldoni, and only twenty-two works based on original screenplays.
There were probabl y several reasons for the proliferation of cinematic adaptations
durinp this period of Italian history. Some of these reasons were undoubtedly politicai.
V&rious critics have pointed out that the interest of the Fascist regime in the popular
cinmia was only in part political, and that in many ways, the attention that it placed on
the industry was rooted in an awareness that commercial cinema could be a highiy
lucrative venture. For additional information on this topic, see especially Marcia
Landy, Fc2sc.m m Film, and Silvio Guarnieri, "Cinema e letteratura: dal fascismo al
dopoguerra."
Consider the stance taken by Vittorio Mussolini towards the potential of the cinematic
medium in Itaiy:
Non un segreto per nessuno che le comparse dei nostri film spesso
sono scelte troppo a caso e con una indulgenza che p i va a detrimento
del film stesso. Cio che non awiene mai O quasi mai, invece. nella
cinematografia amencana, espertissima nella cura dei particolari corne
nella scelta delle figure. Tanto che si puo ben dire che la loro
propaganda razziale gli americani I'abbiano gia fatta e si sia imposta
ne1 mondo da lungo tempo. Togliere quelle figure che riescono
sgradevoli alIo sguardo, quando proprio non siano indispensabii i alla
trama; cercarne i nvece di piacevoli. di belle senz'altro, che destino
nello spettatore un certo orgoglio di sentini pane di un popolo corne il
nostro, oltre a quel diletto che sempre accompagna la vista d'una bella
fisionomia O di un bel corpo umano. Questo ci0 che occorre
perseguire i ~ a n z i tutto nella realizzazione di un film che voglia dirsi
tipicamente italiano, fmtto di una civilta e di una cultura che il
fascismo ha oggi definito nei suai termini pi distinti, naturali e
concreti.
(Mussolini 33)
Given the Fascist insistence on the depiaion of the bourgeois class and on the positive,
giarnourous, (and constructeci) aspects of society, it became common for filmmakers to make
use of elaborate, welldeveloped novels as matenai for their screenplays. Among the many
examples of successfid adaptations produced under the Fasas regime one can include Mario
Soldati 's Piccolo m d o mtco ( The Little World of the Paf , 1 940) and Malombra
(Malombra, 1 942) (based on works b y Antonio Fogazzaro); Renato Castellani's Un colpo di
pstola ( A Pi& S M , 194 1 ) (based on an Aiexander Pushkin shon story ); Luigi Chiari ni's Ha
delle cinqire lune (Fiw M m Street, 1942) (based on a work by Matilde Serao); Alberto
Lattuada's Giucomo I 'iukallita (Giacomo the Ideaiist, 1 942) (based on the Emilio De Marchi
novel); Ferdinand0 Maria Poggioli's Addio giovineza (Fmovell. Ymth, 1940) (based on a
work by Ni o xilia and Sandro Camasio); and many other films of the eariy 1940s. Such
calligraphie nIms were We d y suited to the reigning ideoiogy of the time hey wiited the
aesthetic that Fascisu insi sted upon throughout their reign.
hot her reason for the prominence of cinematic adaptations in these yean may corne
from the perceived 1 ink beween the two media on behalf of li terary cri tics and litterati, who
were arguably finding it difficult to justiQ the rise of the cinematic medium. Feeling
marginal ized, some literary figures spoke out in defense of the writer. clairning that he must
take a central role in the production of cinematic works if the indu- really wanted the
medium to succeed. For example, writing a piece entided "Posto agli scntton*' in Lo schermo
in 1937, Lucio D'Ambra calls for writers to get involved in the cinema in order to improve the
quality of films produced. He States that film and literature are cons~ct ed in a similar
fashion. and that therefore writers should become more involved in the production of films:
Poich la cinematorna racconto che si moige attraverso a una
concatenata serie d'episodi e di scene sembrerebbe - e all'estero cosi
sernbra per 10 piu, - che romanzieri e autori drammatici dovrebbero
essere chiamati a irnrnaginare coi loro estri pi vivi e pic liberi le
favole, le vicende e le passioni di quei racconti sceneggiati.
(D' Ambra 30-3 1)
D'Ambra also makes the assertion that many of the most popuiar films ever made were
titerary adaptations ma t teast were successfnt chre to the imokment of Imerm in the
production of the films.
Se ci si volge a guardarsi indietro negli anni si vedr che tuttavia i fi lm
di cui serbiamo ancora pi degna memoria del nostro spinto frono
tutti -a cominciare dalla mirabile Cubiria di Gabriele d'Annunzio e
sino alla recente CavalIeriu di Salvator Gotta -opera di scrittori.
(D'Ambra 30)
Estzblishing the Parameten: Visconti, Neorealism, and Literature 23
D' Ambra m o t but conclude t h e t e r s ~ U M becorne more invdved in filmmakinq in
order tq help raise the artistic quality of cinema:
E quando finalmente gii scrinori italiani non saranno pi ai margini di
quest' arte nuova, ma, artisti e artigiani contempomeamente, ne
avranno il pieno e liber0 cornando, i nostri autori dovranno,
ri suscitando le grandi figure del1 a noria italiana, creare 1 ' atmosfera
eroica dei nostri schermi e sempre pi insegnare al pop010 di
Mussolini, le virt civili della gente nostra attraverso i secoli e per i
secoii venturi.
( D' hbr a 3 1)
D' Ambra's words hint at the underlying insecurity that uniters may have felt at having to
compete with filmmakers for the attention of consumen, and his stance indicates both a desire
to re-establish the eminence of the written word as well as a quest to undermine the
legitimacy of the relatively new medium.
Leaving aside the political and artistic reasons for the fortification of the link between
Iiterature and film during the age of Fascism, it is worth considering that some of the reasons
for the success of literary adaptations during this period were purely economic. It has been
noted that reading had never been as popular in Italy as it was during the period between
World War 1 and World War II. Giuseppe Petronio observes:
Quel fenomeno che si detto "allargarsi della base sociale" provoca.
naturalmente, uno spostamento dell'interesse dei lettori (dei letton
comuni, non 'letterati') dalla linca alla narrativa, in quanto nella lirica
Io scrittore, per ragioni i ntrinseche al "generen, esprime sentimenti,
affetti, moti individudi, che possono anche assumere una
significazione universale e diventare merafora del sentiment0 e del
destin0 di tutti, ma a patto di passare per una elaborazione formale che
il lettore cornune difficilmente in grado di aEerrare e gustare.
(813)
Establishing the Parameten: Visconti. Neorealism, and Literature 24
Conceiving of the film industry as a money-making venture, the individuals driving
the Fascist propaganda machine likely wished to capitalire on the expanding base of readers
on Italian territory Unquestionably, basing a film on an already-successful literary work could
help to ensure the success of that film. This highly commercial motivation for creating
adaptations has. and continues to be, highly prevaient in the film industry, and surely it must
not have escaped those in power dunng the Fascist regime.
0.3 The Use of Literature in Cinematic Neorealism
0.3.1 An Unexpected Combination
In tracing the dcvelopment of the complex relationship between literature and film in
the yean leading up to the pend in which cinematic neorealisrn deveioped and flourished. 1
will survey a longer period of time than is generally examined in traditional histones of
neorealism: the early 1930s to the d y 1950s. Indeed, 1 f el it is important to examine the
decade leading up to the Resistance, as well as the decade following the Resistance. for
several reasons. First ofT, because this period was a formative one for Visconti and for Italian
cinema in general, a survey of the activities of these years can provide insight into the
director's filmmaking process and into the foundation of modem Italian Qnema as a whole.
Sucb a survey will also ailow for the consideration of a reality that was not acknowledged in
film history books for a very long time: that the rwts of neorealism took hold well within the
e n of Fascism. The complex, sweeping changes seen throughout Itdy and the rest of Europe
in the span of these two decades enriched the expenence of authon, filmmaken, and artists in
general; it left an indelible mark that moulded their ideas and influenced their work for yean
to corne. Visconti was not an exception to this rule, and it is therefore important to understand
some of the key trends tha influenced the directof's fmati on during the first part of hi s
career. The nchness and cornplexity of experiences that Visconti had in these decades were
surely instrumental in the development of the artistic sensibility that motivated hirn to make
specific choices in filmmaking, some of which will be discussed throughout this dissertation.
in order to unravel the complex evolution of cinematic neorealisrn and the role that
literature played within iq 1 wish to fast fornard in tirne, so to speak, to a point when
neorealist techniques had becorne prevaient within a certain sphere of cinema in Itaiy, and
ideas on neorealism had already matured. In a now famous 1950 interview given to Elio Petri
and entitled "Basta coi soggetti." Cesare Zavattini spoke on the subject:
Dicevo che la letteratura e tanto pi avanti del cinema E la ragione ,
a mio awiso, che il cinema veramente un rapporto dell'occhio con le
cose viste. Perch I'imrnaginazione e I'occhio sono proprio la chiave
del meuo tecnico. La macchina quindi non fotografa, non deve
fotografre ci0 che ab biamo pensato, ma fotografare cio che pensiamo
nell'atto stesso in cui vediamo. quindi un modo di seMrci di un
meno ben differente dalla letterahira, e che ha dei punti di contatto
con la pimira, propno per questo rapporto assoluto tra l'oggetto e la
sua espressione. Quando dico "Basta con i soggeni" perch con
I'inventare una aoria mi pare di tradire questa immediateaa e
fieschezza della rnacchina da presa alla quale si domanda cosi
un'opera di traduzione e non un'opera di coesione: m il momento del
pensiero e il momento in cui la macchina realiaa questo pensiero ci
corre troppo tempo amiaimente.
(71)
Zavattini States, hrthermore:
Corne ai barnbini ai primi passi si da una spinta perch imparino a
camminare, wsi bisogna buttare oggi i giovani con una macchina da
presa in meno alle sirade, in mezo alle cose. Qued giovani, quindi,
devono essere butati in meao alla realt senza soggetti predisposti O
concetti stessi della realt.
Establishing the Parameten: Visconti, Neorealism, ana Literature 26
E logico che il contano con la v i a impressioner in maniera diversa
questi giovani, perch i loro caratteri sono differenti fra loro.
Ma si tratta di far combaciare questo carattere, questo nostro essere,
con questa realt e non con il pensiero della realta. La rnacchina da
presa deve essere data in mano ai giovani: la macchina da pr ea non
un soggetto. E questi, appena usciti di casa, dovranno riportare ci6 che
essi vedono, le cose che piu li colpiscono.
E chi riprender degli uomini, chi solamente delle fineme, chi volgera
la macchina sopra se stesso. Perche le cosa da raccontare in soggetti
sono tante, ma sono infinite le cose che vediamo. ceno una
contemplazione di questa realtii che giunge a rendere tutto veramente
possibile al cinema.
(72)
Although filmrnaken contemporary to Zavattini who were interested in neorealism
each had unique ideas on styie, technique, rhythm, etc., the motivation behind Zavattini's
sentiments had been embraced by many of those directors in one fom or another by the time
of this now-famous interview. The expression of the spontaneous somehow seemed to
indicate a sort of authentzcity that was important for such directors to recreate.
Dovrebbe essere propria del cinema, poich pi di ogni altra quest 'arte
parla nello stesso mornento a tutti i nostri sensi, la preoccupazione di
una autenticiti, sia pure fantastica, dei gesti, del clima, in una parla dei
fattori che debbono s e ~ r e ad esprimere tutto il mondo ne1 quaIe gii
uomini vivono.
(De Santis, 199)
It is useful to consider how this quest for authenticity brought together a diverse group
of filmrnaken to a degree that they codd ail be categorized as ''ne~realists.~' Generally
speaking, the group of directon who =ove to create a new brand of cinema by experimenting
with neorealism were quite different one from the other. However, if one had to descnbe
some of the similadies among hem, it would be by citing the most basic, rnainstream
definitons of neorealism In gener* directors experimenting with neorealism went to
painstaking lengths to represent and 1 or reconsmict "reality." This attempt was seen both in
their technique and in the content of the films they developed. As far as technique was
concemed, they attempted to give their films a gritty, documentary-like feel. Many refused to
use well-known actors, opting instead to give unknown, non-professionals principal roles.
Many rejected the use of arti ficial sets and lighting prefemng the "natural" look of authentic
locations and outdoor lighting. Several directors also preferred the use of dialect to that of
standard Italian, and encouraged their actors to improvise their lines (Visconti himself. of
course, explored this technique to its maximum in La terra fiemu). As far as subject matter
was concemed, directors commonly chose stories about mata or individuds in Society that
had not traditionally been depicted in the cinema, parcularly during the years of Fascist
domination of the country and of the cinematic medium. Directors stayed away from tales of
the bourgeois, middle and upper class, believing these to be contnved and uncharacteristic of
mon of the populace. These very basic tenets of neorealism indicate that as a trend,
neorealism had as its fint priority the rejection of the constructed.' Given this propensity for
refusing to depict anything "arti ficial," it would seem that a complete rejection of the notion
of the process of literary adaptation should have occurred during neorealism. Writing on this
subject, Vito Attolini States: "Nessun tipo di cinema pi del neorealismo appare all'esterno
cosi refiattario a qualsiasi influenza letteraria, al punto da far pensare ad un insanabile
divomo fra film e romanzo," (Da1 romamo of set 85). And yet, such a ruphire did not OCCU.
' 1 do not mean to imply that the production of films that have been classifieci as
neoreaiist did not involve artifice. Neoredi st directors went to great lengths to
constnict their scenes; indeed, some directors, such as Vittorio De Sica, were
meticulous and spent a great deal of tirne assembling single shots. However, the point
being made here is that in generai, neorealist directors stmve for the semblance of
"reality" or "authenticityn in their films.
Although one would think thet the use of literature would be in contradiction with the
neorealist aesthetic, in reality, substantial use was made of literary texts in films produced
between the eady 1940s to mid-1950s. films that in one way or another have been defined as
"neorealist." In fact as is evident i n the case of I d ferra trema. in some instances, the choice
of literary text even contnbuted to the refinement of a neorealist style. to the point that some
cntics. such as Guido Aristarco, have seen as the ultimate example of neoreaiism, and as part
of a development towards cinematic redism. The debates surrounding the issue of neoreaiism
and realism and Visconti will be presented in Chapten 1 and 2.
0.3.2 The Shift Towards Neorealism: a Ruptum?
in its mandate to maintain the status quo. the Fascist regime had heartily endoned the
creation of elaborate film projects that would keep the movie-going public daydreaming about
the romance and mystery stones similar to those that they were reading. Because of the appeal
of the "good story." it was essential that a film maintain the same qualities as the successful
novel that had inspired it. Vito Attolini obsenres of the state of literary adaptation during the
Fascist era:
La traducibilit della pagina sullo schermo si nsolve in termini di
meccanismo narrative di stantpo aadinonale e. quel che pii, conta, i
punti di riferimento letterari sono funDondi a tali obbiettivi.
(Da1 roman=o al set 3 5 )
If the Fascist regime had an influence on the way in which Iiteranire was employed in
filmmaking, it would be worth exarnining how the end of Fascism affected the creative
process in the arts. and in particular, in the way filmmakers adapted literary texts. This is a
complex issue and one whose answer may not be obvious. h e end of the Fascist regime in
Establishing the Parameters: Visconti, Neorealism, and Literature
29
--
1943 facilitated the development of innovative ideas for intellecaials and artists, ideas that had
been suppressed for years. Experiments with neorealist techniques in film and narrative led to
declarations on the part of critics of a total upheaval. a revolution in art. Although the
revolutionary aspect of neorealism is undeniable, it is also indisputable that certatn things did
not change. The individuals who became prominent in the mid- 1940s for their innovations i n
literature and in cinem4 had aiso lived and worked dunng the age of Fascism, and it is
therefore irnprecise to think that a total rupture in thought occurred with the end of the Fascist
regime in 1943. For one thing, it is indisputable that many neorealist authon had been formed
under Fascism and had therefore the impnnt of "decadentismo," or had had brushes with
Fascism, even if they wanted to distance themselves from that fact; Giuseppe Petronio sees
Vittonni, Pratolini, and Bilenchi, arnong othen, as falling under this category (862-63). In the
redm of cinema, the aesthetic and social ideals associated with neorealism, which became
widespread after the fa11 of Fascism. were indeed expressed dunng the pe nd of even the
strictest censonhip, and undoubtedly influenced the intellectuals of the time. Notice, for
exarnple, the cry for simplicity made by Leo Longanesi in 193 3 in the journal L 'itdimo:
Non credo che in Itaiia occorra servini di scenografi per costmire un
film. Noi dowemmo mettere assieme pellicole quanto mai semplici e
povere nella messinxena, peliicole senni artifiri, @rate quanto pi si
puo da1 vero.
E appunto la verhi che fa difetto nei nostri film. Bisogna gettarsi alla
mada portare le macchine da presa nelle vie, nei cortili. nelle
casenne, nelle stazioni. [. . .] La vita di una m d a dawero
sorprendente! Meraviglia come tutto posa muoveni tanto
nauralmente, in un'armonia cosi disordi na@ si assiste ad una
rappresentazione di cui non si conosce la trama. 1. . .] Una donna che
passa in fretta e scompare dietro una c a r r o ~ a diventa a volte
un'apparizione straordinaria, di una verit insospettata. Accade cosi di
scoprire durante brevi attimi una realt diversa dail'ordinario. pi
profonda e nena, che non sapremo pi evocare. [. . .] Un film italiano,
andrebbe concepito e cosmiito in quesu> seaso. Non si tratterebbe di
semplici documentari, ma di trasportare sullo schermo certi aspetti
della realta bianca che sfugge al passante, e domina in ogni ora la vita
degii uomini e delle cose.
( 110
Consider another example: here, Tull io Cianetti makes a strong anti-bourgeoi s statement on
the pages of Cirtema in 1 93 6:
Se si wole non tanto attirare il popoio agli spettacoli (ch la corrente
dei fedeli al cinema ha bisogno di pochi incoraggiarnenti), ma
impadronirsi della sua anima, bisogna liberarlo dall'etema visione
borghese e piccolo-borghese che imperversa sugli schermi .
Non si puo giurare dawero che il mondo dei frak e delle capigliature
al platino siano tutto un mondo; ma i sentimenti che suscita il cinema
non restano al di qua e al di I della ribalta: essi prendono interamente
possesso del pubblico. TU^ si mettono in frak e rutte posseggono
chiome platinate. E dopo, una delusione che scava solchi profondi
non solo con I'invidia verso una societ irraggiungibile, ma con
I'umiliazione di sentirsi dei riformati della vita, la quale si svolge
soltanto in un dato ambiente: mste O lieto che sia. [. . .]
Preferiarno restare ottimisti suil ' evoluzione antitradizionalista e
antiborghese del cinema. Bisogna immettere, senui esagerazioni e
sema programmi prestabiliti, altri temi di vita in quelli connieti e
preferi ti per abitudine.
(27)
m e r ideas bat would become embraceci by neordists were SUrfacing more and
more as the 1930s came to an end and as Fascism marched towards its demise. Consider the
following excerpt from an essay entitled "Aria ai soggem," which was signed "Scaramuccia"
but was eventually amibuted to Gianni Riccini . The piece was published in Cinema in 1 942:
La vita, purtroppo. non solamente la storiella sentimentale di Titina e
di Giorgeto che altemativamente si fanno i dispetti e si sbaciucchiano
per duemila meai di pellicola, per finire immancabilmente a farsi
suonare la marcia nuiale! La vita una cosa maledettarnente seria, un
Estabiishing the Parameten: Visconti, Neorealism, and Literature
31
arcobaleno dove i coiori aipi sono in prevalerug un h t t o agrodolce
dove l'amaro, il pi delle volte, ha il sopniwento d a parte
mccherata. E gii uomini. anche gli italiani, non sono stinchi di Santo.
E le donne non sono tutte fiori di virt. [. . .] Non , riteniamo, enorme
i l pensare che, se esistono agenti investigativi e tribundi, qualche
Tkio con la fedina pende poco pulita dovrebbe pure esserci; e che
qualche signora che fa uno strappo alla fede coniugale, ancora c'.
[. . .] Non si domanda I'esaltazione dei delitto e tanto meno che il
cinema si metta a fare I'apologia del reato. Ma togiiersi un poco dal
clima e da1 tema obbligato della bont a tutti i costi. entrare qualche
volta con la macchina da presa, corne con un bishiri, ne1 vivo di una
piaga, prendere a tema la cupezza di m'anima, il dolore di una
tragedia, I'angoscia di una perdizione, I'urlo di una disperazione, non
gi per fame un modo esemplare di vita, ma per poter raggiungere,
attraveno una strada irta di spine, la bellezza di un'opera d'arte;
questo, crediamo. dovrebbe essere possibile.
(Scaramuccia 39)
Aside From expressing clear anti-bourgeois sentiments, these pieces al1 seem to
prefigure the ideas that prominent neoreali a fil mmakers, partinilari y Cesare Zavattini in the
abovequoted "Basta con i soggem," would make yean afterwards in total freedom, outside of
the shadow of Fascism. What al1 of these quotations hopefully illustrate is that there was some
kind of continuity of thought as Italy made its swift and bloody transition away From Fascism
to a fieer, more democratic society. The rich tradition of exchanges beween literature and
film that had developed over the decades. therefore, was not denied or forgotten even dunng
the time of radical change rnarked by revohtionary events such as the Resistance. Momver,
the anti-Fascist ideas that one tends to associate more closely with the latter hdf of World War
II, with the Resistance, and moa notably with the period directly following the end of the war.
were in existence and were voiced publicly even during the times of strictest censorship. This
fact indiates that a certain contsnuity of thought did exist euen throughout the most turbulent
historical periods.
What changed in the arts during this pend, therefore, was not so much the way of
thinking, but the context in which one could think. The quotation that follows deals more
specifically with literary figures, but is tme of other arts, as well:
No. ne1 secondo dopoguerm non c' una cesura netta rispetto al
passato. Non c' nessun "nuovo" virgineo che esploda chiss dove,
tutr 'altri uomini, ma'aiai arnbienti, tutt'altri gmppi culturali rispetto
agli anni Trenta. C' una storia precedente che continua, [. . .]
(Mughini, screen 1)
in cinematic adaptations, the change that occurred was in the mutment of the primary source
material. Politically-rnotivated tilrnmakea rejected the idea of meticulously reconstmcting
decadent and escapist aores, and opted for the selection of source texts that would allow for a
realist interpretation and reconstruction that would bestow on their work a quality that c m be
referred to as "l iterary." The key change, or shift, did not occur because, as Zavattini insisted,
literature ought to be rejected in order to create an authentic brand of cinema.
bene chiarire subito che propiio per la sua natura rigorosamente
narrativa fii nella tradizione reaiistica che il cinema trovo la strada
migliore: visto che il redismo, non corne passivo ossequio ad una
statica venta obbiettiva, ma corne forza creatrice, nella fantasia, d'una
"storia" di eventi e di penone, la vera ed etema misura di ogni
espressione nmtiva.
@e Santis and AIicata 62)
ui their watenhed essay, "Verit e poesia: Verga e il cinema italiano" ( 1 941), Giuseppe De
Santis and Mario Micata made several astute observations on the topic being discussed here.
These observations are crucial for an understanding of the cinematic production that accurred
in Italy following World War II:
Resta dunque evidente che quando il cinema comincia a costruire i
suoi primi penonaggi e a veder nsolversi l'anima degli uomini nei
suoi concem rapporti con un ambiente, esso subisce necessariamente
il fascino del realismo europeo dell*Ottocento che da Flaubert a
Cecov. da Maupassant a Verga da Dickens a Ibsen. sembrava
consegnare una perfetta si ntassi psicol ogica e sentimentale e i nsieme
una poetica immagine della societ ad essa contemporanea.
(De Santis and Aiicata 62)
I will retum to De Santis's and Alicata's ideas on Verga and the cinema in my discussion of La
terra trema in Chapter 1. For the moment, however, 1 wish to extract from their words the
notion that film was influenced by realist literature dunng the 1940s because it followed the
same path that realist literature followed in the nineteenth cenniry, during a time when society
was in a state of development similar to that of the period following World War II. in other
words, the social and political context in which neorealist cinema was bom. was similar to
that in which realist literature flourished in the nineteenth century. These sirnilarities in
context resulted i n a keen interest on the part of neorealist artias (filmmakers. authors, as well
as individuals involved in other arts) in the literature of the nineteenth century, and
specifidly in Verga. Deating with Verga's inffumce on film, De Samis and Alicata M e :
Giovanni Verga non ha solamente creato una grande opera di poesia,
ma ha creato un paese, un tempo* una societ: a noi che crediamo
nell'arte specialrnente in quanto creaaice di verit, la Sicilia omenca e
leggendaria dei MaimogIiai [. . .] ci sembra nello aesso tempo offrire
l'ambiente pi solido e umano, pi miracolosamente vergine e vero,
che posa ispi rare la fmtasia di un ci nema il quale cerchi cose e fatti in
un tempo e in uno spazio di realt, per riscattarsi dai facili
suggerimenti di un mortificato p s t 0 borghese.
(De Santis and Alicata 65)
Establishing the Parameten: Visconti. Neorealism, and Literature 34
The common points beween the Society that inspired Verga and that which fostered a spirit of
change in the 1930s and 40s are important to examine. It is because of the similarities between
the two eras that intellectuals such as De Santis and Alicata, Visconti. and others developed an
interest in the literature of Verga's time. This interest lay both in the forms developed in the
Iiterature, as well as in the content; in the subject matter as well as in the expression. It will be
the aim of Chapter I to analyze the connections between the two time pends and the artistic
trends that developed within them. when 1 examine La terra trema. a film that was created
dunng neorealism's peak period.
0.3.3 Literary NeoreaIism vs. Cinematic NeomaIism
To round out the discussion of neordism. 1 wish to look briefly at the influence of
literary neorealism on film. Like its cinematic counterpart, litenvy neorealism was not a
uni form trend. The many writers who have been labelled as "neorealist" manifested a very
diverse set of interests. prionties. and sensibilities. Speaking with Cario Bo on this subject,
Elio Vittonni States:
Si, possiarno parlare di neoredisrno anche per la nostra letteratura ma
non nello stesso senso in cui possiamo pariame, ad esempio, per il
nostro cinematografo. In questo campo I'espressione ha un valore
cri tico decisivo die definisce qualit e difei, aspirarioni e
atteggiamenti comuni a tutti i nostri registi. Usata invece in letteranira
non definisce niente d'intrinseco che sia comune a tutti i nostri
wi t t ori O anche solo a una parte di essi. Se tu dici che Moravia un
neorealista tu non dici nuIla di criticamente essemiale su queilo che
Moravia. E cosi se tu dici che Alvaro un neorealista, che Brancati
un neoredista, che Piovene un neorealista, che Pratolini e un
neorealista, che Pavese un neorealista e via di seguito, tu non dici
nulla di cri ticamente essenziale su que110 che Pavese e su quel lo c he
Brancati, su quello che e Alvaro, su quello che Piovene, su quello
che Pratolini e via continuando. Tu non indichi un modo di vedere e
giudicare la realt che essi abbiano in comune e tanto meno un modo
comune di concentraria. Via via che dici la parola tu la devi riempire
di un signifiato speciale. In wstanza tu hai tanti neoredismi quanti
sono i principaii narratori mentre I'inclinazione innegabile dei pi
Qiovani a farne una cosa d a non ha ancora dato fmtti tali da
permetterci di considerare l'opera dei primi alla luce di quella dei
secondi.
(BO 27-28)
According to Vittorini, it would seem that the common characteristics of literary neorealism
are difficult to list. However. a surnmary of the tendencies and trends of neoreaiism's main
protagonists can shed some light on the general characteristics of literary neorealisrn. To begin
with, it is safe to state that narrative was the most common of literary genres used in
neorealism. Because of its aims, Le., to represent the people and to be accessible to people,
neorealism "opero soprattutto nella narrabva: il genere, ancora una volta, accessi bi le a un
pubblico largo, disponibile a una scrittura distesa, e vi si incontrarono, intrecciarono,
accavallarono uomini ed esperienze diverse." (Petronio 863)! Some authors, Pratolini,
Vittorini, Bilenchi, had qmpathized with Fascism. Others, such as Pavese and Levi. had been
vocal anti-Fascists, and had even suffered punishment because of their beliefs. Still othen,
like Moravia and lovine, were completely uninvolved in politics. As for the focus of their
work, many of these authors, Vittorini and Pratolini included, made it a priority to depia the
lower classes, even though many were from bourgeoi S. middle-class fami l ies (Petronio 863).
Some drew inspiration from the styles and themes of contemporary Amencan reaiism (Asor
Literary histonans Alberto Asor Rosa and Giuseppe Petronio point out that
neorealism was evident in other genres, as weil, but that its influence was li rnited.
They both indicate that Eduardo De Filippo was almost single-handedly responsible
for bringing neorealism to the theatre (Asor Rosa, Storia 623-24, Petronio 859).
Petronio points out that some poets could be loosely categorized as neorealist: Saba,
Govoni, Ungaretti, Montale, Sereni, Quasimodo, Gatto, Foriini (Petronio 859). but he
admits that the link between neoreaiism and poetry is tenuous. Perhaps it is not until
years later, with the poet q of ariists such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, that one may speak of
the influence of neorealisrn in poetry.
European realism of the nineteenth century. Some focused on northern My. while many
focused on the issues of the Me:=ogzorno, the Italian South. Some, pamcularly in the 1950s
and even beyond were interested i n depicting World War II and its aftemath (Moravia, Primo
Levi, Vittorini).
Thus, neorealist authon were a diverse a group, not unlike their cinematic
counterparts. Their works also shared a very similar spirit with neorealist films. A crucial
common point between the literature and the cinema of post-war Italy, for instance, can be
idemtified in the political and social motivation for change.
Il clima lettefario dedi anni immediatamente successivi alla guerra
(ma almeno fino alla met degli anni '50) tutto dominato
dall'esigenza di dare una forma concreta e soddisfacente alla missione
sociale e civile del letterato. Siarno quindi agli antipodi del clima
dominante (pi O meno per libera scelta, pi6 O meno per necessita) ne1
corso degli anni '3 0. La polemica contro il 'disirnpegno'
del1 'intellettuale e contro I "autonornia' dell'arte divampa
violentissima, ed investe anche le autorit pi costituite: da Benedetto
Croce agli 'ermetici', per intenderci, tutto un settore della cultura
italiana del Novecento che in questo modo viene rifiutato. Da questo
punto di vista, il trauma della guerra e della Resistenza awertito in
maniera molto forte, e grande il convincimento (O I'illusione) che le
cose, anche in letteratura, debbano carnbiare molto.
(Asor Rosa, Storia 6 17)
While it is definitely m e that the Resistance and the fall of Fascism were catalysts in
ailowing for freedom of expression on the part of anti-Fascia innovaton in ail of the arts, it is
also me7 as 1 stated above when dealing with the cinema, that so-called "neorealist" ideas
were expressed even during the age of Fascism. Many Italian authors who have traditionally
been linked to neorealism, such as Moravia (with Gli indiffenvzfi, (1929)). Vittorini (with
Kuggio in Wegrzu (1936) and Coltversazrione in Sicilia. parts of which were published in
Pavese (Parsi moi, 1 94 1 ), were active in their craft well before the war and the Resi stance. As
Eugenio Montale declares in an interview with Car10 Bo:
Nego che il neorealismo sia fenomeno di questo dopoguerra, e quindi
nato corne reazione all'ultirna letteranira. Il neorealismo e una
tendenza letteraria cominciata ad aff'ermarsi in [tafia intomo al 1930,
col sorgere di una nuova narrativa che, al1 'autobiogratismo cri tico-
lirico dei 'frarnmentisti' e dei 'saggisti' della Voce e della Ronda, e ai
modi evocativi, al paesismo elegiaco della letteratura allora
dominante, intendeva contrapporre la rappresentaione strenuamente
anaiitica, cmda, drammatica di una condizione umana travagliata, fra
volont e velleit, dall'angoscia dei sensi, delle convenzioni della vita
borghese, dalla vacuit e noia dell'esistenza. Le polemiche che negli
anni successivi al 1930 si dibatterono intomo a formalisme e
contenutismo, sono strettarnente congiunte con I'afTennarsi di cotesta
tendenza. Contenutisti, non occorre dirio, furono chiamati i
neorealisti; ricordo di aver per mio conto adoperato queao termine ne1
193 1. E dico questo, naturalmente, non per stabilire un primato, ma
per documentare quella nascita relativarnente remota. Ali
neoredismi di cui oggi si parla, corne quel10 cinematograf~co, essi, si,
sono di data pi O meno recente: ma cio non deve indure a equivofare
circa l'origine e le caratteristiche del primogenito.
Cs0 23)
If one can agree with Montale, then one might also state that neoreaiist literature
helped to lay the groundwok for cinematic neoredism. in al1 of its shapes and foms,
neoredist narrative was accessible to individuds in the environment in which Visconti,
Rossellini, De S i q Zavattini, and others operated. One might even postdate that authors
were able to express themselves during Fascism in ways that perhaps filmmaken were not
ailowed to, given the very stria programmatic censorship to which cinema was subjected.
Such d e s of censonhip were not as stringent for other anistic industries:
Apparently Mu d i n i believed th& intellefhials producing art and
exchanging ideas would have linle impact in a country mn by a party
of the masses and entenaineci by a blossoming film industry. And so,
though i t was wise for the criticaily minded wrters to exercise a
degree of self-censorship, they were not completely silenceci. A few
were deponed to remote corners of the south, where they actually
expanded their understanding of the squalor behind the faade of
"official" ltai y. When they retumed, they were even allowed to wri te
about what they had experienced.
(Bacon 1 0)
It is aiso mie that anti-Fascist filmmakers were able to release their works despite the Fascist
censors. However, it would be fair to state that because of the crucial role that the cinema
played in the Fascist propaganda machine, perhaps censonhip withi n that industry was more
saingent, and that the strict regulations regarding film releases were adhered to very closely.
One rnight Say, then, that a greater variety of ideas that have been categorized as "neorealist"
were diffised via literature, at least before the Resistance. If this is the case, it follows that
literary neorealism in f aa influenced cinematic neorealism. Anti-Fascia ideas were open1 y
being expressed among intellecnials via literature, and these ideas helped to shape those
young i ntellectuals who were interested in conveying anti-Fascist messages through film and
experimenting with subversive foms in that same medium. The trends that have come to be
associateci with post-war committed cinema were initiated by neoreaiist wtiters (who, in turn,
were iduenced by realist trends fiom other countries and 1 or from previous times). The
portrayal of the lower classes, the focus on the living conditions in the South, the depiction of
rural Italy and other environments that did not confom to Fascia criteria of the status quo,
The films of Messandm Blaseth corne to minci, particularly 1860 (1860, 1933). The
ofknquoted trio of Qtiatllr~ p s i tra le m l e (A Snell in the CIMI&, E3 lasetti, 1 942 ),
I bambini c gummo (The Chiklkn Are Watching Us, De Sica, 1942), and Visconti's
own Oswssione (Obsession, 1943) are other examples of subversive films that were
screened even during periods of strictest censorshi p.
and the general rejection of t he conaived and deceiving depiciions of Itaiy that were so
insidiously a part of Fascist propaganda, al1 of these notions cimlated in the enviromnent of
the intellecnials living and working in Italy in the 1930s and early 1940s. With the war and the
liberation of the couny serving as a binding force. filmmakers were able to convey these
notions on film in a variety of ways. Then, the advent of the Resistance and its bloody but
triumphant aftennath served as a uniSing force for young filmmaken, and at the same time.
k d them from the oppression of t he regime. It aiso Save them a common experience that
they could depict and utilize as part of the subject matter of their works. The foundation for
these ideas, however, had been laid in the literature of the 1930s and 1940s.
If indeed one can speak of li terary neorealism's influence on ci nematic neorealism,
one must be careful to point out that this influence does not involve the activity of adaptation
per se. Adaptations of literary works that have been categorized as neorealist were undertaken
more frequently only in the later stages of cinematic neorealism, and beyond. One can only
speculate as to the possible reasons for this, but practically speaking, I would postulate that
neorealist film adaptations of neorealist literary works were not common simply because the
development of neoreaiism withi n both genres was linked closel y in time, and consequenti y.
From a pragmatic point of view, it would have taken sume hme before any neorealist work of
fiction cou1 d generate enough interest and thought on the part of a given director, before a film
based on that work could be produced. 1 have included a short list of adaptations of neorealist
literary pieces below. The title of the film, the year of its release, and its director, are listed
first, followed by the name of the author and the year of publication of the original work. h i s
lis is by no means exhaustive. and i s meant simply to illustrate that neoreal kt literaaire serves
as an ongoing source of inspiration to ltaiian directors.
O L 'oro di Napofi ( The Goid of Nqles, 1 954), Vittorio De Sica
(Giuseppe Marotta, 1 947)
O Cronache di poveri aman ti ( Taies of Poor Lovers, 1 954). Carlo
Li u a n i (Vasco Pratolini. 1947)
+ Lu romana ( n e Woman of Rome. 1954), Luigi Zam pa (Alberto
Moravia, 1947)
O Le amiche (nie Girl Friendr. 195 5) , Michelangelo Antonioni
(Cesare Pavese, 1943)
O Il bel1 'Anto~iio (Bell 'Antonio, 1960). Mauro Bolognini (Vitalino
Brancati, 1 949)
O La cimima ( Two Women, 1 960). Vittorio De Sica ( Alberto Moravia,
1957)
O Cmrtaca familiare (Family Diary, l962), Valerio Zurlini (Vasco
Pratolini, 1947)
Metello (Metello. 1 WO), Mauro Bolognini (Vasco Pratolini, 1 955)
O L 'agnese va o morire (Agnes Goes to Die, 1 976), Giuliano
Montaldo (Renata V~gano, 1949)
+ Il gurufano msso ( Thr Red Cmmtion, 1 976), Luigi Faccini (Elio
Vitorini, 1948)
+ C'rsfo si ferrnato a Eboli (Christ Stopped at Ebofi, 1978),
Francesca Rosi (Cario Levi, 1945)
O Fontmar~(Fontamara, 1980). Car10 Lizzani (Ignazio Silone, 1930
in German, 1934 i n Mian)
- - -
L is interesthg to note that in this short list of adaptations, the first three fM listed
were made in 1954, the same year in which Visconti's Senro and Fellini's La sfrada (Lu
Strada) were released. These two films sparked off an animateci, bitter debate on the so-called
betrayal of neorealism; l0 and yet, in the same year, film directors were tuming to neoreaiist
sources in order to create cinematic works. Perhaps this fact speaks to the ongoing influence
of neorealist literature (and of neorealist ideais) in Italian ci nema.
0.4 Visconti's Filmography
Before 1 begin my detailed analyses of La terra irema, Sensu, and II Gattopardo, 1
wish to look at the way in which Visconti's filmography lends itself to a study of the
relationship between film and literature. A brief survey of the director's work reveals the
appropriateness of using his works as a vehicle for examining the relationship between
literature and cinema in an Itaiian context.
Visconti made founeen fiction films and three documentary-style short films in his
career. The influence of and the reliance on literature is evident throughout his filmography.
He made his cinematic debut in 1943 with the release of his controversial film, Ossessione.
Inspired by the Amencan realist novel De Posm>an Ahvqys Rings Twice (James M. Cain,
1934), Ossessione is considered by many to be a tuming point in Italian cinema, away from
the reactionary brand of filmmaking of the Fascist era, and towards a more socially motivated
and politically aware cinema. Its depiction of an unfortunate series of events that take place in
squalid surroundings in rural northem My , constituted a first for Italian movie-going
audiences of the Fascist erq who were accustomed to glamourous depictions of the bourgeois
'O On the debates sumndi ng Semo and the betrayai of neorealism, see Chapter 2.
upper classes on the big screen. The end of the w u drew Visconti to a project that stands out
in his fil mography for several reasons. Giorni di gloria (Glory Days, 1945). This anti-Fascist
docurnentary on which Visconti worked. dong wi th key figures of the p e n d such as Mario
Serandrei and Giuseppe De Santis. is one of the rare non-fiction works in the director's
filmogmphy. In 1948. Visconti's La terra hrma proved to be the ultimate neorealist
experiment. Visconti once again employed the techniques and themes of realia literature. this
time taken fiom Italian realism. in 195 1, Visconti worked on a collaborative, non-fiction
piece, this time with noted neorealist writer Vasco Pratolini. The expos, entitled Appnti su
unfatto di cmnoca (Notes about a Novs Item). reconstnias the murder of a young girl narned
Annarella Bracci, whose purported murderer recants hi s confession. In retelling l i ttl e
.euiarella's tragic story, Visconti and Pratolini focus not as much on the characters involved,
as they do on the environment and the social context of this "tragedia dei poveri" (De Giusti
50). While it is not a work of fiction and not based on a literary work, Appmii allows Visconti
to continue the exploration of neorealism that he had begun with his feanire films. In that
sarne year, Visconti used an original screenplay for his next film, BellisFrna. This delighdkl
Anna Magnani vehicle about a desperate stage mom and her awkward young daughter
indicated for some critics the "ri tom0 dei penonaggio" (Miccich, K e il neorealismo 194).
The film had little to do with literature and shows no substantid influence of the literary
medium; in fa- Lino Miccich has ri@tfully termed it "un film su1 cinema," (Miccich, C! e
il neoreolimo 20 1 ). The film constitutes a light-hearted divergence, in some respects,
following the bieakness and seriousness of Visconti's first two feature releases. Visconti
rehl ms to working with Anna Magnani for one episode of Si mo donne ( We, the Women), in
1953. It was the aim of this ensemble piece made by various directors and spearheaded by
- -
Ca me Zavanini. to depia episades in the )ives of five acwdes and to demi&& those
actresses by proving that they were merely women. Visconti's episode recounts an argument
between Magnani and a taxi driver over a surcharge that the driver demands, to transport
Magnani's dog. This film stands in stark contrast to Visconti's next cinematic venture. Senso.
Released in 1954. the film brought Visconti's art to a different plane altogether. This
adaptation of Camillo Boito's nineteenth-century novella is a critical rereading of the Italian
Ri s ~~r nent o and irnplicitly draws a parallel between that era and conternporary Italy. It is
with Semo that Visconti expands his own definition of neorealism. so much so that his
supporters claimed that he had achieved "realism" with this film, whereas his detracton
maintained that he had betrayed neorealism. Perhaps it is not by accident that Visconti chose
Le notti b i d e (Khite Nighrs, 1957) as his subsequent project. Based on the Dostoevsky
short story of the sarne name, the film diffen from the original in a way that is similar to the
way that Ossessione diverges firom The Posmtan Alwqys Rings Twtce. The setting of the short
story is transplanted ont0 Italian soil. The interesting difference berneen this tilm and those
that precede if particularly Ossessione and Lu ferra m a , is that Visconti insisted on creating
art i f i d sets and having a very stylized look to the film. This was, perhaps, Visconti's
response to critics who were so insistent on specific definitions of "realism" in art. Rocco e i
mi f rai el f i (Rocco md his Brothers), made in 1960. revi sits themes presented in La terra
mtna and places them in a contemporary context, and provides a stark contrast to the stylized
Le notti bimche. This taie of a family from Lucania that slowly and tragically disintegrates
&er its members emigrate to Milan cari be viewed as Vinti'ti's r e m to the neoreaikt
expenment. The fi lm takes inspi ration from several literary works:
"Giuseppe e i suoi fratelli" di Thomas Mann, due racconti di Giovanni
Teston compresi ne "Il ponte della Ghisolfa", la leteratura
mendionalistica di Rocco Scotellaro ("Contadini del sud") e Carlo
Levi ("Cristo si femato a Eboli"), le esperienze di mise en scne
del1 *" Arialda" di Testori e "Uno sguardo da1 ponte" di Miller, ma
sopramitto "L'idiota" di Dostoevskij dal quale riceve l uce e
suggestione il peoonaggio centrale di Rocco [. . .]
(De Giusti 77)
Aithough Visconti in large part left the neorealist experiment behind following the making of
Rocco, some of the crucial themes, techniques, and even settings, that had corne to be
associateci with his brand of neoredism, are present in Visconti's later films. An4 of course,
the director continued to use literature as a means of inspiration, exploiting the skills he had
refined over two decades, and creating films that could be labelled "literaxy." On the heels of
Rocco, Visconti collaborated on another ensemble film, Boccuccio '70 (Boccaccio '70, 1962).
Visconti's e pi de , entided II lavoro (The Job), is loosely based on the Guy de Maupassant
1883 short story, "Au bord du lit," but the story of the original is once again transposed in
space and tirne, into a tale of an unhappy bourgeois Italian housewife who resons to
prostituting herself to her husband in order to make her own way. The style and sensibility of
II Imom predict the more baroque, stylized approach that Visconti would develop in the 1960s
and 1970s. If Guttopmdo, the film that comprises the finai portion of my detailed analy sis, has
sorne significant commonalities with what had corne before? but also closed a phase in the
director's career and served to open a new phase, one i n which the director tumed towards
using literary sources in a more personal and idiosyncratic way. Visconti's choice of source
te* the 1 958 noveC by Giuseppe Tommasi di Lampedusa, was Mmed as a historical novel
by the eminent authority on the subject, George Lukacs:
The new important historical novels, li ke Halldor Laxness's The Bell
of lcelandand Lampedusa's 7ne Leu@ (pamicuiarly its fint halo
confirm the principles I aniveci at in a positive direction.
(Lukacs 14)"
Followiny II Gatlopardo, Visconti made a series of films in which literature continued
to play a principal role. These films are somewhat more stylized and show less of an interest
on the director's part in the social issues that had been prevalent in his previous films. In 1965.
the director made Vaghe stelie deff 'Orsa ... . The title of the film is itself inspired by Giacomo
Leopardi's poem, "Ricordarue" (1829). As for the story in the film, Visconti admitted that he
was inspired by Aeschylus's Orestea. as he explores the tortured p s t of Sandra, the beautifl
and mystenous main character. His interest in the depiction of the bourgeois growing,
Visconti directed an episode of the 1967 film Le Streghe (The Witches) entitied La strega
bn~cia~a viva (The Witch Bwned Alive). The episode examines the alienation of a film diva
even when she is surrounded by fnends. Although this work is not based on any specific
literary work, its theme of alienation indiredy links it to Visconti's next feahire film and
I1lt is perhaps ironic that a good portion of the literary critickm on the novel II
Gattopado focuses on the debate whether the novel can be labelleci as a historical
novel. Artists and critics were heavily influenced by the writing of Lukacs from the
time that the Russian critic's works were fira published in Italian in the early 1950s;
and yet some critics refsed the idea that the Lampedusa text could be considered a
hi storical novel proper. See especi al1 y Simone$ta Saivestroni, Ton& di Lampechrm
and Giorgio Masi, Corne leggere Il Gattopardo di Giuseppe Tomei hnperhrsa. My
interest in this label, "historical novel," stems fkom the fact that, when the notion of the
historical novel was being defined and debated in the mid-1950s, Visconti's own
Se m was likened to a "historical novel." Visconti's use of history to make
contemporary social natements was in fact similar to what Lukacs had in mind when
he discussed the notion of the histon~al novel.
- - -
cinematic adaptation, Lo strmem (The Stranger). Based on Camus's 1942 landmark work,
L ' ~ar t ~er , this film has been aiticized by most critics for its failure to depict Camus's
AIgena and. more speci ficall y, the existentid nature of Mersaul t. '' Following this, Visconti
once again tackied a project with no direct literary predecessor. but with several literary
influences. La cadrrta degii dei ( 1969) tells a tale of the downfdl of an influentid industriai
family, the Essenbecks, in Nazi Gerrnany. Part of Visconti's so-called Geman trilogy, the film
takes inspiration from Thomas Mann's Bi~ciaenbrook as wel l as Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Continuing his exploration of Geman literanire, Visconti next directed Morte a C2neziu
(Death in knke, 197 1 ), based on Thomas Mann's 1930 novella. Once again the director
transposed certain details to fit his intentions and perhaps even his medium, making the
protagonist a composer rather than a writer. Rounding out the German trilogy is Luciwtg
(1973)' a film that allowed Visconti to explore history once again, and to drarnatize it for the
purposes of his art. in the film, Visconti recounts the history of young King Ludwig von
Wittelsbach of Bavaria, as he descends into obsession, madness, and final1 y drives himself to
supposed suicide. Visconti's second to last film was based on an original screenplay; Gnrppo
di famigiia in un interno (1 974) examines the ambivalence of a retired professor towards the
unusual and disturbing tenants who force themselves into his house. The darkness and
violence to which the professor is exposed because of this strange family l ads him to
contemplate his own mortality, and ultimately, to await his own death. As often happens in
Visconti's films. even in cases where there are no direct literary sources, literary influences
l2 Mersault was played by Marcello Mastroianni in the film, and much of the negative
critifism regarding Visconti's depiction of Mersault revolved around the idea that
Mastmianni had been miscast. The legendary actor, however, had been Visconti's
second choice for the role; the director had cast him when he discovered that Alain
Delon was unavailable.
can still be found. This film io no different . The professor reminds us at times of Thomas
Mann's Aschenbach. at times of Lampedusa's Prince, or even II Gattopardo 5 Don Calogero.
And, as far as the influence of Mann goes, the film explores the theme of deception, as seen,
for example. in Mann's short story, "The Betrayal" (De Giusti 143). For his final projecf
Visconti again opted for an adaptation, this time D'Annunzio novel. L 'innocente ( The
Innocent). The 1976 film allowed the director to come fbll circle: while there had been a
definite evolution in his cinema, he had continued to make extensive use of literature to make
his cinema, and he had chosen texts that, although spanning decades and miles, had many
elements in common. The darkness of most of the literary texts allowed Visconti to dramatize
subjects that he seemed to explore in his mind over and over: deception. betrayal. isoiation
and death.
Visconti's choices of literary sources enabled him to explore the two tensions that he
dnvnatized in his films throughout his career: one was aagic, the other melodramatic.
Visconti used both masterfully, and developed his sensibility during his yean of
expermentation with cinematic neorealisrn. 1 have attempted to emphasize the crucial role of
neorealism in the development of Visconti's cinema. It is mie that this dissertation focuses on
the role of literature in the films of Visconti; however. one must not lose sight of the role that
neorealism played in his filmography, as well. Indeed, the director's motivation for using
literature, parthlady in the time span covered by the films in this dissertation, was ofien his
interest in neoredism.Visconti has ofien been charactenzed as one of the masters of
neorealism dong with Robeto Rossellini, Vittorio De S i q and Cesare Zavanini. However. in
many ways Visconti is "a thing apart" fiom the other two filmmaken, and it is partly because
of the literary tools that he used that he is different and that he achieved realism in the
same wtty writers such as Tolstoy. Flaubert, ad, in an Italiaa context, Verga achieved
realisrn. Visconti's works do not faIl in Iine with those of Rossellini's and De Sica's; his films
serve to punctuate neorealism. He breathed life into the words that he r a d on a page and gave
them shape, life. and relevance. It is important to remember that Guido Aristarco, siunch
supponer of Visconti and a proponent of Visconti's brand of cinematic reali sm, Ji kened
Visconti's work to the great historical novels. In his 1955 essay "E neorealismo" Aristarco
compared Visconti's films in general and Senso in particular, to historical novels of sweeping
scope such as War md Peace. Aristarco saw Visconti as an artist capable of taking a small
story of a few individuals, and of tuming it into a tale of epic proportions that is expresseci the
way it would be in a great work of literature; he therefore made use of litenihire as a tcol to
expand the breadth, the range, the rneaning, the very medium of film. Anstarco's stance was
controvenial at the tirne. and was attacked by critics such as Luigi Charini, who refuted the
idea that a film such as Senso coufd be likened to works of historical realisrn, and who, in fact,
abhorred any connection that was made between Visconti and redism. l 3 Regardless of this
specific debate, Visconti continued to be recognized as a rnaster of adaptation, and continued
to be praised (as well as attacked) for his treatment of literature.
13~or a summary of the debate surroundhg Senso and its so-cailed betrayal of
neorealism, see Chapter 2.
La terra trema
in no case is the irrelevance of fidelity criticisrn more evident
than in Luchino Visconti's La terra trerna.
(Marcus, Filmmakrng 2 5)
It is wi th these words that Millicent Marcus begins her discussion on "the typology of
adaptation" in Visconti's 1948 film. Because several logistical and practicai factors, as well as
ideological and artistic ideals, came into play during the making of LI1 terra trerna, it would be
improper to speak of Lu lerra mma as a "faithful" adaptation of i Mafmog/ia, as 1 have
discussed in the introduction. However. it is undeniable that I Malavoglia (and, more
generally, Giovanni Verga) served as a source for the film, in severai different ways. ' Verga's
novel is a source text in that its basis and spirit are clearly present in La terra trerna. but its
story and message undergo severai minsfomations. Visconti's intent was not merely to
dramatize I Malmogliu on film, but rather, to incorporate his own ideas of neorealism and
realism, on histos, and the working class of the South, as well as his politicai ideas, into a film
that was based on Verga's 188 1 novel. The director had for years considered Verga an
races of Verga may be found in other Visconti films, as well. For instance, Gianni
Rondolino has pointed out that the character of Don Calogero in Il Gai t opdo very
much resembles Mastro Don Ge ddo (Rondolino, Luchino Visconti 442).
Converseiy, traces of Verga texts other dian I Malavoglia aui be found in LQ terra
ma ; Rondolino identifies "Jeli il pastore" and "Rosso Malpelo" as additional
sources (Rondolino, Luchino fisconti 203). It is not surpnsing that Verga shodd have
inspireci Visconti to such an extenf given the influence of the nineteenthcentus,
author during Visconti's formative years. See Rondolino, Luchino fisconti 89-99 for a
discussion of the infuence of Verga on Visconti and the Cinema group. For addi tional
information on the Cinema group, see page 62.
49
La terra trema 50
attractive source for a p s i ble film pmject. And, because of the new ly -fwnd interest in Verga
shared by his colleagues of the Ci- group. it is not surprising that Verga should have been
considered a viable literary source for Visconti. As for the selection of I Malovogiia, the novel
provided a rich a o q with epic sweep, with deep humanity and therefore with great potential
for expressing significant ideas regarding the realities of human beings in society. In addition,
the stark beauty and simplicity of the setting and of the characters of the novel afYorded
Visconti the opportunity to mate an aesthetically striking work of art. It will be the purpose of
this chapter to define the ways in which I MuImogIic~, a watershed work in the development of
modem itaiian Iiterature, was used as a source for a cinematic text that would constitute a
himing point in Italian film history, as well.
1.1 The Development of a Neorealist Sensibility
The relationship between literature and film in the time of neorealism has been
described in the introduction. It would be useful at this time to delve a bit more deeply into the
evolution of the cinematic medium from the 1930s into the 1940s- dunng the years when
cinematic neoreai i sm gradually established itsel f as the most signi ficant trend of post- World-
War 11cinema in Italy. This survey will provide insight into Visconti's early years as a
filmmaker, and will consequently uncover some of the aesthetic as well as political ideds that
the director held when he tackied the production of La terra tretna.
La terra trema 51
One of the primaiy factors to consider when dealing with any issue related to
Visconti's cinema, is the development of the director's stylistic point of view. When Visconti
embarked on the project of La terra trema. his main i nterest was to create a new. authentic
film language. The director had been very much involved in the atmosphere of reform
initiated by figures such as Robeno Rossellini. Cesare ZavaRini, and Vittorio De Sica. These
so-called "fathers of neorealism," al1 strove, each in his own way, to create a kind of
politically committed and "redistic" cinema. They rejected the dominant trends in Italian film
that had been popular before the war, which tended to celebrate. in one form or another, the
values of nationdism and of Fascism. To bener understand what neorealists were refiising, it
is useful to understand the szope of Fascist cinema. To begin with, despite the regime's strong
influence on the cinematic indusy in Italy, the most overtly Fascist films prouced were
relatively small in number. As Morando Morandini points out:
Mer 1930, there were only four films made about the 'Fascia
revo1ution'- its origins in 'squads' and their march on Rome of
October 1922, which was in actual fact more of a strolI. These were:
Cmicia nera ('Blackshirt', 1933) by Gioacchino Forzano; Aumm sul
mare ('Dawn over the sea'. 193 5)- by Giorgio C. Simonelli; Yecchia
gr ~di a ('Old Guard', 193 5) by Aiessandro BlaseRi; and Redenzne
('Redemption', 1942) by Marcello Abmi, adapted from a play by
Roberto Farinacci, the d l e d 'ras di Cremona' , a Fascist 'ultra' and
one of Mussolini's henchmen.
(Morandini, Ituly fiom Fascism 3 54)
t a terra trerna 52
Other significant examples of political fms that in sume way endorsed Fascism can be also
be identified from this era. However, these, too, are a minonty :
Fascist propaganda is aiso evident in around thirty other films (out of
722 produced beween 1930 and 1943). and these may be divided into
four categories:
1. Patriotic and/or militaiy films: from documentary footage of the
First World War to Scmpe d sole ('Shoes in the sud, 1935); from
Cuvaileria ('Caval ry ', 1 936) to Luciuw Serra pilota ( 1 93 8) b y
Goffredo Alessandrini [. . .] Francesco De Robertis's semi-
documentary Uo Wi nrl fondu, ('Men in the deep', 194 1 ) and Roberto
Rossellini's la nave bimca ('The white ship', 194 1).
2. "Films about My's 'African mission": [. . .] Roberto San
Marrano's documentary about Ethiopia, A.O. cial Giubo al10 Sciw
[. . . ] S p h n e bimca ('White squadron', 1 936) by Augusto Genina,
Il grande qpef l o, ('The great appeal ' , 1 93 6) by Camerini, Sentinelle
di bronco. ('Bronze sentries', 1937) by Romolo Marcellini, Abum
Messias ( 1939) by Alessandrini .
3. Costume dramas: history rewritten as a parade of precursors of the
'Duce. "' [. . . JScipione I ' Af i i cm, ('Scipio the African', 1 93 7) by
Carmine Gallone and Condottieri ('Soldiers of fortune', [ 19301) by
Luis Trenker [. . .].
4. Anti-Bolshevik and anti-Soviet propaganda films: these include two
films on the Spanish Civil War, both from 1939: L'asxdio
deff 'Alcntor ('The siege of the Alcazar') by Genina, made with
powemil choral elements, and the less polished Cmmen tra i rossi
('Cannen and the Reds') by Edgar Neville, who went on to direct
Sancta M&a ( t 94 t ). 0t h- fihs in tfris category are t 'uomo deilla
croce ('Man of the cross', 1 943) by Rossellini, Ode- infiamme
('Odessa in fiames', 1942) by Gallone, and Odiswa disanme ('Blood
odyssey ', 1 942) by Righelli . Alessandrini 's turgid romantic diptych
Noi vivi /'Addo, Kiru ('We the living' 1 'Farewell, Kira', 1942),
adapted from novels by Ayn Ebd, is a somewhat different case, since
it is Stdinism rather than Communism itself which is attacked.
(Morandini, Itaiyfiom Farcisn, 3 5 5 )
La terra trema 53
Several other tendencies emerged during the Fascist en, but one dominant trend that
must be mentioned here is that of the cinerna dei tefefoni bianchi, which prevailed in the
1930s and into the 1940s. and which was the prirnary type of cinema to which directors such
as Visconti were opposed.
The dnving force behind Italian cinema remained the escapist film. or
as Luchino Visconti had it in a 1943 polemic, 'a cinema of corpses'.
Its style was much closer than is commonly acknowledged to
Hollywood products of the same penod: it split into distinct genres; it
relied on the cult of stars; and it cultivated, with only occasional
success, the image of the director as a professional and author-figure.
[. . .] The principal genres were comedy, rnelodrama, and costume-
cum-historical drama. The cornedies were for the most part
sentimentai, and after 193 7 increasingly frivolous and vacuous, based
on a rejection of reality in favour of an anaemic, dissipated characters
who live in an absurd excess of luxury and who taik to each other via
the shining 'white telephones' which gave their name to the genre.
The discretion was minimal, and always secondary to the set and its
fmishings, and to the taste for window-shopping.
(Morandi ni, Itolyfiom Fascism 3 5 5-3 57)
One of the other main characteristics of the ciriema dei telefoni b i b i was its reliance on a
star system, a phenornenon which saw the rneteoric rise of many ItaIian actors. Among the
main players that should be mentioned here are Vittorio De Sica, Assia Noris, Elsa Meriini,
Maria Denis, Isa Miranda, Arnedeo N d , Aida Valli. and Clara calamai .'
By the time Visconti came to work on La tema trema in 1947, Itaiy had undergone
several radical changes as a result of the war and of its aftemath. Many parts of the country
had been torally destroyed following Italy's entry into the conflia and the outbreak of a civil
war on Italian territory. The country had barely had time to recover from its devastation. As
' For a detailed o v e ~ e w of the star system that developed in Itaiy during the era of
the cinema dei telefooni bimchi, see Chapter 13 of Gian Piero Brunetta's Cent 'anni di
cinema itaiiano, "Divi in camicia nera."
La terra trema 54
--
for the cinema, the style and content of the films describeci lbove had been abandonecl by
several key filmmakers, and many important steps had been taken in order to establish the
style of a new cinematic realism as the v i a maestro for an engaged ltalian film. Of course, it is
generdly recognized today that films that are categorized as "neorealist" were not the
prevalent nor the most commercially successful films of the era; Peter Bondanella reminds us
of this basic fact:
Of the some 822 films produced in Italy between 1945 and 1953 is that
oniy about 90 (or slightl y over 1 OO?) could ever be called nmredist
films [. . .]
(Bondanella 3 5)
Nonetheless it is indisputable that experiments with neorealism were highl y influentid at the
time, and contributed to the development of Visconti's vision and style.
Several films produced in the early 1940s have been cited by countless critics as being
harbingen of neorealism. 1 have dready mentioned Aiessandro Blasem's Qtmtm p s i tra le
mo k . Vinorio De Sica's I bmbini ci guarciimo, and Visconti's own cinematic debut,
Ossessione (1943), transitional films that had portrayed scenes that adhered more closely to
the reality of the Itaiian people, than had the more lavish films of the yean which preceded
them. In the p e n d fotlowing the end of the war, several films that have since been tabeHe as
"masterpieces of neorealism" were released. As 1 shall discuss below, the directon who
expenmented with neorealism each had his own specific style and artistic priorities, and often
these were unique and differed from one director to another. However. there are certain
common elements and indeed certain films that have been recognized as being somehow
characteristic of neorealism. The most farnous examples may be the films of Rossellini's war
trilogy, Roma. czn Vr t a (Rome, Open City, 1945)' Potro (Paisan, 1946) and Gemmi4
La terra trema 55
annozem f &rma~~j Yem Zem, 1 W3) Released in npid succession, these works exempli@
some of the new and innovative techniques that came to be closely associateci with the trend.
The use of naturai lighting and the rejeaion of sets, the employment of non-professional
actors the documentary-like footage, the rejection of elaborate scripts, al1 served to give the
films the illusion of reaiity, and a certain kind of grit, of "realism." that had been lacking in the
cinema under Fascisrn .The refusal to use standard Italian and the use of regional Italian,
dialects. and foreign languages added to the films' sense of authenticity. Finally, in tems of
subject matter, the films dealt with the war and its aftermath. This was significant for several
reasons. For one thing, it dlowed Italians to corne to tems with the grim reality of the
suffenng of their country, and it did so in a very public way. This was a revolutionary
circurnstance. for under the Fascist regirne. Italian filrnrnakea haci, as a rule, avoided subject
matter that depicted Italy and its people in a negative iight. This type of cinema also made a
very powerfid political statement againa the destructive nature of the Fascist regime.
Furthemore, it allowed for the exploration of severai other aspects of Italian culture that had
remaineci unexplored. In al1 three films. Rossellini made it a point of investigating the effects
of the war in parts of the country that Italians were not accustomed to seeing on the screen. In
Puisci, for instance, Rossellini swept his cameras upwards through the peninsda, seemingly
doaimenting the aflermath of the war in small corners of the countq that had never been
s how on screen previously. The investigation of the fallout of the war on the Itaiian peni nsula
also provided a platform for exploring socially relevant themes. The effects of the catastrophe
of war on a variety of charaaers h m different geographical regions and wal ks of life cou1 d
be explored.
La terra trema 56
Just as Rossellini had estaMished hirnsel f as one of the principal nmreaiist
filmmakers so. too. had the duo of Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini helped to shape the
notion of neorealism as we know it today. With fi 1 ms such as Sciusci (Shoeshzne, 1 946),
Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1 948). and Umberto D. ( Umberto D.. 1 9 5 1 ), they
contributeci greatly to the neorealist expenment. Although they tended to work with more
elaborate plots and film techniques than Rossellini. they strove to recreate a son of freshness
and spontaneity that el evated reality "to the realm of poetry," (Bondanella 5 7). Zavatiini, the
legendary script writer responsible for the development of the notion ofpedinmento,'
injected his sense of fieedom and effortlessness into the scripts he wrote for De Sica, resulting
in a style that seemed to capture moments in people's daily lives. Li ke Rossellini. De Sica and
Zavattini focused on social issues pertaining to My' s lower classes. Poverty, homelessness,
unemployment, were al1 themes that De Sica and Zavattini touched in the 1940s and eariy
1950s. as they experimented with neorealist techniques.
As the 1940s drew to a close, a number of Italian directors began to expenment with
the themes and techniques used by the "masters of neorealism." Moreover. some of the
"masten" explored the boundaries of neorealism, as well. Because these experiments were
perfomed by a diverse group of directors, different effects were achieved. resulting in what
some defined as a watenng down of, and eventually a betrayal of, neorealism. The main
protagonists of this en of Italian cinema were characters as unique as Federico Fellini.
Michelangelo Antonioni, Pietro Germi. Dino Risi. and Luchi no Visconti himself. Although 1
shall not expand on this issue since it exceeds the parameters of my topic? it is perhaps
Related to the ideas that he spoke about in "Basta con i soggetti," Zsvattini's notion
of the pedimmeno suggests that a filmmaker should be able to take a camera and to
follow, to peahre* a person going about his everyday life, and in so doing, would
mat e something worthy of artistic ment.
La terra trema 57
neces- to make a few general observations on the nature of neoredism. Many critics agree
that neorealism was not truly a "movement" proper, that it was not programmatic and could
not be achieved using a specific formula. Funhermore, several critics, partiailady in more
recent tirnes, have acknowledged that the directors involved in the neorealist experiment were
aware that "neorealist" techniques and styles were just that: techniques and styles. They were
not bonofide ways of depicting "reality" (whatever that could be). Peter Bondanella
surnmarizes this point well:
The controili ng fiction of neorealist films, or at least the majori ty of
them, was that they dealt with actual problems, that they employed
contemporary stories, and that they focused on believable characten
taken most frequendy from Itaiian daily life. But the greatest
neorealist directon never forgot that the worid they projected upon the
silver screen was one produced by cinematic conventions rather than
an ontoiogical experience, and they were never so nave as to deny
that the demands of an artistic medium such as film might be just as
pressing as those fiom the world around them. In fact, in many of their
films they underlined the relationship of illusion and reality, fiction
and facf so as to emphasize their understanding of the role both
played in art. Thus, any discussion of Italian neoreaiism must be broad
enough to encompass a wide diversity of cinematic styles, themes, and
attitudes. No single or specific approach was taken and, therefore,
much of the discussion which arose in the next decade over the 'crisis'
of neorealism or its 'betrayal' by various directors was essentiaily
groundless and founded upon ideological disagreements between
various critics rather than any abrupt change on the part of the
filmmakers themsehes. Directors we label today as neoredist were a
crucial part of a more general post-war cultural revolution which was
charactenzed by a number of aesthetic and philosophical perspectives,
al1 united only by the common aspiration to view Italy without
preconceptions and to develop a more honest, ethical, but no less
poetic cinematic language.
(Bondanella 343 5)
La terra trema 58
I tend, therefore, to shy away frMi any theory that espouses the idea that neorealism
was surpassed because of its "betrayal" on the part of various directors. It is my contention
that as time passed, directors who had experimented with neorealism pushed their
explorations into different directions, and that eventually, their artistic priorities caused Italian
cinema to move along different lines. Moreover, even during the most fniitful production
period, when "classics" such as Rome: Open Ci m Bicycle 7hfeves, or even La terra trema,
were being released, it was clear that each filmmaker had his own unique vision. For example,
Rossellini opted for less scripteci, more spontaneous scenes, whereas De Sica tended to create
meaning by creating very complex, elaborate shots, thereby achieving a very different effect.
The stones told by the former tended to be a senes of vignettes whose tone would swing back
and forth between comic and tragic, whereas the stories created by the latter were more
fmused and eiaborate, with a more dramatic tone. Visconti himsetf had a predilection for
melodrama and for the epic, and h e therefore created stories that had a more sweeping and
timeless quality. His desire to connect his stories to the ebb and flow of history distinguished
him from the other "masters of neorealism." As is discussed in Chapters 2 and 3, he became
more and more interested in expressing what to him were "real" issues in Italian society in
more elaborate ways, expenmenting wi th a more melodramatic style. but retaining the interest
in social issues that had afkted Italian society not j us in contemporary times, but throughout
the history of the counay. as well. No matter the direction taken by individual directon
working in the 1940s and 1950s, it is indisputable that the exploration ofUreality" and
"authenticity" left an indelible mark on Itaiian cinema, and laid the groundwork for the
directions that the national cinema wouid take thereafler.
La terra trema 59
$ A2 V ~ o ~ f i ' s "Formative Ywrs"
For the purposes of discussing Lu terra tremu, it is important to understand in specific
terms the way in which Visconti coneributed to the neorealist experiment. 1 would like to tum
now to director's experience as I begin to investigate his interest in literature and, more
speci ficall y, in Verga.
1 .1.2.1 Renoir and French Realism
Uunng the fim phase of his career. Visconti took neorealism in a distinct direction,
pnmhly with the controversial and experimental Ossessione, his cinematic debut, and with
the film in question, Lu terra Remo. However, in order to better understand Visconti's
approach to neorealism, i t is useful to examine his own eariy influences. The director's
interest in both depicting a more "authentic" reality as well as in employing literature were
bom gradually, and were fostered by his French expenences throughout the latter half of the
1930s. This phase in Visconti's life may well have constituted one of the more formative
penods in his professional development.
French cinema in the 1930s was more diverse than its Itaiian counterparf due to the
relatively high degree of politicai fieedom that existed in France. Despite the variety of styles
that existed, I wish to focus specifically on French realism, which is most relevant to the
subject at hand.
Based on reaiist literature or original scripts and usudly set in
working-class milieux, Poetic Realist films fean~red pessimistic
narratives and night-time settings, and a dark contrasted, visual style
prefigunng Ameriaui film noir. hfany great auteurs of the time chose
this idiom: Pierre Chenal (La Rue sans nom ('The nameless Street'),
1933; Le Dernier Tournant ('The last tuming' ), 1939), Julien Duvivier
(Lu Banrtera, 193 5; Ppd le Moko, 1 936), Jean Grmillon (Gueule
d'mmr ('The face of love', 1937); Remorques ('Trailers'), 19394).
La terra trema 60
Jean Renoir (La Bie hwraarne ('The beast in man'), 193 8), Albert
Val en tin (L 'Entraneuse ('The dance hostess' ), 1 93 8).
(Vtncendeau 345)
From this definition, it is apparent that some of the characteristic elements of French realism
surely must have caught the attention of the young Luchino Visconti. Indeed, 1930s French
realism included some of the same elements that were used in Visconti 's neorealist works.
including L a terra berna. The interest in redis literature, the working-class setting the gritty
and dark style, ail of these became characteristics of Visconti's own brand of neorealism.
To be sure, Visconti's French experience shaped hirn in more than a casual way, for it
is during these years that the young Visconti collaborated with one of the fathers of French
realism, Jean Renoir. Renoir, along with several contemporaries, had a profound influence on
cinema in the 1930s. both nationally and internationally. French realist directors sought to
depict a social kind of realism, and they looked to literary realism for inspiration:
Gli autori citati stabilirono un rapport0 con il pubblico di udienza
relativamente larga soprattutto Renoir e la coppia Prvert-Cam, i
qudi, uni tamente a Julien Duvivier e Jacques Feyder, dominarono,
corne vedremo, il cinema h c e s e degli Anni Trenta. Nella loro opera
si ando sempre pi fiermando un contenuto genericamente popdista,
democratico, che si manifestava in uno stile che potremmo definire
'redista', per quella corposit delle irnrnagini, quella verit della
rappresentazione, quetl'approccio direno a ma reab mana e sociale
che furono le caratteristiche pecdiari del cosiddeno 'realisrno
cinematografico' francese. E se dietm a queste opere, pi che l'eredit
dell'avanguardia, era possibile rinvenire l'eredit del nauralismo di
fine Ottocento. della letteratura di 201% della cuitura socialista del
principio del secolo, con elementi, pi o meno dichiarati, di
anarchisrno e di intelletfualismo; i terni che esse affrontavano e i modi
della rappresentaaone ri fletevano la situazione della Francia, awiata
veno 1 'esperienza del Fronte Popolare, con Ntte le contraddizioni e gIi
ermri ma anche con gli slanci ideali e le speranze dell'epoca.
(Rondolino, Storia 3 12)
La terra trema 61
in hindsight. many key elements of 1930s French rralism must have had a deep
resonance for Visconti, for the interests and the sty listic and aesthetic priori ties of the future
director of Ln terra tremu were to go dong the sarne lines. The influence is undeniable.
However, the degree to which Visconti collaborated with Renoir on several of the French
filmmaker's projects has been a subject of contention; there seems to be no clear agreement
among critics regarding the extent of the collaboration. Visconti reportedly acted as one of
Renoir's assistant directon on the unfinished Une partie de cmpugne (A Dqy in the Country,
1936). It is said that he aiso had input on Toni ( Toni, 1934). Les bas-fmh (The Lower De*,
l936), and La grande illusion (Grand Iliusion, 193 7) (Rondolino 54-65). Some critics have
denied that this collaboration ever tcmk place. Regardless of the extent of the collaboration, it
is a fact that the two men met and exchanged ideas. And, upon examining Renoir's projects,
one can uncover many similarities in technique, style, and vision with Visconti's films.
indeed, the afinities between Toni and Ossessione are most saiking of al1 :
D'altronde, gi in fini, prodotto da Marcel Pagnol ne1 1934 e girato
prevaientemente in estemi, Renoir aveva accentuato i caratteri
reaiistici della storia - anwra una volta d'amore e di morte - per
metteme in luce i risvolti drammatici in modi e forme inconsueti ne1
panorama del cinema francese di quegli anni. E il film, propi0 per
questo suo aspetto 'antispettacolare', f considerato poi un precedente
illustre dei neoredisrno Miano.
(Rondolino, Sforia 3 20-2 1 )
TOM has often been called the first "neoreaistn film, preceding
Luchino Vsconti's OSSESSIONE by seven years; since the Itaiian
director was one of Jean Renoir's assistants on the p r o j q its
influence on his work seems clear. Basing his film on police files
deaiing with an incident that occu~ed in the srnall town of Les
Martigues, Renoir. seeking authenticity, brought hi s crew to that town
and used its citizens as characten. The story centers on Toni (Charles
Blavette), an Italian laborer who falls in love with his landlady (Jenny
Helia) and then with a Spanish woman, Josepha (Celia Montalvan).
La terra trema 62
Mer receiving permission from Joepha's fethe~ to mmy her, h i
discovers that she has been raped by a sleaq foreman, whom Josepha
ends up manying, eventually desens, and accidentally kills. Not
surprisingly, Toni takes the blame. [TOM is a]n insighfil portrayai of
male-femaie relationships and a skillfl rendenng of its near-pu1 p
novel plot (again predating Visconti's adaptation of James M. Cain).
(Monaco 986)
It is not difficutt to conclude, therefore, that Visconti's realist irnpehis was also rooted in the
French tradition, and that he was profoundly influenced by Jean Renoir.
1.1 2. 2 The Cinema Group and the Influence of ltalian Literature
Som after Visconti had been exposed to the innovative ideas of Renoir and to the
creative environment in which the French director worked, he continued to develop his artistic
ideas on Itaiian soil. In the period b e ~ e e n 1939 and 1940, Visconti came to know Mario
Alicata, Giuseppe De Santis, Pietro Ingrao, and Mario Puccini. a group ofyoung, anti-Fascist
intellectuals who continu4 to influence him during a period in which the cinema industry in
Itaiy was essentially under Fascist domination. Many of the young men in Visconti's social
circle wrote for the journal Cinema. and on the pages of this periodical they often extolled the
virtues of films that they labelleci as "redistic." Arnong the films praised by the Cinemu group
(including Visconti) were those of Renoir, as welI as Carn, Duvivier, Vidor, and Ford, to
name a few (Rondolino 87). The group also had a taste for naturalism and verismo. In fact, it
was during this period that De Santis and Alicata composed the ground breaking essay that
was discussed in the introduction, "Verit e poesia: Verga e il cinema italiano," which greatiy
La terra trema 63
this essay that was quoted in Introduction, and to place it in its larger context:
. .. bene chianre subito che proprio per la sua natura rigorosamente
nanativa fb nella tradizione realistica che il cinema trovo la strada
migliore: visto che il realismo, non corne passivo ossequio ad una
statica verit obbiettiva, ma corne forza creatrice, nella fantasia, d'una
'stona' di eventi e di persone, la vera ed etema misura di ogni
espressione narrativa. [. . .] Giovanni Verga non ha solamente creato
una grande opera di poesia, ma ha creato un paese, un tempo, una
societ: a noi che crediarno nell'arie speciaimente in quanto creatrice
di vent& la Sicilia omerica e leggendaria dei MaImoglia, [. . .] ci
sembra ne110 stesso tempo offrire I'ambiente pi solido e umano, pi
miracolosamente vergine e vero, che posa ispirare la fantasia di un
cinema il qude cerchi cose e fam in un tempo e in uno spazio di realt,
per riscattarsi dai facili suggerimenti di un rnortificato gusto borghese.
[. . .] i racconti di Giovanni Verga ci sembrano indiwe le uniche
esigenze storicamente valide: quelle di un'arte nvoluzionaria ispirata
ad una umanit che sofie e spera.
(De Santis and Alicaa 62,65)
On the topic of what attracted Visconti and other directors to vertsmo, there is much
that can be said. As a style. nineteenth-cenairy Italian realism was quite appealing to
Visconti's circle. It is not surprising that directon should take up the neorealist experiment,
and be so successful, because, given the potential of the medium of film to reproduce sights
and sounds, it could be used to develop a set of conventions that were much more "realistic"
than those of li terature. Thus. cinema could take up where verimo, wi th its limits, had lefl off.
At one point, Visconti himself pondered the question of the tradition of literary reaiism and of
its possibilities in a vinid medium.
La terra trema 64
Sernbreri magan owio, ma mi son chiestu pi u volte perch, mentre
esiste una solida tradizione letteraria la quale in cento diverse forme di
romanzo e di racconto ha realizzao nella fantasia tanta schietta e pura
"verit" della vita umana, il cinema, che nella sua accezione pi
estenore di quesui vita parrebbe dover essere addirittura il
documentatore, si compiaccia invece di awenare il pubblico al gusto
del piccolo intrigo, del retorico melodramma dove una meccanica
coerem garantisce oramai Io spettatore anche da1 rischio dell'estro e
del 1 ' invenzi one.
(Visconti, "Tradizione" 30)
in this 194 1 quotation, one can also see the questioning and criticism of the kinds of bourgeois
films mentioned previously, which depicted ivial elements of Italian society that, in the
opinion of the neorealist directors, were lacking in social value. But there was much more
about verismo that was appealing to Visconti and the intellrrnials of his generation. in the
section that follows. 1 shall examine the importance of verismo and of Verga to the Leftist
intellectuals of the eariy 1940s.
1.2 The Significance of Verga
Verga's peasant Sicily offers the laboratory conditions most conducive
to clinical observation of man's fate since the sirnplicity of its subjects
enables the expenmenters to keep his number of variables to a
minimum.
(Marcus, ifdian Film 12)
Simplicity was a key priority for Visconti and his peers. Verga's clarity appealed to
neorealist filmmalcers fiom the outset. During the early IWOs, the years dunng which
directors and intellectuals fim conducted their cinematic "expenments," the simplicity of
Verga's themes seemed extremely attractive, especidly at a time when cinema seemed to be
unredistic and completely unreflective of the desperate social conditions of real Iife. Of
course, much of the simplicity of Verga's work comes from the pastoral setting of Sicily. "For
La terra trerna 65
Visconti (. . .} Sicily stands in pda opposition to something else, be it the decadent bourgeois
worid of Fascist culture [. . -1, or the filmmaker's personal aesthetic formation." (Marcus,
Fi/mmaking 27). Sicil y, in fact, represents the antithesis of modern society for Visconti.
Millicent Marcus outlines a senes of oppositions that can aid us in understanding, on the one
hand. the precepts that Visconti and other li ke-rninded intellecnials of the time were rej ecti ng,
and, on the other, alternatives to the precepts, which they were embracing (FiImmaking 27):
Sicily vs. Modem Society
Verga Manzoni
stasi s changeability
turbid passions intellectual ctarity
prehistory modemity
epic heroism human drama
The notion of Sicily as "prehistoric" and as standing in opposition to so-called "modem
society" seems to be central here. Sicily was seen as pure, untouched by the social struggles
that the rest of the country had seen since the time of Italian unification. From a socio-
historid perspective, "modemity" ui be seen as the point in which political struggles began
in order for unification to take place. The ancient island at the foot of the Italian peninsuia
seemed not to have undergone the radical changes that the rest of the country had experienced
in the decades following the R i s ~ ~ me n t o . Sicily 's society was perceiveci as having remained
in a perpetual state of "imocence," in a system where instinct and emotion ruleci, and the
La terra trerna 66
rnythical, d e r than the political oc the intellectual, seemed to dominate. The "purity" of
Sicily, therefore, appealed to Visconti and to his ~ontern~oraries.~
1.2.7 Verga vs. Wsconti
If' one considers the influence of Verga on nineteenth-century literature and compares
it to the influence of Visconti on filmmakers of his own time. it becomes apparent that there
are marked similarities between the two.
Con I Mafmogtia Verga trasgredisce i codici letterari del tempo e offre
un cas0 clamoroso di sperimentazione narrativa. La sua una sfida
coraggiosa verso i l pubblico dei letton, che non riuscendo a recepire la
novit rivoluzionaria del romanzo testimoniano, da1 punto di vista
sociologico, I'incapacit del cet0 borghese e urbano a comprendere i l
ru010 sociale delle plebi meridiondi.
(Romano 1 5- 16)
Verga himself confirmai his interest in the "plebi mendiondi," and maintained that in
observing everyday southem scenes, he could find "an":
Cerunente in meno a quella calca. i Mandanti Frettolosi anch'essi,
non hanno tempo di guardarsi anorno, per esaminare gli sforzi plebei,
le smorfie oscene, le lividure e la sete rossa degli altri, le ingiustizie,
gii spasimi di quelli che cadono, e sono calpestati dalla folla, i meno
fortunati. e qudche volta i pi generosi. L'osanna dei trionfatori copre
le grida di doiore dei sorpassati. Ma vina dawicino il gronesco di
quei visi anelanti non deve essere evidentemente artistico per un
ossematore?
(Riccardi XLV)
This notion of Sily as an unchanging place where myth niles was one that
motivated Visconti in his choices of literary sources well beyond the years in which he
experimented with neorealist techniques, as 1 shall explore in Chapter 3. This precise
notion was investigated in deail in Tomasi di Lampedusa's II Gattopardo, making the
1958 novel an understandable choice for a cinematic adaptation.
La terra trema 67
Thernatically, therefore, Verga ventured to explore the role of the agr&an proletariat
of the South, rej ecring analyses of the bourgeoisie. This choice of focus, so revolutionary in
the nineteenth century, appealed greatly to Visconti, who, as has already been pointed out,
aimed at a similar rejection of bourgeois values, and opted for a more socially aware an form.
Verga and Visconti's intentions were so similar, i n fact, that their work achieved quite similar
effects and had a comparable influence each within its own genre. This point becomes evident
when one j uxtaposes the process that each artist used in the creation of his work. Compare, for
instance, the methodology describeci by each of the two. Of the procedure employed in order
to compose his novel, Verga says:
Ho cercati, di mettermi nella pelle dei miei penonaggi, vedere le cose
coi loro occhi ed espn merle colle loro parole - ecco tuno. Questo ho
cercato di fare nei Maiavogiiiz.
(Chiappelli 30-3 1)
In relation to his own filmmaking, Visconti maintains:
Il film viene girato [. . .] a partire dalle situazioni che vengono a
crearsi su1 posto, seguo uno schematico canovaccio che viene
modificato a poco a poco dalla fona delle cose. 1 dialoghi li scrivo a
caido, con l'aiuto degli stessi interpreti, vale a dire chiedendo loro in
quale maniera esprimerebbero un detenninato sentimento. e quali
parole userebbero. Da questo tavoro nascono dunque i dialoghi e il
testo rnantiene di conseguenza un ton0 non letterario e autentico che
mi sembra prezioso.
(Serandrei 27)
It is well known that Visconti allowed the fishermen and townspeople of Aci Trezza to be the
protagonists of his film, and that he encouraged them to improvise some of the dialogues. in
this way, Visconti was able to ''mettersi nella pelle dei moi personaggi," and in a manner that
La terra trema 68
was similar to Verga's. The media used by the two a h t s varied, and therefore the tools
varieci, but the intention, as well as the effects, seem quite similar.
1.2.2 The Risotgimento vs. the Reconstruction
One can argue that the sirnilarity in focus between Verga and Visconti is not a casual
one. Furthemore, Visconti's work is not a mere product of aemuhio. In fact, there are
historical reasons for the similarity between the two. Both arti sts lived in times of great social
change and upheaval. The fint, Verga, lived in post-Risorgimento Italy, and the second,
Visconti, in post-Wodd War 11Italy. In both historical periods. the ltalian people had
witnessed great social and political change, revolutions that promised a more fnctional and
democratic society. Understandably, however, such revolution caused uncertainty, and such
uncertainty led to a search for more concrete, solid tenets. Consequently, in both historical
periods, artists searched for a new, more authentic mode of expression. According to Massimo
Romano, Verga's work manifests what he terrns an "anticapitalismo, che nasce da due fattori:
1) la delusione risorgimentde, che ha situato la Sicilia ai margini del process storico; 2) la
cnsi di identiti del molo intellettuale, che detennina la sua condizione di testirnone isolat0 da1
processo di lacerazione del la stmttura socic~conomica i taliana," (Romano 1 3). Thus, the
sirnilarities that may be drawn between the work of Verga a d Visconti, exia not only because
Visconti made a conscious effort to utilize Verga's literature as a source for his own work, but
also because the conditions in which the two lived and worked were andogous. Indeed,
Visconti was drawn to stories created in and about that time pe nd because he considered the
Riso@imento a crucial moment in the history of his country. The director saw afinities
between the Italy of the 1880s and the Italy of the 1940s, and he made extensive use of texts
d a e n in the Ri ~o ~me nt o and about the Risorgimento in order to make a clear statement
La terra trema 69
atmut contemporary Itafian society. The paratlels that the director saw between the yem
immediately following the end of World War iI and the period d e r Italian unification were
very evident, and in order to make a relevant social statement with his art, Visconti
deliberately drew from and shaped historical and artistic sources from the period of the
t i r~o~ment o. As 1 discussed eariier, if one surveys the director's filmography, i t becomes
obvious that he placed importance on the historicai pend in which Verga lived. The other
objects of my study, Semo and If Gattopardo. are stnkng examples of this, the former text
being contemporary to Verga's own, and the latter being set during the sarne period in which
the other two were written. In both cases, Visconti examines the confusion and upheaval
caused by Italian unification, a movement which had been praised historically, but which, to
Visconti, had fallen shon in its promise of a more positive society. It is also wonh noting that
the parailel between the two time periods had been made not only by the young director, but
by other intellectuals, and most notably by Antonio ~ramsci:'
The Risorgimento had not been the kind of social revolution to forge a
new nation. For most Ltalians, it was just another chapter in history.
Nor was it Qiven much schof arly attention until Antonio Grarnschi
[sic.], during his imprisonment in the Fascist years, narted rewriting
Italian history. Gramschi's [sic.] main conclusion was that the
Risorgimento was not a mie people's revolution. and that the rhetoric
about unification being a result of the wil1 and the activity of the
people was simply untrue. in many provinces the people actually
resisted being subjected to the Piedmontese king; the only groups
' Although Gramsci died in 1937, prior to World War I, his writings on the
Risorgimento were published as part of the Quadernti dal carCern in 1949 (Biondi 6).
Visconti could not have been directly influenced by this text while he was working on
Lo terra trema itself, because the film was released prior to the publishing of
Gramsci's work. Indee, Gramsci's first volume of the Leffere &f carrem was
published in 1947 (Insalaco 13), which indicates that it is questionable that the director
was at al1 influenced by Gramsci during the making o f l a terra trema. The point to
keep in mind hem however, is that many intellecnials, including Visconti, saw
affini ties between their own era and that of Verga's.
La terra trema 70
&?y intemted in the unification were the industrialists and the
intellechids, who for once had found a common interest.
Gramschi 's [sic.] ideas twk root after the Fascist p e n d when Italians
felt a great need to atfirm their national identity and to senle their
accounts with t he p s t .
(Bacon 68-69)
It is not surp~sing that Gramsci's wri tings became popular among Leftist intellectuals in the
years following the end of World War iI. His questioning of the revolutionary aspects of
Risorgimento stiuck a chord in individuals such as Visconti. who eventually began to doubt
that the Resistance and the overthrowing of the Fascist regime would make a significant
difference in Italy. If the strong connechon that Visconti and others made between
contemporary society and the Risorgiimeno was justifiai, then 1 would conclude that artists
living in the two periods, such as Verga and Visconti. may have been moved by similar forces
and influenced by similar circurnstances.
1.2.3 The Soufhern Question
A key element of Verga's work is the portrayal of social life in Sicily, the southemmost
region of the I t d ian Mezogiomo and a long-standing sym bol of the Italian south. Visconti's
interest in the living conditions and the social life in Sicily are evident in the 1948 film, which
can be seen as a critical rereading of I Maimogiia. h e film, whiie depi cting a post-war
situation and exarnining the vicissitudes of the fishermen from a precise historical and
ideologi cal stand point, portrays a famil y, the Valasaos, w hose living conditions and way of
life are not substantiaily different from those of the Malavoglia family. They make their living
the way the Malavoglia do. fishing and struggling to survive; they live in a house similar to
that of the Malavoglias; they are at the mercy of their neighbours' gossip just as the
La terra trema 71
pmtagonists of Verga's novel. nierefore, by maintaining these key elernents and yet injecting
them with a contemporary sensibility, Visconti makes a clear statement on the stagnation of
social conditions in the South.
What transpirai to convert Verga's passive resigation into neorealist
activism was, of course, the Resistance. This movement gave its
generation the confidence to believe that the ideal could impinge upon
the real and that man could forge his own destiny in accordance with
his highest mord promptings. Art, which for Verga bore passive
witness to the undedying dynamism of the historical process, becomes
the instrument for motivating radical change i n the hands of the
neorealists. That vestige of classicai realism which fsed with
nineteenth-century positivism to fom Verga's aesthetic is thus taken
one step hirther by the neorealists who develop the cognitive program
into an incentive for action. The scientific pretensions of nineteenth-
cenniry natural i sm survive in the neorealist aspiration to an objective,
disinterested andysis of the social order. But where Verga could
maintain the pretense of scienti fic impartiali ty because of his resigned
acceptance of the status quo, the neorealists could not uphold this
pretext against the weight of their urgent didacticism .
(Marcus, Itufian Film 25-26)
Visconti's concem with the social conditions in southem Ital y and his poli tical point of view
are of fundamental importance here. The phrase questione meridionrrle. in reference to
Visconti, once again calls to mind a factor which contributeci greatly to the director's
cinematic "rereadings" of this and other literary texts, that being the works of Antonio
Gramsci. As noted above, it is questionable that Visconti was truly familiar with Gramsci's
work at the time that La terra tmnu was made. Lino Miccich seems to provide rather
convincing evidence that Visconti did not becorne acquainted with Gramsci's work until a
later time (Miccich, K e il neoreaiimo 8 1 -82). Miccich States what I have already noted,
Le., that at the time of release of La ferra mema, the ody Gramsci text to have been published
was Leere hi cmere, a text with litle relevance in terms of Lu terra mma. Regardless, it is
La terra trema 72
- - -- - - - - -
c l w that Visconti was sensitive to the questione meridlOltQle, and when the director later
dealt with the issue in films such as Rocco e i muifrateIli and If Gattopmdo, he was
influenced by the writings of the influentid Marxist thinker who had died in a Fascist prison
decades eariier. Rocco r i suoifi.uteiii, in a sense, takes up the discourse left open by La terra
mma. It deals with the destruction of a southeni family who had migrated to Milan to make a
more prosperous life for thernselves. Thus, the glirnmer of hope given by the end of the 1948
film (with the departure of Cola and the refusal of 'Ntoni to accept defeat) is taken up, and
shattered6 On the other hand, II Gatropmio deals with the death of the nobility at the time of
Itaiian unification, as well as with the justifiable inability and unwillingness of the South to
change with the times even dunng a period of revolution as great as the Risorgimento. These
different examinations of the questzone meridiode begi n with Visconti's cri tical and poli ticai
(i.e., Communist) rereading of Verga in La terra hema. One might say, therefore, that Verga
provides the initiai impenis for Visconti to explore one of the main issues that he will explore
throughout his filmography.
1.2.4 Art as Experiment
ln addition to the thematic and political innovations introduced into literature by
verismo and into cinema by Visconti, it i s important to remember that Verga's work aiso
precipitated aesthetic innovation; again, the same rnay be said for the films of the Milanese
director. Romano Lupenni considen I Maic~ogliu a "romanzo sperimentale:" "Verga non si
pmpone [. . .] uno studio 'da1 vero:' suo obiettivo e piunosto quel10 di dare un equivalente
' scientifico' della realt, una sua 'modellirrazione' capace di fomire [un'] illusione completa"
' ~ h e characters of Ciro and Luca, Rocco's younger brothers, do seem to leave the
viewer with the sense that there rnay be hope, but the central characters of Rocco and
Simone are broken at the end of the film.
l a terra trema 73
nature of realism, and of Verga's verismo in particuiar. Much could be said here about
experimentalism and verimo. The author's language, for instance, is quite innovative, a mix
of various registers and regionalisms. In her introduction to Tutte le novelle, Carla Riccardi
describes Verga's use of language in the following way
L'esperimento consegnato al1 ' impacciata e faticosa mi mesi dei
dialoghi di personaggi 'plebei' (battute a bota e risposta, sema
didascalie introduttive, uso del proverbio e della parola generatrice di
discorso, in minima percentuale, pero), negli incerti accenni di
discorso indiretto libero, evidenziato con la punteggiatura O con il
corsivo, ne1 lessico sosta~almente normale (con parecchi toscanismi,
residuo del10 sforzo di formarsi uno strumento linguistico popolare),
corpi estranei. segnalati corne tali dal corsivo.
(Riccardi VI)
Luperini points out that Verga was dive dunng a time of transition. and this may explain, in
part, the exploratory nature of his work:
E [. . .] il Verga - almeno fino alla piena matunt del Mmm -
sempre incerto, alla ricerca di un'ideologia, romantico e positivista
insieme, uno scrittore di transizione, insomma, perch vissuto in
un'et di transizione, contrassegnata da1 passaggio dall 'idealismo
romantico dell'ltaiia risorgimentaie al per Io pi scettico positivismo
del1 'Italia borghese, awiata ad un chiaro sviuluppo capitalistico, di
dopo i1 '60.
@ uperini, Pessimimo e verismo 3 -4)
Antonio Viti also indicates that the shifi in Itaiian society towards expioring the more
"concrete" aspects of life helped to lay the groundwork for a more "scientific" and "studied
form of literature.
homo ai 1850 la vita spintuale e culturaie degli Italiani assume un
aspetto nuovo. All'esaltazione romantica, fatta di splendidi sogni e di
La terra trema 74
wb h i i d d i , e che avevct irnpcmtato di s iuttct la prima meti del
secolo. succede ora [. . .] un atteggiarnento pi pensoso. piu grave. piu
aderente aile obbiettive situaPoni delle cose, dei fam, della realt. A
tutto cio che di troppo astratto e di troppo esasperato i l romanticismo
aveva rappresentato, reagisce on, con voce sempre piu consistente,
una tendenza a rimanere aderenti agli aspetti concreti della natura e
della vita, a muoversi secondo le reali possibilit di azione. a nvolgere
l'occhio e la mente alla grigia triste- della quotidiana esistenza.
Ricerca quindi del concret0 ne1 pensiero, nell'azione, ne1 l 'arte:
ubbidiem non piu al cuore ma alla ragione: meno fantasia e pi
scienza meno poesia e piu prosa.
(Viti 15-16)
Thus, the move away from Romantickm constituted a radical shift, making the move mwards
realism an expetimental one.
[. . .] il distacco dalla tradizione e il progretto di classificazione socio-
ambientale del presente si inaecciano [. . .] nell'adesione, prima
entusiasta e poi sconsolata e 'impersonale'. del verisrno verghiano.
Continuit O romira col passato, storicismo O evoluzionismo, disagio O
accettazione del presente. sono le forme di coscienza attraveno cui gli
intellettuali del secondo ttocento si confrontano con la societ.
(Patmno 9)
As with the other issues that connect Verga and Visconti, on the topic of reaiisrn and its
expenmenial nature, it is once again apparent that Visconti was attracted to the Sicilian author
because of the &hi ties Verga's work had with the art being created in 1940s ttaly. Visconti's
experiments with neorealisrn led him on a quest to produce a characters that were "authentic"
and "human." The "humanity" that he attempted to inject into the film came in large part from
the non-professional actors that were hired to play the characters in the film, and h m the
process that Visconti used while shwting the film. Not rel ying on a script but on his own
understanding and knowiedge of the Verga characters and on the inventiveness of the
townspeople of AQ Trezza who had been hand-picked to portray the memben of the Valastro
La terra trema 75
. .. .
family, was able , sai ke a balance between his own design and the improvisation of
his actors. In using the locals of the Sicilian t om, Visconti was able to experiment with
langage in a way similar to Verga, and he was able to make similar social statements.
h e combination of Verga's verismo and Msconti's unique brand of cinema
culminated in a film that brought about much debate on the issue of neorealisrn. From the time
of i ts release, La terra trema was cri ticized by some for completely betray i ng neorealist and
even realist ideals. ' Among the critics to put forth this opinion afier the release of the film
was Andr Bazin, who found the film to be slow and stylized (Wollen 132). Contemporary
critics have aiso pointed out the "anti-realist" effect of the 1948 film: "Visconti's fanatic
adherence to realist procedural demands [. . .] had the paradoxical effect of sabotaging the
film's realism by requiring expedients of a formalist sort," (Marcus. Filmmaking 29). Marcus
cites the use of dialect and subsequent addition of subtitles, the absence of a screenplay which
gave absolute power to Visconti, and the recourse to a literary model. for what was to have
been a documentary on the plight of the Sicilian proletariat - according to Marcus, this is the
most serious antirealist implication. On the other hand, othen have seen Lu terra mrna as a
key contributor to the continuation of the neorealist exPenment.' Still othen have gone
fnher, stating that the development of a realist aesthetic in cinema was achieved with La
ferru nema, a film that brwght the neorealist aesthetic to its maximum, point, and which
'The debate surrounding neoreaiism vs. realism and Visconti began with Lo terra
mmu and continued and intensified through the years, culminating in the heated
debates on S e m. The issue of realism and Visconti is discussed in Chapter 2.
' ~ e e especiall y Lino Miccich, Ksconti e il neorealmo. O ~ s e ~ o n e ~ Lu terra trerna*
Be Iiissima.
La terra trema 76
brought cineme in a di fkent directi~tt. ~ Whatever the opinion, there seems to be a consensus
that La terra &ma constitutes a transitional point in Italian film history
Questo ritorno al cinema [con La terra fiema] fii per Visconti
un'espenenza di straordinaria importanui e significato. Non solo. ma
costitui un termine di riferimento obbiigato per le discussioni, le
analisi, i programmi, le ieorizzazioni che in quel periodo
accompagnarono criticamente I'afYermarsi del cosiddetto neorealismo
cinematografico italiano. Anche per questo, La ferra fretna si colloca
in ma posizione che potremmo definire di spartiacque, ne1 senso che
indica un punto d'arrivo d'ma ricerca contenutistica e formale che
coinvolse in primo luogo Visconti e i suoi amici e collaboraton. in
secondo Iuogo un po' tutto il miglior cinema italiano di quegli anni; e
contemporaneamente segna una framira, su1 piano estetico e su quello
politico. in un moment0 in cui, dopo la vittoria delle fone moderate
nelle elezioni del 1 8 aprile 1948, la societ italiana si awiava ad
attraversare un lungo periodo di restaurazione ideologica e di
imposizione di una pace sociale, che nascondeva O cercava di
nascondere i veri conflitti di classe.
(Rondo1 ino, Luchino bisconti 1 9 5-96)
Taking into account the ideology of the time and the conventions that were being sought to
porray "realism," the notion that Lu terra trema is the point of passage from neorealism to
reaiism in Visconti's filrnography is a reasonable one. 1 would add that if this statement can be
made, it is, in large part, because of the source material Visconti utilized: the writing of
Giovanni Verga. I f we compare L a terra mrna to Vittorio De Sica's M i di biciclette, for
example, another classic of Italian cinema released in the sarne year and one of the more
commonly-cited examples of neorealist cinema, sorne significant differences can be noted.
The contemporary subject matter of De Sica's film, and the focus on a working-class man's
struggle to provide for his farnily in post-war Rome gives the film a much different feel than
Visconti achieves with La terra fretna. The tale of the Valastros seems to have a more timeless
' ~e e especially Guido Aristarco, "Da1 neoreaiismo al realismo: Sem0 di Visconti."
La terra trema 77
tale of epic proportions.
Ma, ed qui una delle vitali contraddizioni de La terra trema, tutto
questo fornulario, la cui ricchezza neorealistica non trova riscontro in
aicuna altra opera del cinema itaiiano postbellico. viene da \isconii
interamente fus0 in personale materia poetica, facendogli assumere
una stilizzazione aitissima che trasfigura tutti i dati della (illuscria)
oggettivit neorealistica in dati funriondi della (inevitabile)
soggettivit poetica. Cosi la quotidianit si sublima una assom
teatralizzaione del gesto; le denotarioni 'autentiche' - gesti e volti,
muri e stracci, sfondi e oggem - si trasformano in connotazioni
atopiche ed acroniche; i dialoghi nella 'lingua dei poveri' finiscono
per inserini pi nella zona musicale che in quella concettuale
dell'opera; le maglie bucate degli uomini e i vestiti neri delle donne
diventano, da sintorni di uno st~tus, elementi compositivi di una
costante tensione figurativa. Nessun film postbellico - lo si detto -
dereaiizza la realt filmata, in modo cosi radicale, rovesciando la
Cronaca in epica, owero usando alcuni fopoi del modo di produzione
neordista per approdare ad esiti opposti.
(Miccich, Yisconti e il neoreaiimo 1 82-83)
Given the elements described in the above quotation, the labelling of ta terra trema as a
"realist" film is, admittedly, is a problematic one. 1 would like to postulate that the polemic
arises because of Visconti's insistence on certain principles and techniques that appear in
Verga, and with which the director experirnents. Consider the definitions Visconti himself
provided through the yean, when asked about the definitions of neodi sm and reaiism:
Penso che il neoredisrno non sia una rigida forma stilistica legata aile
conhngenze di un deteminato periodo, bensi l'inizio dell'evolurione
del cinema, corne fatto d'arte, su un piano di sempre pi approfondit0
accostamento alla vita nelle sue varie istanze e di una sempre pi
approfondita conoscema della reaIt umana.
(Visconti, "Dichiarazionin 48)
La terra trema 78
Io parla pi di redismq che di neordisrno. Noi dobbiamo porci in
una attitudine morale di fronte agli awenimenti, alla vita: in un
atteggiamento, insomma, che ci consenta di vedere con occhio
limpido, cntico la societ cosi come oggi, e raccontare fam che di
questa societi sono parte. Neoredisrno fu un termine inventato allorq
perch uscivamo da quel cinerna che sai, e avevarno bisogno di novit.
Ma abbiarno trattato i terni che ci si consentiva di trattare da
quell'angolo visuale che stato sempre tipico di un artista reaiista.
(Chiaretti 57)
It must be noted that both of these definitions are given after the fact, in the decades following
the flourishing of neorealism. Despite this, however, they give some insight into Visconti's
notions of reaiism. 1 will continue the discussion of neorealism and realism in Chapter 2,
when 1 cover the controversy surrounding the release of Senso. Rather than being linked to a
rigidl y -defined, programmatic trend, Visconti's notion of realism was more broad, and
focused on varied and complex manifestations of the vicissitudes of hurnan beings.
1.3 1 Malavoglia as Source: an Analysis
It would be opportune at this point to enter into a more detailed analysis of Lo terra
mma, exarnining the ways in which Verga serves as a source for Visconti. I have hopefully
established that La [erra trema owes much to its Verghian source, but 1 do not wish to enter
into a discussion on the notion of fidelity to the Verghian text:
. . . 1 "assistenza' che il romamo di Verga fomi a Visconti - sia pure
per rileggere, ricostruire e riaffabulm ne1 secondo dopoguerra del
Novecento, la realt acitrezzina del quart'ultimo decennio
dell'Ottocento - appare, a wnti fatti, talmente 'continua' da fare de
La terra nema un caso esem plare, fra i mol ti praticati dal suo autore,
di ideale rapport0 fra cinema e letteratuni: quel10 di un testo
( ~ i n e ma t o ~ c o ) che usa un altro testo (letterario) non gi corne un
semplice canovaccio da seguire, O come un copione da il1 ustrare, O
corne unplot da modifiaire con le varianti d'uso; bensi come una vera
e propia realti da, appunto, leggere, interpretare, [n]cosmiire e
La terra trema 79
affabulare liberamente, n piu n meno di un fenomeno naturaie, O
sociale, O antrolopologico che venga 'autorialmente' letto,
interpretato, [ri]costmito e affabulato in una mimesis di primo grado."
(Miccich, C.l e il neordisrno 1 28)
Visconti himself must have had some awareness of the limits that he set when adapting I
Moklvogiza, as is evidenced by the faa that in the opening credits of La terra trema, there is
no trace of recogni tion of the fact that the film is based on Verga's 188 1 novel; rather, we see
only the subtitle, "Episodio del mare." The omission of the former and the inclusion of the
latter are a testament to the way in which the film project developed. It i s a well-known fact
that La terra trema grew into the film we know today in an almoa accidental manner.
Begiming as a documentary on the plight of the Sicilian proletariat, or rather, as a work of
"docu-fiction," (Miccich, ksconti e il nemafisrno 85), the project was to serve as a kind of
propaganda pichtre for the Italian Cornmunist Party (PCI) before the elections of 1948. The
film was original1 y to be an interweaving of three different episodes held together by a grand
design which was to illustrate the coming together of the proletariat for the cornmon goal of
overcoming their oppresson and of asserting their own power. The fint episode narrated the
aory of a group of tishermen, the second, a team of sulphur miners, and the third, a group of
farmers. The three episodes were to illustrate a crescendo of social awareness and of
collaboration, culminating in a scene of revolution in which the labourers came together to
combat against the bourgeois enemy. Because he was not working with a script, Visconti
encountered di fi dt i es when he realized the complexity of the story he had in mind for the
episode of the fishemem, (Marcus, Fifmntakrng 30). It was at this point that the director
decided to exploit what for him had been a very valuable resource, the literature of Verga.
La terra trema 80
A me, lettore lombardo, abituato per tradizionale consuetudine al
limpido rigore della fantasia manzoniana, ii mondo primitivo e
giyantesco dei pescaton di Aci Trezza [. . .] era sempre apparso
sollevato in un ton0 immaginoso e violent0 di epopea: ai miei occhi
lombardi, pur contenti del cielo della mia terra che 'cosi bello
quand' bello', la Sicilia di Verga era apparsa dawero l'isola di
iisse, un'isola di awenture e di fervide passioni, situata immobile e
fiera contro i marosi del mare Jonio.
Pensai cosi ad un film sui Malavoglia.
(Visconti, "Tradizione" 30-3 1 )
Much transpired, however, between the writing of these words and the time of making of the
1948 film.
L'esperienza della guerra e della Resistenza ha inciso profondamente
sull' atteggiamento ideologico di Visconti. AI fascino per le passioni
primitive e 'ti taniche,' che aveva caratteriuato i l suo primo
accostarnento alla Sicilia di Verga, si unisce ora la ricerca delle ragioni
storiche, economiche e sociali della questione mendionale.
Bencivenni 20)
As previously mention4 the search for historical, economic and social motivations that
codd explain the state of the country, in conjunction with a quest for artistic innovation,
motivated Visconti as he employed f Ma~mog!ia within the cinematic expenment that became
La terra hema. One could contend that Verga's text lends itself extremely well to a
Communist re-reading, for, in I MaIuvog!ia, Verga seerns to demonstrate a kind of resistance
to the conservative ideas emerging with the d a m of industrialization. Even in 188 1, Verga
seemed to be showing a type of "anticapitalismo" that arose fiom the disappointment over the
Risorgimento, and h m the intellechial crisis experienced by authon during this time pend
La terra trema 81
(Romano, 13). Thus, Visconti's chaiceof source tex& almg with the social sensibility that h e
had developed throughout the Resistance and its afiermath, aided in shaping the end produa
into a social1 y-conscious work of art.
In the Introduction I alluded to the fact that exchanges between literature and cinema
have been copious throughout the history of cinema. They have also been rather unexpected:
in the case of Lo terru trerna, it mua be pointed out that elements of the Verga text may be
seen as corresponding to techniques sirnilar to those of the cinema. This point may seem to be
a controversiai one, in that it could be argued that it is not possible for a text written just
before the invention of ciriema to contain elements which rnay be deemed "cinematic."
However, as both media are narrative in nature. some similariles in technique can be found.
One could speculate that Visconti selected texts that he not only found interesting for artistic
and ideological rasons, but that also included mes which he could take up in his artistic
medium, the cinema. One ought to remember that Visconti was an extremely successful
theatre director, and that drama, by its very nature, forces one to reconstruct a written text into
a performance text. Therefore, Visconti's propensity for "reconstnicting" texts as part of the
artistic process, was one that probably &ove him to choose the literary works he chose for
their particular "visual" or "cinematic" qualities.
7.3.1 The "Visuel" in Veqa and Wscon
Although literature is not a figurative art, it can be highl y descriptive, and as such, it
cm be used to build detailed and elaborate senes of images. It is not unreasonable, therefore,
to speak about visual representation and I ~MaIiwog~ra. Verga's descriptions are extremel y
vivici, almost scenic, giving the reader the sensation that the narrator is providing an eye-
La terra trema 82
wiaiess account of the action. Massirno Romano is in agreement on this point. Speaking of the
use of space in I Mafmogiia he States:
E uno spazio di tipo scenico, luogo privilegiato dei movimenti, dei
gesti, delle parole e dei pensieri degli anori della vicenda. Esso
coincide con il villaggio di Acitrezza, ordinato in una serie di momenti
scenici ..."
(Romano 33)
As one reads the novel, it becornes apparent that it is airnost possible to create a physical map
of Aci Trezza based on its descriptions, so strong is the visual aspect of the narration. The
spaces of Aci Trezza are reproduced quite faithfully in I Malavogiia: the sea, the beach, the
hill, the church, the osteria, the salt shop, are d l described precisely by Verga. Furthemore,
these spaces are described in such a way as to simulate a visual description. In I Malavoglia
one witnesses scenes that almost seem cinematic. In the second chapter. for instance, Verga
describes conversations occumng among three different groups of people. Piedipapera and
Cipolla are "sugli scalini della chiesa." "Sull'uxio della bottega" are don Franco and don
Silvestre, and in the Malavogiia house are the women, who are speaking of the love affain of
the various inhabitants of Aci Trena (Verga, I Mafmogiia 40-59). Verga cuts back and forth
between the three groups, creating an effect sirnilar to one that is ofien seen in the cinema,
with cuts occumng back and forth in order to convey simultaneity of action.
It may be said, therefore. that what Verga reproduces linguistically, Visconti
reproduces with a camera. Lino Miccich, in facf makes the point that Verga's text contains
'oIronically, in the case of the geography of AQ Trezza one cm speak of
"reproduction" in the original text more so than in Visconti's film, as Verga was forced
to reproduce linguistically what already existed in real life. For Visconti, this kind of
reproduction was much simpler, as the only tool required for him to reproduce the
town was the canera.
La tem trema 83
- - --
what cwtd be the linguistic quivalent of a craFs-dissolue. and that Visconti's film is in fact
divided into a senes of forty -seven "capi toletti narrativi" (Uiccich. C( e il neoreaZismo 1 23)
that are also divided by cmss-dissolves. Miccich defines the purpose of the cinematic
dissolve as to "separare-suturare due inquadrature." ( 120). For I Mahwogh, Miccich uses
the term "dissolvenze incrociate Ietterarie." (123). Of the novel's fourteen chapters, Miccich
notes that ten are connectai in a methodical manner. A word or concept is used in the final
sentence of a chapter, and then the same word. or a slight variation thereof, is repeated in the
first sentence of the chapter that follows. Miccich points out that the same occurs within the
chapters, between two separate episodes. One could posit that certain visual techniques or
conventions that are typically thought of as being unique to the cinema, like the cross-
dissolve. or the series of cuts from one location to another to simulate contemporaneity of
action, may have actually been bomowed from li terature.
La terra trema 84
A cornparison of character in Verga and Visconti will hopefull y reveal some
interesting ties between novel and film. Consider the detailed character rnap assembled by
Lino Miccich ( Z: r il neorealismo 128-29):
La terra trema I Mala voglia
the grandfather (Padron Giovanni) the grandfather (Padron 'Ntoni)
the mother Mara la Longa
(Sebastiano Valastro) [SelBastiano Malavogiia (cd led
Bastianazzo)
' Ntoni Vdastro
Cola Valastro
' Ntoni Malavoglia
Mara Vdastro Mena Maiavogiia
Lucia V'aiastro Lia Malavoglia
Alfto Vdastro
Vanni Valastro
Lia Vdastro
Alessi Malavoglia
Nicola (the bricklayer) Alfio Mosca (the carrettiere)
Don Salvatore (the t o m mashail) Don Michele (the customs officer)
Janu Rocco Spatu
Nedda Barbara
Raimondo Zi o Crocifisso
Ni no the "bad" Padron Cipolla the "bad
Conte wholesalers Massaro Filippo rich
Pandolla Pi edi papera
Lorenzo
Visconti reduces the nurnber of characters because his plot revolves around one central theme,
the attempted emancipation of 'Ntoni Vdastro. The characters that could be defined as the
human antagonists (for it must be remembered that the greatest antagonia of the Malavoglia
La terra trema 85
fmi l y i s Fate) are nrnerous in the novel. Millicent Ma a s redoces these characters to
types1 ' (FilmmoRing, 32): the gossips (la Zuppidda); the intrigues (Don Silvestre,
Piedipapera); the shrews (la Vespa); the weaklings (Don Franco, Tun Zuppido); and the
hypocrites (Zio Crocifisso). Al1 of these "types" would have been supe~uous in La terra
nema, since the focus of the film is different. The fishrnongen, the banken, are al1 the same;
they are al1 antagonists. because they are al1 part of the privileged and ruthiess class which
exploits 'Ntoni and his famil y. Thus, the "enemy" is really reduced to one, and for this reason,
the other characters are not necessary.
In addition. the characten who are retained in the film are simplifieci. and so, too. are
their drarnatic functions. For instance, in the novel, Alfio Mosca is: 1 ) Mena's love interest; 2)
the Malavoglia's neighbour, 3) a participant in the Malavogfia's plight - he is present when
Bastianazzo dies and when the grandfather is brought to the hospital (Micciche 133). In other
words, he is a witness to the entire saga of the Malavoglia farnily. On the other hand, Alfio's
cinematic counterpart, Nicola, is portrayeci only as Mena's love i nterest. He is a bricklayer
who works near the Valasno home. No additional information about him is provided.
Una rete di incami e di trasposizioni permette al regista di mantenere
intatti quasi tutti gli episodi che ricava dai Maiavoglia. Li inserisce in
una storia che del romaruo ha lo stesso svihppo (Io sfacefo
progressivo di una famiglia ridotta alla miseria), con una variante sola:
il film trascura la sene di conflitti che oppongono 1 Maiavoglia
all'ambiente, e imposta un confitto unico, quel10 di 'Ntoni con i
grossi sti del pesce (i quali diventano i 'awersario sociale che
sostituisce la fitt trama di una speculazione non organiaata, ne1
romanzo, intomo a un nucleo preciso).
(Bencivemi 20)
"The tenn "type" is my own, not Marcus's. Marcus divides these characters into
categones to prove a different point than the one that 1 am attempting to make hem.
La terra trema 86
As Bencivemi maintains here, the plot changes made by Msconti stem fIom the fact that La
terra m a is propelled forward by young 'Ntoni's smtggle to overcorne social injustice, as
opposed to the family's struggle to overcome the difficulties of life and Fate. Again, Visconti
simplifies the Verghian text and he does so in order to further his social statement, that is, the
exploitation of the proletanat, and of their need for emancipation.
f.3.3 Language
An interesting and signifiant point of comparison between I MaImogIlia and La terra
nema is the use of language. Indeed, such a comparison reveals much about the social
fiinction of La terra trema. In order to achieve a realistic tone, Verga experimented with
language in a specific way, by employing vanous tehniques that make the 188 1 t ea seem
"authentic." In a sense, Visconti takes up where Verga left off, and employs language in a
similar way. utilizing it as a tool not only to give his film realism, but also as a means of
reinforcing his social statement. 1 will now investigate the way Verga makes use of hne n
language, exploring the way in which Visconti incorporates elements of the language of I
MaIavogIlia into his own tex& altering certain elements in order to Further his political agenda
and to reinforce the social statement he makes with the film.
1 would describe the language of 1 Malavoglia as a sort of "Sicilianized Italian", an
italimio siciIimi~ato. The function of this Ianguage construct is to reproduce Sicilian on the
page. The examples of this are innumerable. For instance: "... i forestien vanno hstati,"
(128) which cornes from the Sicilian proverb, "frsteri, f'stili," (128). We also see the use of
words such as "minchione," (145). There is the use of the improper article in "il zafferano"
(201); and the use of the simple past in the dialogue, such as when 'Ntoni says, "Venni per
vedervi," (298). Very often the syntax of sentences, the word use, the metaphors, the sayings,
La terra trema 87
find their ongins in Sicilian For instance, the wa t o r uses Sicdian sayings s u d i as "Lo zio
Crocifisso strillava come se gli strappassero le penne mastre," (40). Penne musne, according
to Sarah Zappulla Muscar, the editor of the version from which 1 am quoting here, refers to
"le penne remiganti, proprie dei vol atili," (Verga. I Maiavogllia 40, foohiote I ) . The use of
Sicilian, therefore, @es the reader a taste of the spoken language of the Malavoglia farnily.
In the case of Visconti. the director was working with the medium of film, and he was
therefore able to simply record the spoken language. For this reason, it rnay be said that
working with the relatively new medium of cinema allowed hirn to find a solution which
Verga restxicted to the written word, could not have used.
Depurando il dialetto da ogni venatura folcloristica, con Ln terra
fnvna la lingua dei pescatori di Aci Trena viene resti tuita, oltre che
alla sua dignit di stmmento espressivo di alta drarnmaticit, al suo
significato pi profondo; quello di uno dei modi, e non certo il minore.
mediante cui si esprime la reclusione storica inflitta ad una societ
comtemente relegata ai margini del10 sviiuppo del paese.
( Attol i ni, Dai romanzo 1 1 2)
Unfominately, Visconti's use of Sicilian caused him much cnticism. He was charged with
being elitist, in that his use of very tight Sicilian in the film did not allow his audience to
understand the film. In facf the incomprehensible nature of the dialogue eventually forced
Visconti to re-reiease the film with Itdian subtitles. This led critics such as Sipala to state that
the dialect of the film impedes "l'espressione del dmmma dei Valastro in termini
universaimente comprensibili" (42). Visconti may easily be defended from this cri ticism, in
that the use of dialect makes the text more "genuine," more "authentic," it brings the language
of the film closer to the language of the people about whom the text speaks. it brings the
characten to life with an authenticity that i s typicaily realist, even veristu: ". . . ai nostri
La terra trema 88
namtori vensti stato dato il nome di provincidi: Verga e Capuana hanno rhatto la lom
Sicilia, Deledda la sua Sardegna, [ecc.]," (Viti 27-28). Visconti discovered what the verisii
had discovered decades earlier: that there was no better way to portray the "provincial," than
by using the language of the common people.
1 veristi italiani. in generale, vollero midiare e ri produrre da1 vero i
diveni aspetti della vita, ma senza concentrare esclusivamente Io
sguardo sugli elementi deterion e pi perversi . Ne1 complesso da noi il
verisrno si ispiro alla vita del popolo, degli umili, dei poveri; cerco di
individuare e far rivivere ne1 romanzo le caratteristiche spirituali ed
ambientali delle varie regioni, documentando le condirioni e le
aspirazioni dei singoli e delle popolazioni.
Per questo ai nosti narratori veristi stato dato il nome
di pmvinciali [. . .]
(Viti 27)
As previously mentioned, Verga's language is heterogeneous. Dialectal foms, be they
at the level of gramrnar, of syntax, or of vocabulary, appear throughout the text. They are
introduced in the dialogues as well as in the narration. For Verga, therefore, authenticity is
given to the text by the use of a son of "pseudo-Sicilian," that he recreates on paper. In h
terra trema, Visconti uses the Sicilian dialect to a different end. Visconti makes a distinction
in his film between the use of Sicilian and the use of Italian; in doing this, he manages to
reinforce his ideological position. The commentary, or perhaps narration, of the film, is given
in standard Italian. in addition to this distinction, there is another made among the characters.
The Cl dest i no, the charmer who lures Cola out of Aci Treaa, speaks Italian, albeit a
typically Southem Italian. The same is mie of the bank officials who come to inspect the
VaIastro home. It is ciear that Visconti rnakes nich distinctions in order to distinguish the
social classes. This fact is also explicidy stated in the famous opening of the film:
La terra trema 89
I fani rappresentati in questo film accadmo in ltalia e precisamente in
Sicilia, ne1 paese di Acitrezza, che si trova su1 Mare Ionio a poca
distanza da Catania. La storia che il film racconta la stessa che ne1
mondo si rinnova da anni in tutti quei paesi dove uomini sfmttano al tri
uomi ni.
Le case. le strade, le barche, il mare, sono quelli di Acitrena.
Tutti yii attori del film sono stati scelti fra gli abitanti del paese:
pescatori, ragazze, braccianti, muratori, grossisti di pesce.
Essi non conoscono lingua divena da1 siciliano per esprimere
ribellioni, dolori. speranze. La lingua italiana non in Sicilia la lingua
dei poveri.
(Lu tewu petna 1948)
A final observation on language in the two texts, is that Visconti makes use of a
linguistic element that is of fundamental importance in Verga's text: the proverb. Visconti uses
many proverbs, quite oflen lifting them veratim from the pages of I Maiavogiia. In both
versions @ut particularly in the film). the repetition of proverbs, particularly by the
grandfather, contributes greatly to the works, in that it emphasizes the diferences between the
older generation and its stoic nature, and the hope in a better funire that 'Ntoni has.
... ogni proverbio in realt il nsultato di un certo processo verbale: di
osservazioni, di esperierue, di giudizi. di connessioni che non si sono
dati per mitica rivelazione. ma che sono nati da una storia. Tuttavia la
storia vi corne inawertita, non se ne ha pi coscienza; ed ogni
proverbio per chi Io ripete con intima adesione, ab aeferno: un detto
antico appunto. La noria vi si contratta, fino ad annullarsi:
cristallinata [. . .] La stona c', ma nascosta e ci0 che pi conta,
negata.
(Cirese 79)
"Padron 'Ntoni - protagonista dei MuImog~ia - ancora tutto preso dalla rassegnazione e dai
proverbi antichi, lascia il posa ne1 film, al nipote: vale a dire il passato al presente,"
(Aristarco, " neorealismd 871). The transfer of emphasis from the old generation to the new
La tem trema 90
once again -es V,scontils political agenda It dianges the tone of the text from the
pessimisrn of the original. As Anstarco observed in t 960, five years after he wrote the
preceding statement :
Visconti, artista legato al suo tempo corne 10 f il Verga, supera
pemnto I'epoca storica del10 scnttore siciliano: la oltrepassa. Tanto
vero che padron 'Ntoni, protagonista ne1 romanzo. ne1 film lascia il
posto aila figura del nipote: ci& il passato, ancora tutto preso dalla
nwegnazione e dalla saggezza dei proverbi antichi, ai presente: a una
evasione non dalla vita, ma da una vita. E il giovane 'Ntoni non ha
nulla a che vedere con quel10 de I Maiavog/ia [. . . ] [Questo] [. . .] alla
fine costretto ad abbandonare il paese [. . .] [Quello] prende a poco a
poco coscienza del suo stato attraverso una intuizione di giustizia
sociale e di 1 i bert.
(Ari starw, Storia delle teoriche 3 75 -76)
By emphasizing the new generation, and ending the film with the focus on 'Ntoni, Visconti
creates a much more positive tone. This can be seen pnncipally in the recharactenzation of
'Ntoni Wavoglia into 'Ntoni Valastro. Contmy to 'Ntoni in I Molavogk, who l aves before
daybreak because he does not want the villages to see his defeat and shame, Visconti ends his
film by showing us Antonio, aiso at daybreak, rowing energetically and with an expression
that suggests a stmng will to undertake once more in due time and with better results what he
had previously undertaken and failed (Hatuuitonis 46). It is certainly tme that the final shots
of 'Ntoni rowing out to sea seem to suggest that he is not broken at the end of the film, that he
will continue the stniggie for independence from the fishmongers. This fact is supported by
the speech 'Ntoni makes in the presence of Rosa, the liale gid who approaches him as he
stands by the broken boat:
La terra trema 91
. . . Chissa e 'a v a r a d'i vicchiareddi mial 'U uiri corn' rriddutta?
Dicinu tutti ca fa curpa mia ca s'arriduciu a ' SU statu ... [Scrolla il
capo e guarda a de- lontano verso il mare.] ... Ma veni 'u iornu ca
'u sannu sentiri hm ca iu ci Gu raggiuni! Allura, a prdiri tumi 'ccussi
comun mi finiu a mmia, statu bbeni ppi tutti! ... [Guarda di nuovo
Rosa.] . . . Bisogna ca nn'impararnu a vulinnni bbeni unu CU' 'nn'utru,
e a essin tutti 'na cosa ... Allura si, ca si po' gghiri avanti! .. .
(La terra mema 1 89)12
'Ntoni's words. which allude to a hypothetical future in which everyone will be united and al1
will be peaceful, and in which his own hardships will have been for the h r e good ofhis
people, cd1 to mind the original, tripartite plan for the film. It must be rernernbered that the
"episode of the sea" was designed to illustrate the failure of the people to unite, and it was
only in the second and third episodes that the audience was to witness the solidarity of the
people.
11.4 Conclusion
The use of Giovanni Verga's I MaIavogIia as a literary source in Visconti's Lu terra
nema results in a text that has a definite imprint of the original. At the same time, the Verga
novel is used by Visconti as a vehic!e to advance his own artistic experiment. By utilizing
arn'stic techniques fiom the pst, Visconti makes a comment on the present state of art and
society, and looks to the future.
[Con La lerra mma, Visconti] ritlette, da una parte, sulle lunghe
suggestioni del testo verghiano ("ridotto" in diverse riprese e
" ~ he translation of the dialogue is as follows: ''Quesia la barca dei miei poveri
vecchi ! Vedi come ridotta? Dicono tutti che colpa mia se ridotta in questo stato.. .
Ma verrii il giorno che tutti sapranno riconoscere che io ho ragione! Allora, l'aver
perso nitto come successo a me sar stato un bene per tutti! ... Bisognga (sic.) che
imparino a volersi bene l'uno con I'altro, e ad essere tutti una cosa sola . . . Allora si che
si pu0 andare avanti ! " (Lu terra trema 200)
La terra trema 92
sceneggiato in vaFie pagine) dove Ia misera materie siciliana si
trasfigurava ne1 mito; mentre, dall'altra parte, meditava sugli
aweni menti contemporanei della Cronaca i nsanguinata: il massacro
dei contadini a Portella delle Ginestre e la congiura politica della
mafia, poi Melissa, l'occupazione delle terre [. . .] Acitrezza diveniva
i l luogo geomehico dove potevano incontrarsi il passato remoto (la
vita feudale. immobile) e il futuro sconvolgente (la coscienza solidaie
dedi sfmttati): ed ecco che la terra trema.
(Baidelli 60)
Although I Maluvogl~a was an integai part of the basic plan for La terra trema. the
contemporary ideoiogical slant resulted in a text with a different focus. Regardless of this.
Verga's imprint is still very much on the film. and the employment of the novel in many ways
aided Visconti in pushing the neorealist experiment to the maximum. La terra trema is a
unique expenment in the history of cinema, and it is so. due to the amalg=mation of its source
Chapter 2
Senso
Ispi r;ui one, non traduzi one . . .
( Ari starco, " Da1 neoreali smo" 90)
Anche nella vita esistono personaggi melodrammatici. corne
esistono in Sicilia pescaton analfabeti ...
(Visconti, "Da Une partie" 68)
Ln terra trema had the magnitude and the nobiliry of opera;
S e m has the density and the import of reality.
(Bazin, "Senso" 161)
in 1954, Luchino Visconti released the beautifid and controversial Semo. The film's
combination of literary and non-literary artistic influences, and historical and contemporary
social themes, makes it a complex cinematic text that demonstrates the director's keen ability
to weave together several influences and to transform them into a coherent, historically
relevant, and artistically admirable work. As far as the issue of literature is concemed, the film
is somewhat similar to La terra mma, in that i t does take its inspiration for i ts characiers and
plot from one literary source (in this case, the source is the 1883 novella by Camillo Boito of
the same title, "Senso"). The basic story line is then moulded, shaped, and transformeci so as
to depict situations and themes that were arti sticall y interesti ng and social1 y relevant to
Visconti, and, presumably, to the socie$y in which the director worked. Unlike in Lu terra
m a , however, in Senro Visconti inaoduces a wealth of elements from the wodd of opera,
music, and the visual arts, ail of which allow us to speak of the issue of literature, and more
93
Senso 94
generafly, art, as tnjhrme, thac is to say. es an instrument of inspiration used to create new
cinematic foms as well as innovative content tt will be the purpose of this chapter to outline
the vanous extemal influences that shaped S e m and to examine the way in which these
influences, literary and othenuise, function together to create a work that is original and
subversive in its foms and its content. The issue of influence will be analyzed within the
context of rnelodrama, for Sensu is influenced by this dramatic genre fint and foremost. Being
a compendium of many genres, the melodmma is, almost by definition, a collection of
influences. Given Visconti's propensity for weaving together various artistic resources in
order to create his cinematic works. and given the preference for the melodramatic genre that
he expresses throughout his body of work, it would be appropriate to analyze the influences in
Senso by exarnining them wi thin the framework of the melodrama.
2.1 Realism vs. Spectacle
As 1 have show with Ln terra mma, one cannot full y appreciate Visconti's
filmmaking without placing each film in its histoncal context. An analysis of the film's
context is no l e s vital in the case of Senso. From the beginning, Semo was seen as a
polemicai film, generating many disputes among cntics. Some of these focused on illustraihg
the ways in which the film allowed for a new definition of reaiism, while others rejected the
notion that the film contributed to advancing the artistic discoune on realism in film, and
focuseci on the d l e d "spectecuiaf' aspects of the film. Without a doubt, the main
proponent of Semo's value as a realist film was Guido Aristarw:
Senso 95
Visconti pam dal nicconto, ddia 'stotiella vane' di uno capigliato. e
arriva al romanzo, al respiro della grande e distesa narrazione. ferma
l'individu0 nella sua concret- umana. nei suoi rapporti con la
societ e con gii altri individui. Nessuno l'ha notato: ma in questo
consiste l'importanza - e la novit prima - del film di Visconti; in
queao indicare, lui che ha apeno le strade della nostra civilt
cinematografica, una delle vie piu logiche e congeniali per
approfondire il discorso del neoredisrno cinematografico.
(Aristarco. "Da1 neoreaiisrno" 89-90)
Aristarco was a staunch supporter of the idea that Senso constituted the "mie" and
"propet' direction to be taken in order to frther the neor di a "experiment" i n cinema
towards realism. He continued to support the t'lm by using the vehicle of Cinema Nuovo. In
articles such as "Senso" (fiom which the above quotation is taken) and "E neoreaiismo," he
affinns and defends his posi tion on the fi lm. ' An starco, however, was not al one in his view. It
suffices here to consider, for instance. the words of a young Vittorio Taviani. who wrote a
letter to the editor of Cinema Ntmvo which read:
L'ultimo film di Visconti ci sembra la conseguenza pi coerente delle
premesse del neoredisrno. Se il nostro cinema del dopoguera nato
dalla Resistenza - come resistenza soprattutto al fascismo - era
inevitabile che. dopo aver volto io sguardo al presente, cercasse di
giungere alle radici del fenomeno poli tico e sociale: si incontrasse cio
col Risorgimento come col moment0 storico che segna la nascita
dell'ltaiia come nazione moderna. Ed era anche inevitabile che a un
esame attento, condotto sulla scorta dei nsultati piu ihminati dena
corrente ~ t o n o ~ c a che fa capo a Gramsci, a Gobetti, a Salvatorelli,
la nvoluzi one borghese tradisse la sua caratteristica fondamentale di
rivoluzione incornpiuta. Spingendo a fondo la sua indagine ne1 tessuto
della vita nazionaie, Visconti apre nuove prospettive al cinema e
raccoglie nello stesso tempo 1 ' eredit del passato.
(Taviani 881)
' Although he supported Sem0 as taking a legi timate direction towards the expansion
of the notion of neoreaiism, it is interesting to note that Aristarw was very much
opposed to other directon' experiments with neoredism. The most &king example
of this is the critic's strong stance against Fellini's L4 SR& (1954).
Senso 96
Such positions spmkcd a heated debate. The most vocal opponent cm the other side of
the debate was that of Luigi Chiarini. h the article, "Tradisce il neorealismo." for instance,
Chiarini defined i n very specific tenns what the notion of "neorealisrn" had ben, how it had
originated and what elements it had had:
"Neorealismo" poteva anche essere una denominazione impropna;
cornunque con essa si volevano indicare quei film come R o m cittu
qerttt, Pais, Scircsci, M i di bicickf~e. LQ ferra ~ema. Umberto
D., per citare solo i pi importanti che. con limiti. difem e
atteggiamenti diversi, avevano in comune uno spinto nuovo, nato
dalla Resistenza, che si rilevava nell'illuminazione di una nuova
forna, fmtto di un approfondimento, quasi una conquista del
linguaggio cinematogmfco. Di qui il loro successo in tutto il mondo,
che riscopriva con essi [. . .] i vaiori espressivi del film in una nuova
dimensione di tempo e di spazio. Ai personaggi delle passate e
convenzionali narraPoni si sostituivano gli uomini nella loro realt;
alle vicende prefabbricate dei rornanzi O delle commedie le
'cronache', se cosi vogliamo chiamare quelle cdte su1 vivo
dell'esistenza quotidiana, eccezionale O comune che fosse; ai
virtuosisrni figurativi O pittorici il palpitante document0 fotografico;
alle scene di cartapesta e alle comparse le citt e le campagne con la
gente che effenivamente le popola. Questa 1' Italia, si disse, coi suoi
dolori. le sue miserie. le sue ingiustizie, le sue grandeue e si cerco di
dame un ntratto quanto pi fedele e ventiero possibile, si che codesta
reait, sema famirazioni e intrusioni apparenti, sembrasse parlare di
per s sola. I registi non erano saputi, ma, curiosi, volevano conoscere
per far conoscere.
(883)
Chiarini then went on to discuss Senso within the context of neorealism:
E veniarno a Semo, 1 'oggetto della polemica. Io ho afFermato non
poteni definire neoredista questo film non perch seguirebbe un
passo avanti, il passaggio al realisrno come dicono i miei
connadditton, ma perch, invece, tomando indietro sul tradizionaie
piano spettacol are (letterario, teatrale) rappresenta un ' aperta
contraddizione del neorealismo: ma negazione anzich uno Mluppo e
un approfondimento. [. . .] L'equivoco in cui sembrano cadere quanti
sostengono il contrano carattenstico di un m t t o contenutismo che,
per essere indiffaente alla forma, giudica il film daf soggetto, valutato
Senso 97
in base a rnoduli lettefari f pe~sonaggio, eroe positiuo die sia), e si fa
sfuggire i 1 vero contenuto, legato necessariamente ai modi della
rappresentazione.
Senso e innanzitutto uno spettacolo, di altissimo Iivello. ma uno
spettcolo.
(883)
As is evident from Chiarini's quotation, the two "sides" in this poiemic on Semo
debated the issue openly, each addressing (and anacking) specific arguments that the other
had put forth. One of the striking elernens of the debate is that cntics on both sides tended to
use the same issues to argue contradicting points. Looking specifically at the issue of
literature, in the above examples, both Aristarco and Chiarini bring into question the notion of
literature as it relates to neorealisrn and to the film. Aristarco supports his argumentation by
witing that Visconti turns a little story into a "grande e distesa narrarione." in the above-cited
article, Aristarco makes the point that Visconti's technique allows him to follow in the
fwtsteps of the great historical novelists, and that in doing so, he is following the moa valid
direction to be taken in order to continue a theoretical discourse on realism. On the other hand,
Chiarini refers to what he calls a "tradizionale piano spenacolare (letterario)" as being an open
con-adiction to neoredism. The debates. therefore, focused around very specific points that
seemingfy could not be reconciled.
These initial debates in the first year a f k the film's release influenced the criticism
published about &mo for yean to corne, and, for the most part, ai t i cs writing about Visconti
continued to fa11 on either one side of the issue or the other. There is, therefore, the prevalence
Senso 98
of two, opposing notions ofthe film: one is the notion of Sema as spectacle or melairama,
and the other is the notion of Senso as a work of cinematic rdism.
Quando apparve Senso ( 1954) [. . . j nascevano dibattiti [su Visconti
come] quel10 (favoloso) del superamento del neorealismo ne1 realismo
(ossia il passaggio dalla cronaca alla storia) e l'altro deil 'arretramento
(compiuto da1 medesirno film) dalla condizione neorealistica alla
condizione minore di spettacolo. Posizione, questa, che centra la sua
critica a Senso sulla distinzione tra spettacolo cinematografico e film:
riconosciuti ai film meriti particolari (politici, ideologici, estetici), ne
indica i limiti: la ricerca di effetti destinati a far prevalere il modo della
rappresentazione sulla sostanza della cosa rappresentata, le ' scene' che
vengono prima che raggela la nanazione, ecc.: 'assistiamo' a questo
film, ma non ' partecipiamo', non siamo persuasi a prender posizione:
se lo fossimo, avremmo vero cinema, mentre qui compaiono le
convenzioni spettacolari. Il rdismo si esprime, dunque, in forma
attenuata, proprio per il peso di una cultura che grava ancora su1
film ...
(BaldeIli t 54)
In this 1972 piece, Baldelli, like Chiarini, disagres with Anstarco and others when
they say that the film marks the passage from neorealism to realism. "Anche a me,
natural mente, apparve ingiustificata la tesi del passaggio da1 neoreaii smo al real ismo (dalla
cronaca alla stona), da parte di Seno." (Baldelli 154). In the yean that followed, many other
eminent cri tics also rej ected Anstarco's idea, and they ofien constructed their arguments on
the film with explicit references to Aristarco's position. For example, in writing on Sem,
Lino Miccich wrote:
[ S e w fu megiio definito corne ritomo al 'melodramma'. in effetti
pi che di un 'passaggio [. . .] da1 neorealismo al realismo' corne, con
una formula successivamente ri presa a proposito del pratoliniano
Metello. si disse allora per Sem, si trattava di un ritomo al realismo
colto, carico di accentuarioni liriche e di i nve ~oni spettacolari ...
(Miccich, 'Y e le sue ragioni" 68)
Senso 99
Et is safe to say that critics on either Wde of this issue have points that ore relevant and
that contribute to a more thorough understanding of the film. Each side of the argument
illuminates us on aspects that are relevant to a deeper understanding of the film. One mun be
careful. however. when attempting to define Smo as either rnerely melociiamatic or redistic,
for a rigid attempt to classify the film diminishes it. The film functions as a distilled and
drarnatic historical snapshot that holds within it an astoundingiy rich amay of technical and
thematic componen which give it texture and breadth, and which allow for the rnarriage of
historical fiction and the so-called "melodramatic imagination."' Creating a rich and cornplex
work was part of Visconti's design, and the partial motivation of the Milanese director was to
push the envelope with regards to the representation of "realism." The film. in fa* did much
to advance and complicate film goers' perceptions of the way in which realism in cinema
could be represented. However, it did so using the vehicle of melodrama. More recent
criticism supports the idea that assessments of reproductions of reality in the arts are
subjective.
A major cornplaint about melodrarna has been its assumed antirdistic
style. This assessrnent has been based on notions of realism which are
denved from naturalism with in privileging of 'objective' social
reali ty and a fideli ty to character and setting. The Atings on realism
in recent decades have suggested, however, that the assessments of
cultural production are themselves ideological . What is reaiism in one
era may become escapism in another. The criterion of fidelity to
extemal reality is a latecorner in aesthetics and in no way need
preclude other foms of representation. The concept of realism
demands not only reexarnination but the critique of reali sm as well.
(Landy, Imitations of Life 1 8)
7
-1 am borrowing the term "melodramatic imagination" from Peter Brooks's landmark
work on melodrama, The Mefodrmutc imagimtion: Bafzac, Henry Jmes.
Melocirama, und the Mode of Exces
Senso 100
-- -
To see reahsm and meidrama as mutudly exclusive, ihwefwe, may not prove to be a
very fruitfiil rnethod of artistic assessment. In the case of Visconti. in fact, the director relies
on the marriage of these two seerningly contradictory sensibilities in order to weave together
influences that interested him and to explore an array of issues. both anistic and social.
2.2 Senso as Spectacle
If one scans the many pages of criticism on the film, it becornes clear that the term
"melodrarna" is ubiquitous, for numerous film scholars have analyzed the film within this
context. Pio Baldelli points out that to see Senso is akin to seeing a melodrama from
backstage. His long but lucid description illustrates very clearly sorne of the ways in which
technical aspects of the film and contexnial juxtapositions create a dramatic feel at the
beginning of the film. which sets the stage. so to speak, for the melodrama that unfolds
afterwards :
Si vede [durante la scena iniziale alla Fenice] il melodramma su1
rovescio, da1 di dentro. L'inquadratura statica, ora ci accosta ai
tappeti, ai tavoli grossolani, ai rozzi fondali, ora alle quinte da cui
sbucano a curiosare operai coi camiciotto e il berretto; poi messo in
risaito il marionettistico raduno delle comparse che fanno parti di
soldati O I'interprete inquadmto di spalle che marca il suo gesto goffo
quando muda fa spada, batte il piede con fmgon sulle tavde della
ribalta e infine attacca 1 'antifona. 11regista taglia riempiendo il
rnargine ideriore del quadro con una fila di orchestdi quasi a
mostrare i congegni del10 spettacolo. Si fa evidente il proposito di
mostrare l'influsso melodrammatico (e il proseguimento del
melodnunma) nei comportamento dei protagonisti (Livia ne1 palchetto
e in palwscenico Leonora sola nella notte presso la tome ove sta
I'amato prigioniero). Spexie di prologo in palcoscenico alla vicenda
che inizia 'melodrammatica' (lancio di manifesthi, cocwde,
invocazioni alla patri a, fervore, sf ide, ecc. ) con successive smontaggio
di questi sentimenti. sino a conclusioni crude e smascherate. Una
realt melodrammatica che si sfascia e mostra ['inerte spaccato non
appena si solleva una realt piu autentiq ma@ cinica e sordida,
Senso 101
quando - proprio secondo I'invito del regista - il melodramrna la
guardiamo da dietro le quinte. Comincia, insomma mo n t d o
1 'argomento dei meidantma sui paicoscenko per posscve a demolire
il melodrammu della plarea. dei palchi e delle coscieme [i ralics mine].
L'incastro viene sigillato stupendarnente nelle inquadrature della
partenza precipitosa di Livia da1 palco della Fenice, tra gli inchini e i
baciamani degli ufficisli, con quel velo che le awolge il capo e Io
sfarzoso mante110 sulle spalle, rnentre sulla colonna sonora passa
1 'accompagnamento mggente del canto di Leonora fuori campo.
(Baldelli 132-33)
It is through the "demolition" of the melodrama, to which Baldelli alludes above, that we
discover, or unveil, the nature of melodrama as an event. By deconstructing the melodrarn~
Visconti unveils the melodrama that exists in life, as well as in the film. This "demoli tion" is
effected through the juxtaposition of art and life that occun at various levels, within as well as
outside of the diegesis of the film. Within the diegesis of the film, this very fiction is laid bare
by showing the oppositions (as well as the parallels) between "art" (the on-stage
melodramma) and "life" (the characten' reaction to the staged drama). There is a mirronng
between what is inside the drama and what is outside of it.
This play between fiction and reality, as I shall disniss below, begins with the staging
of II Trovatore, but does not end there. The film is staged and shot in such a way as to
constantly make reference to its own fictionality, its own theatricaiity. For instance, when
Franz and Livia fint spend time together, they waik through the deserted alleyways of Venice.
The city depicted in this scene is not tembly "real," nor are Franz and Livia's rnovements very
Senso 102
Eeco, m si tram di un% citt: 'de', con due persone che
passeggiano e conversano, ma di un vasto spazio. con quinte e
proscenio, dove la 'persona' ha lo stesso peso (colore. suono) di ogni
altro oggetto sparso ne1 quadro.
(Baldelli 134)
This playing wi th theatrical techniques continues throughout the film.
in realt, anche se crediamo di essere usciti dalla Fenice, Senso
continua a nnviare da un sipario all'altro, corne nella scena delle mille
porte spalancate da Livia quando decide di consegnare a Franz i l
denaro che dovrebbe dare a Luca; e I'ultimo sipario i l velo nero,
divenuto lentamente fittissimo e impenetrabile, che Franz strapper
alla donna dopo averle urlato in faccia la verita.
(Fink 91)
It may not be an exaggeration, in fact, to say that most shots in the film are construaed so as
to simulate visuaily the look of a stage. Columns, windows, mirrors, curtains, doorway s, etc.,
are used in many shots in order to frame the protagonists and to give the impression that they
are on a stage.
Aside from the play on various stage props (wings, curtains, etc.), Visconti's direction
of the acton in Smo is such that it reminds one of a stage dramq most specifically an open
Livia's movements are exaggerated. In the villa of Aldeno, she often tums her head sharpiy in
one direction, pauses, then moves quickiy in another direction, the way an opera actor would
do on-stage. Even the final shot of the field on which Franz is executed, mirrors the opening
scene, in that it reminds us of a (now-empty) stage: "Il film si conclude con una inquadratura
Senso 103
2.3 Melodrarna and Influence
Melodrama is a form that includes within it many different cornponents. including
hiaory. music. and art, and as such. seeing Smso within the context of melodrarna is of
fundamental importance when di scussing "influence."
Melodrarna pillaged happily in epic, legend and history for its
subjects, but the principal source was probably always the novel, the
genre to which it is so closely related.
(Brooks 86-87)
Thus, inspiration from various artistic forms. most prominently the novel. helps in the
shaping of the genre of the melodma. As a result, one can link together the idea of
rnelodrama and the idea of influence, for both in fom and in content melodrama is a genre
that lends itself perfectiy for the purposes of combining together various foms and subjects.
And, because many of these influentid forms deai with issues revolving around the human
condition. the resulting drama is one that is full of the stuRof life. It can be said for this reason
that rnelodrarna is an artistic form that exists on the border between reality and art, and it is
therefore the perfect "mode" for Visconti, an artist who was very much concemed with the
realities of human beings in society as well as with issues relating to art. Melodrarna allows
Visconti to produce a reflecrion of reaiity, a reproduction of the most poignant and intense
moments in life, intense to the point of being &matic.
Senso 104
I will now make some generalizations about melodrarn~ which I will then use to
illustrate the ways in which Senso is melodramatic. 1 will make some allusions to the
historical developments and diverse use of the term in different countries; however, the main
focus of my definition process will be to capture the range of connotations that this term may
have evoked in the mind of sorneone with the breadth of knowledge that Visconti had.
Historically, the term "melodrama" has been used in different ways in various parts of
Europe (England France, and Italy) in order to si pi fi essentially different genres. The
common denominator, however, was the musical component within the drarna as the
etymology of the word indicates: "The word derives from the Greek melos (music). and with
this root meaning of music-drama was a common eighteenthtentury synonym for opera - a
meaning which the Italian meIorii.ammu retains today" (Smith 2). In modem criticisrn. the
multitude of meanings of the term has created a lot of ambiguity and confusion. According to
the Oxford Engiish Dictionmy. the tenn has the following meanings:
1. In early 19th c. use, a stage-play (usually romantic and sensationai
in plot and incident) in which songs were interspersed, and in which
the action was accompanied by orchestral music appropriate to the
situations. In later use the musical element gradually ceased to be an
essentid feature of the 'melodrarna,' and the narne now denotes a
drarnatic piece characterized by sensational incident and violent
appeals to the emotions, but with a happy ending.
b. The species of dramatic composition or representation constituted
by melodramas; the mode of dramatic treatment characteristic of a
melodrama.
2. transf. A series of incidents, or a story tme or fictitious, resembling
what is represented in a rnelodrama; also, in a generalized sense,
melodramatic behaviour, occurrences, etc.
(Uxjiord Englsh Dictiollcqy)
Senso 105
sorne light on the difficulties involved in constructing a precise definition of the term:
What began, perhaps with Rousseau's Py@h (1 770). as an art
form in which words and music were used in counterpoint or parallel,
remains in opera as a term to define spoken passages with musical
accompaniment. in drama there is no such precision, and 'melodrama'
must serve to describe a mass of plays and films from the anonymous
Mario Mmten (1 830) to Hitchcock's Psycho or from Schiller's Die
Raiiber (1782) to next week's episode of a television detective series.
(Cambridge Guide, 65 3 - 54)
Part of the difficulty in defining melodrama stems from the fact that the definition of
the terni historically has differed in France, in England and i n M y , while retaining common
elements.
melodrama, terni ne indicante, nel teatro i ngl ese, un genere
drammatico di tipo awenturoswomanzesco, con effetb scenici
al tamente spettacolari, sovente a carattere catastrofico. Paral lelo, corne
nascita e sviluppo, al -+ mlodrame, ebbe in comune con esso anche
temi, testi e messe in scena, ma se ne differenrio per una maggiore
vitalid: ebbe infatti origine veno la fine del XVIII sec., ma si concluse
solo veno il 1930. Spesso pnvo di pretese lettemie, capace di
suscitare, attraverso facili emozioni e arditi tecnicismi, un vasto
consens0 popolare, il m. ebbe fortuna anche negli Stati Uniti fra il
1850 e il 1930. Paragonabile per certi versi ai rornanzo d'appendice, il
m. puo essere considerato l'ispiratore di buona parte della produzione
cinematografka di consumo (giatli, thrilling, horror film), nonch di
molta letteratura a fumem.
(Enciciopedia Grnanti M o spettacoio 4 1 1 - 1 2)
Senso 106
mlodrame, termine fiancese cmentemente abbieviato in mlo.
in origine indicava un'azione drammatica in prosa e musica: poi,
caduta la parte musicale e coreutica, indic0 i l drarnma a forti tinte,
complicato nell'intreccio, moraleggiante nella finalit, ricco di col pi di
scena quanto povero di valori letterari, ma capace di sollecitare
I'emozione e la commozione degli spettatori pi ingenui. Ebbe la sua
maggior fiorinira fra il XVIII e il XIX sec. con tardi e rari epigoni ne1
XX. Elernenti caratteristici del m. hrono la virt e l'innocenta
minacciate da1 vizio e dalla prepotenza, il finale trionfo del giusto
sull'ingiusto attraverso complesse peripezie, straordinarie agnizioni e
insospettabili rivelazioni. Tra gii innurnerevoli cultori del m. baster
ricordare Daubigny (1 due sergenti, 1823). Ducange (Trent'anni O la
vita di un giocatore, 1827)- Comon e Dennery (Le due orfanelle,
1874), Moreau e Delacour (Il comere di Lione, l85O), X. de Montpin
(La pottatrice di pane, 1889). Oggi il m. ha valore corne testimonianza
di un'epoca: e in quesui chiave che Barrault riprese (1949) II gobbo di
P. Fval.
(Ettciclopediu Garzanti delio spettacolo 4 12)
in an Italian context, the tenn rneldamma is used interchangeably with the terms
"opera lirica" and "spettacolo lirico," among others (see intori 5-9). This is probably due to
the fact that in Italy, the genre sees various incarnations that begin with Sung dramas in the
seventeenth century, and develop into different types of drarnatic manifestations set to music.
Melodrarna continues to develop into the nineteenth century, and develops in the direction of
opera, with protagonists as different as Rossini, Puccini, and Verdi (to name but a few)
coming to the forefiont.
Generally speaking, the history of these genres, which have ail been labelled as
"melodrama," could in some cases seem to be a fom of entertainment for the upper classes,
about the upper classes. in reaiity, according to muiy scholars, melodrarnas were written that
Senso 107
were deepty rooted in specific p h i c a l co~ltexs, and h d bodi paputar ap@ and social
content. This is true of melodrama in Engiand:
in terms of the early melodrama in England the claim for a linkage
between the rnelodrama and the political and social conditions of the
world in which it emerged seems quite unproblematic. Most critics
would agree, for example. that the work of Thomas Hol c r o~ who is
ofien credited wi th launching the genre in England, is grounded in the
populist radical rhetoric that erupted in England in the aftermath of the
French Revolution.
(Hay s and Ni kolopoulou viii)
in England, therefore, it was not unheard ofto have melodramas with social content.
Some addi tional examples of English, nineteenth-centus, melodramas wi th social themes
include: "JerroId's The Factoty Girl ( 1832). G.F. Taylor's The Factory Strike: or. Want*
Crime. and Retribution ( 1 838). Haines's Tne Fac~ory Boy ( 1 840). and Stirling's Mm of
Mmcheser: or. The Spirit of the Lmrn (1 847) [. . .] The Labotu Quesrion ( 1 86 1 ), Boucicaul t's
n e Long Strike ( 1 866). Free Labotu ( 1870). and The Miner k Snike ( 1 875), and George
Fenn's The Foremm of the Works ( 1 866) and Work ami Wages (1 890)" (Ilsemann 192).
As Hays and Nikolopoulou point out above, the French Revolution seems to have had
an effect on the crystallization of this genre and on its rather political nature. This view is
substantiated by many critics.
That melodrama should have been bom during the Revolution, and
corne of age with Coelina in 1800, is far from an accident: in both its
audience and its profound subjecf it is essentially democratic. It
represents a dernocratization of morality and its signs.
(Brooks 4344)
Senso 108
Similady, Naorni Greene wntes:
The vast social and political fresco againa which these films are
played ai t [. . .] suggest[s], in pariicular, historical melodrama, which
was one of the forms taken by rneiodrama at an early date. Born at a
troubted historical moment - when the old worid order, embodied in
the French monarchy, was approaching its convulsive death throes. to
be Followed by decades of tunnoil in the Terror and the rise and faIl of
Napoleon - early melodrama oflen turned to r d events and
c haracters.
(3 88-89)
Italian critics also substantiate this idea. Giuseppe Tintori writes:
Sar Io spirit0 dell'iiluminismo a conferire vita ail'opera seria,
saranno tutte le idee che porteranno alla Rivolutione francese e il
recupero delle tradizioni popolari (il Singspiel) a creare un dopo Gluck
dove domina la figura di Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
(39)
What can be concluded from even a brief survey of the history of melodrama is that
the genre has been used historically, and indeed, in part was bom. as a vehicle to present ideas
that were dernoaatic and revolutionary in nature. One can therefore Say that it was
appropriate for Visconti to choose melodrama as a framework within which to present his
subversive ideas. Unli ke the frequently-heid view that it is reactionary and void of artistic
merit, meiodrama, from its inception, was seen and employed as a modem form for a modem
world, for a society coming to tems with a new worid order. It was a dernomatic new genre
for a new clas, the middle class. This idea is supported in Peter Brooks's landmark work, 7ire
Senso 109
~Melodrama [. . .] appears to be a peculiarly modem form, and there is
a specific relevance in the genre labeled melodrama as it comes to
being in an historical context. The origins of melodrama can be
accurately located within the context of the French Revolution and its
aftermath. This is the epistemoiogical moment which it illustrates and
to which it contributes: the moment that symbolically, and redly,
marks the final liquidation of the traditionai Sacred and its
representative institutions (Church and monarch), the shattering of the
myth of Christendom, the dissolution of an organic and hi erarchically
cohesive society, and the invalidation of the Literary foms - tragedy,
comedy of mannen - that depended on such a society. Melodrarna
does not simply represent a "fall" From tragedy, but a response to the
loss of the tragic vision. It comes into being in a world where the
traditionai imperatives of truth and ethics have b e n violentiy thrown
into question, yet where the promulgation of truth and ethics, their
instauration as a way oflife, is of immediate, daily, political concem.
(Brooks 14)
Thus, with the genres of the time becoming, to a certain extent, obsolete, melodrama
became a viable form for artistic expression. in addition, the position in which melodrama
found itself, nei ther comedy nor tragedy, made it a hybnd fom, containing elements of both,
and herefore being more rich in its potentiaIities of expression. Finall y, from an ideological
point of view, melodrama provided artists with adequate tools to represent relevant
contem porary social issues:
3~r ooks defines what he terms "classical" melodrama within a historical context, and
uses the French tradition as his main source for his definition of the genre: "1. . .] my
remarks here will be largely based on Pixercourt and his principal rivals and
emulators, particularly LouisCharies Caigni- himself dubbed the 'Racine of the
Boulevards,' and Victor hicange [. . .], in the period extendhg roughly from 1 800 to
1 830," (Brooks 28-29).
Senso 110
The ritual of mdddma invdves the confrontation of cl wl y
identified antagonists and the expulsion of one of them. It can offer no
terminal reconciliation, for there is no longer a clear transcendent
value to be reconciled to. There is, rather, a social order to be purged, a
set of ethical imperatives to be made clear.
(Brooks 17)
2.3.2 Melodrama and Vsconti
Many aspects of melodrama must have appealed to Visconti. His disillusionment i n
the years following the end of World War II, and the limits that he had reached with the
neorealist "experimen&" in combination with his wide and varied interests in literature and
other ans, are al1 factors that made melodrama the most appropriate fom to express his
specific and diverse interests.
In armonia con le analisi gramsciane, wsconti] consapevole di
quanto. ne1 ciclo norico e culturale dei Romanticismo, sia stata
gregaria la posizione dell'ltalia, alla ricerca dell'unit geografia in
un'Europa che viveva conflitti di classe di ben altra portata. In una
cul tura secondaria e peri feria, corne quel la del 1 ' Itaiia ottocen tesca,
esisteva una sola forma artistica non provinciale: il melodrarnma. A
questa fa appel10 Visconti: ampliando la prospemva storica e
ideologica del racconto, ne amplia di conseguenza anche quella
culturale. Alla musica di Verdi afianca quella di Bruckner; al le
citazioni del Foscolo. quelle di Heine; ai riferimenti pi ttorici di Hayez,
di Fattori e dei macchiaioli, quelli di Feuerbach, di Stevens, di Durand.
Al libretto di Boito, alcune suggestioni dai grandi romanzi del
mancato compimento delta rivotuzione borghese: ka scena di Ndeno e
il tema della simuiazione dei sentimenti da 11rosso e il nero; la
sollecitudine di Livia per il cugino dalla Sansevenna; la delusione di
Ussoni a Custoza, da1 passaggio di FabnPo del Dongo dietro le linee
di Waterloo; ci& da quella Certosa di Parma che Visconti si propone
pih volte di girare.
(Bencivenni 35)
In harmony, therefore, with the egalitarian ideas of Gramsci, melodrama was an
appropriate vehicle to discuss the social issues that had preyed on the mind of the director
Senso III
director wished to put forth with S e m as mentioned in Chapter 1, Visconti saw the society
that had been built up after the war as not having the promise offreedom that had been fought
for dunng the Resistance. Ln addition. this failed anempt at producing a more promising
Society had not been the tirst in Italy's history; as he looked back to Itdian unification. he saw
a very similar situation of a rivoluiione rnancata. The similarities between these two eras (that
of ltalian unification and his own) were so marked that to Visconti. a critique of the
Riso@nento was the equivalent of a cri tique of contemporary ti mes, as well . Visconti himsel f
spoke about the parallels between his own time pend and the time period that he chose for
his melodrarna:
Sia chiaro che io non ho voiuto fare i l film storico corne qualcosa di
diveno da quanto ho fatto fin qui. In Sensu c' la materia per fare un
discorso agli altri: un discorso per quelli che vogliono capire e anche
per quelli che fingono di non capire. Anche se ne1 1866 la gente si
vestiva in maniera diversa, i problemi, le situazioni non cambiano. Noi
poi sappiamo che suficiente che divene storie siano raccontate
amverso Io stesso sentiment0 e la stessa emozione perch siano
insieme un solo discorso di uno che sente il bisogno di comuniwe con
gli aitri.
(Visconti, "Riflessioni" 67)
Thus, the Risorgrmento was an ideal semng for the film, for i t allowed Visconti to
make a profound statement on the state of affairs in Italy past and present. The former stood as
a metaphor of the latter, and associating the two ailowed Visconti to illustrate the unfortunate
continuity between the two penods. And, given the lavish nature of the classes with whom
Visconti dealt and the grandeur of the story that he wished to tell (the story of a patriotic
Italian countess and her Ausian lover) the aoty could be told in a most fitting way as a
meIociimma, a musical drama of epic proportions. This complex and inaicate collection of
Senso 112
found a perfect union within Visconti's melorama, a hybrid, eclectic genre that could contain
within it tragedy as well as spectacle.
2.3.3 Melodrama and Smso
It is valuable to examine the ways in which particular characteristics of melodrama
were applied within Se m in order to produce the kind of effect that Visconti wished to
achieve. The work of James L. Smith with regard to melodrama sheds light on the definition
of the genre, and aids one in unravelling the elements that are intenvoven in the film, in order
to mat e a drama with a very specific message. First off, Smith's notion regarding the
melodramatic character is fundamental to an understanding of Semu.
in melodrama man remains undivided. free from the agony of
choosing between confiicting imperatives and desires. He greets every
situation with an unwavering single impulse which absorbs his whole
personai ity. I f there is danger he i s courageous, if there is pot i ti cal
corruption he exposes if untroubled by cowardice, weakness or doubt,
self-interest or thought of self-preservation. [. . .] It follows that the
undivided protagonist of meIocirama has only extemal pressures to
fight against: an evil man, a social group, a hostile ideology, a natural
force. an accident or chance, an obdurant fate or a malign deity. It is
this total dependence upon extemal adversaries which final1 y
separates melodrama Rom a11 other serious dramatic foms.
(Smith 7-8)
The notion of the undivided character, distinctively melodramatic. is embodied in
Senro principally by Roberto Ussoni. Ussoni's character is introduced exclusively by
Visconti; Boito makes no explint reference to such a character in his version of the story. He
stands as a metaphor for the ideology of the Resistance as weil as that of his own p e n d the
IZi~o~rnento. He fights unwaveringly for the ideal of a free and unified Itaiy, against the
Senso 113
enemy (in the case of S m , the Austrians, who m p y his region of Veneto), and in an
indirect way, fights against the confusion / corruption of Livia and Franz. The two
protagonists of the film stand as polar opposites to the Count Ussoni.
Once the opposition is set up between the undivided figure and the forces that work
against him 1 her, extreme conflicts can be set up, conflicts that can be pushed to dramatic
iimits.
Characten stically, me1 odrarna presses its own extreme conflicts to
extreme conclusions. Only three are possible, for when an undivided
protagonist opposes a hostile world - whether in real life or on the
nage - the result must be stalemate, victory or defeat. [. . .] The
essential point is that resolutions of triumph or defeat indicate not
different dramatic structures but simply alternative formulations of the
same conflict, opposite extremes of the sarne melodramatic spectrum.
(Smith 8)
Within the melodramatic speanim, therefore, there cm be a drarna of victory, of
d e f a or of protest. Al1 of these can be played out within the context of melodrarna, but it is
the latter type defhed by Smith, the melodrama of protes& that 1 would like to look at more
closely in relation to Semo:
Protest theatre has many aims : to stimulate poli ticai awareness,
question established values, expose injustice, champion refonn, fuel
arguments on ways and means and sometimes to incite direct support
for bloody revolution. The result may be a satire, homily, cartoon,
revue or straight-play-with-a-message, but underneath the fashionable
airnmings the essential fonn is melodrama Take, for exarnple, the
crusading hem up in arms against some manifest corruption. A whi ff
of indecision would destmy his mord stature and might induce his
followen to think again; crushing every private doubt, he declares
himself wholeheartedly devoted to a cause he says is just, and fights
for Right against those necessarily extemal forces symbolizing
Wrong. And since no compromise is possible between such mighty
opposites, the drama always ends in triumph or defeat. Either serves to
Senso 114
raHy new supporters to nie Cause, and boih provide e satis@ing,
sirnplified catharsis.
(Smith 72)
Peter Brooks, likes James Smith, makes some astute observations about melodrama
that can help us to understand what Visconti achieves with Senso. Brooks' first crucial point is
that melodrama allows for an expression of an immense amount, an rverythi~ig:
he desire to express al1 seems a fundamental characteristic of the
melodrarnatic mode. Nothing is spared because nothing is Ieft unsaid;
the charactea stand on stage and utter the unspeakable, give voice to
their deepest feelings, drarnatize through their heightened and
polarized words and gemres the whole lesson of their relationship.
They assume prirnary psychic roles, father. mother, child, and express
basic psychic conditions. Life tends, in this fiction, toward ever more
concentrated and totally expressive gestures and statements.
(Brooks 4)
In Senso. the "everything" is rnanifested in the dramatization of tensions and struggles,
both interna1 and extemal. in Italian modem society, at the time of the country's unification as
well as in the aftennath of World War ii. The "everything" that Visconti is capable of
expressing by using melodrama, furthemore, pertains not only to the content of the work but
to the form, as well. The thearicality of the film, and its achievement in being able to portray
events from venues and spaces as divene as the theatre, the boudoir, the streets of a city, and
the batdefield, contribute to the viewer's sense that the story being depicted is sweeping in
scope and grand in nature.
The next point by Brooks that I would like to highlight is that of the melodrama as a
depiction of the smggle between good and evil.
Senso 115
Without now enterhg mto the ctiaractcristics of stage mdodrama f . . .]
we can note that we find there an intense emotional and ethical drama
based on the manichaestic stniggle of good and evil, a world where
what one lives for and by is seen in terms of, and as determineci by. the
most fundamental psychic relations and cosrnic ethical forces. The
polarization of good and evil works toward revealing their presence
and operation as real forces in the world. Their conflict suggests the
need to recognize and confront evil, to combat and expel it. to purge
the social order. Man is seen to be, and must recognize himself to be.
playing on a theatre that is the point of juncture, and of clash, of
imperatives beyond himsel f that are non-mediated and irreducible.
This is what is most real in the universe. The spectacular enactments
of melodrama seek constantly to express these forces and imperatives.
to bring them to miking reveiation, to impose their evidence.
(Brooks 12- 13)
Similar to Smith's notion of the undivided self. this concept of the stmggie between
good and evil allows human shuggles to be expressed in their purest forms. There are no
complications to be depicted and the "right" side can cleariy be seen. In Semo. the "right" side
is the side of integrity, of suppon for a just cause: Italian unification. The structure is rather
complex in this case because the "right" and "wrong", the "good and "evil", stand a bit
outside the core of the story (Le.. the relationship between Livia and Franz). Franz, while
being crucial to the story, is the emboirnent of evil, although not strictiy as a villain, but more
as a negative presence that is not willingly overcome by Livia.
Within the context of these definitions, Livia stands as rather a problematic figure. On
the one hand, she is a victim of Franz and of the "illness" that befalls her (i.e., the love that she
feels for him), and c m therefore be seen as rnelodramatic. However, this placement of Livia
within the rnelodramatic scheme i s not full y satisfactory- In a sense, Livia stands as a tragic
figure within the melodrama, for her downfdl is self-inflicted and is the result of a conscious
choice that she makes. She turns away from al1 that is "good" in her life (Ussoni and his
patriotic cause) and embraces the "bad" @ranz, an Austrian traitor who does not hide that he
Senso 316
- -
is using her for her affections and far her wdth). I would still argue, however, that she is,
ultimately, a melodramatic figure, for Visconti indicates that in her final moments, she seems
to lose awareness, and is ultimately a victim of herself and of her circumstance. As the film
cornes to an end, we see her wandenng around in the dark streets of the dangerous Verona,
d e r curfew, screaming her dead lover's name. Her apparent descent into madness indicates
that she is not conscious of her actions. I shall return to the topic of Livia and madness when 1
discuss the influence of literature on S e m .
2.4 Senso as Influence: an Analysis
24.f Opera as Melodmma
Given the characteristics of meiodrsrma and of Semo oudined above, it is
understandable that Visconti should have gravitated towards this mode of expression for its
potential to intenveave a spectrum of influences taken from a variety of different contexts,
influences that were combined in order to put forth ideas and to ask questions relevant to his
time. However, while it is li kely that the director was influenced by the rich hentage of
melodrama from throughout Europe, because his artistic sensibilities were developed within
an Itaian context, the principal definition from which he must have consciously worked is
that of melodrama as operu. As I now proceed, therefore, to unravel some more specific
influences that exist in Senso, 1 would like to begin by looking at the influence of opera on the
film. As has been previously discussed, the film is extremely theatrical. The actors (and
specifically Livia) move and express themselves using grand gestures. he shots are often
framed so as to simulate the presence of curtains, of wings, etc. Added to the theaaicality is a
musical element, which exists bot. in literal and metaphorid manifestations:
Senso 117
Lo stesso mondo dei mdodrmmct in sen- strette (l'opera lirica), che
Visconti ha Frequentato autorevolmente da1 vivo, in Smo come
inventariato: non per quel10 che ha di vivo. passionale, trascinante per
personaggi, interpreti e spettatori, bensi per il freddo sen= di morte
che I'attraversa. Cosi, tutto I'impianto linguistico del film e
improntato a fascinosa ripresa dei moduli scenici dell'opera lirica: i
personaggi agiscono corne in duetti e concertati, inquadrati sempre un
po' dail'alto con gli sfondi 'oggettivamente' dritti, sema gii e f f '
prospettici del l ' inquadratura cinematografica li bera ' soggettiva' .
Sfondi reaii, tra I'altro. che cercano di simulare l'effetto pittorico della
cartapesta, sempre dl ' insegna di quella contraddizione dialettica che
cifia stilistica dell'opera viscontiana.
(MarcheIli 149)
And, because music is a fundamental component of the melodrarna, Visconti concentrated on
the selection of an appropriate score to punctuate the grand events of his tale. One of
Visconti's main musical choices for Senso was to include the music of Brckner:
Da parte di Visconti [Bmckner] f una scelta certarnente 'vilologica',
come sempre in lui quando si trattava di definire nei minimi dettagli
un ambiente storico. Bruckner fii il musicista che in certo senso
preannuncio la decadenza del mit0 absuburgico, la sua music*
contemporama alla vicenda del fil m. ne poteva essere il contrai tare su1
piano sonoro. Ma fb anche una scelta espressiva.
(Rondolino, Luchino Yisconti 3 14)
Scandito con accorta misura dell'impeto turgido e tardo-romantico
della " W Sinfonia" di Bruckner, sostenuto da un' eccezionale dignit
cromatica, il drarnma di Livia Serpien e di Franz Mahler (i Ioro
ri petuti duetti ) si sviluppa impiacabilmente con la perentoria necessi ta
di un melodramma che si fa tragedia e che ha nella conclusione la pi
impietosa sconfessione del suo romanticismo.
(Morandini, "Semo: melodramma" 65)
Senso 118
2.4.2 // Trovatore
Lf discussing the subject of music in Sensu, one cannot forget the tmly operatic music
that is inciuded. As 1 have already discussed, the film begins with an overt reference to a
mefo&ammu. that is to Say, Il Trovatore. Morando Morandini writes:
Perch proprio II Trovatore? Perche il terz'atto? Basta un confronto tra
i testi dell'opera e il film per trovare le ragioni della scelta. Si
comincia, sui titoli di testa, con il duetto di Leonora e Manrico ("Vieni
ci schiude il tempio - gioie di casto amore! "), poi la romana
celebemma ("Di quella pin, I'orrendo foco...") e, mentre sullo
schermo appare Ussoni con altri patrioti, il coro degli ma t i
(" All'armi ! All'armi ! - Eccone presti a pugnar tao O teco a
morir.. ."), segui to da1 lancio dei volantini tricolore. Nella sequenza
seguente, mentre la contessa Serpien si preoccupa delle conseguenze
del10 scontro tra il cugino e I'ufficiale austriaco. il parallelismo
continua. Canta Leonora: "Salvarlo io potro, fone. Timor di me?
Sicura presta la mia difesa!" Ancora Leonora, sottofondo al
collcquio tra la Serpien e Mahler: "Deh, pietosa, deh, pietosa gli
arreca i miei sospiri." Anche il dialogo insiste su questa filiazione.
Livia Serpieri: "Ma si, a me piace molto [l'opera]. Non mi piace
quando si wolgono fuori scena, n che c i si posa componare corne un
eroe da meIodramma."
(Morandini 295)
The opera, then, gives a perfect introduction to the drama that unfoids between the
charaaen of the film. Within the diegesis of the film, the action on the stage serves to
complement the action that is unfolding offstage. As has been previously discussed, the line
that separates the "art" of the 7iovatore and the "life" of the characters becornes a rnirror, and
'' he topic of the influence of music on Visconti could itself be the focus of a
monographie shidy. I will limit myself here to rnentioning the influence.
Senso 119
-- -
the l at er becomes an image of the fornier Like all images, t hi s one is e reflecbon, and yet a
partial distortion, of the other.
As the above quotation indicates, there are specific connections berneen the act of the
Trovutore being staged and the action of the film. in the opera, the heroic Manrico, a rebel
fighter born of nobility but raised as a gypsy, evokes in the viewers of the musical drama at La
Fenice a fervent optimism in their own "rebel forces," that is, in the Italian troops who are
attempting to win back the temtory of Veneto from the Austrians.
[. . . ] within a few bars [Manrico] has plunged into "Di quella pira".
electrifying us with the single-minded devotion of a commander about
to lead a forlom hope, a sort of Sebastopol charge with only disaster
ahead. No wonder Carnillo Cavour, hearing that the Austrians were
about to embark on a similar military mistake, feeling the urge to bunt
out singing automatically tackled "Di quella pira" in his excitement.
He was celebrating, whether he was aware of it or not, the impending
doom of the Austrian armed forces rather than the diplornatic triumph
of his own engineering.
(Godefroy 243)
hus, making "Di quella pira" the focal point of the opening scene an the catalyst for the
action that mon unfolds, is a very appropriate way of immersing the viewer in the historical
reality of the time.
in addition, the notion of Manrico as Courier and lover of Leonora, mirron the offstage
meIodrmmu of Livia and Franz's relationship, which is about to be bom. The major
difference between the two, of course, is that while Manrico and Leonora's love is noble and
gives the characters strength, the "love" between Livia and Franz (and it is doubul that Franz
ever even feels tnie "love" towards Livia) Ieads to weakness and destruction. One rnight argue
that in a way, the imminent death of the two lovers onstage foreshadows the disaster that will
stnke for the protagonists of the film.
Senso 120
En more general terms, the opeta acts as a suiteMe cornpanion for W sconti's film. This
Verdi melo&arnma, whi ch was in development between 1 850 and 1 853 (premiering on
January 19. 1853 at the Apollo Theatre in Rome), was created when Verdi had corne into his
own as a composer and was extremely adept at causing a stir with hi s allusions to revolution.
The opera is adapted rom an early nineteenth-century play by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez
(itself, therefore, an indirect influence on Senso), and resembles the play ciosely in severd
ways. This was a point on which Verdi insisted from the beginning, as his eariy
correspondence with Salvatore Cammarano, the librettist for II Trovatore, indicates:
Ho Ietto i l vostro programma, e voi, uomo di talento e di carattere
tanto superiore, non vi offenderete se io, meschinissimo, mi prendo la
liberi di diM che se questo soggetto non si puo trattare per le nostre
scene con tutta la noviti e bitzarria de1 dramma spagnolo, meglio
ri nunziarvi.
(Rmaldi 142)
The composer, in fact, gave Cammarano very detailed instructions regarding where he
should follow the text closely and on which specific points he could diverge from i t (Rinaldi
142). It is debatable whether the finished opera follows the play closely, however, i t is
definitely true that Verdi kept the source text of the chivalric play in mind as he composed and
as he instructed Cammarano.
Like the Gutierrez play, II Tmvatore contains subversive elements that suited Visconti
weil. Consider, for example, the "alternative" version of Spanish history that the opera tells:
II Trovatore is traditionally supposeci to have a very complicated plot
This is because it is based on events that took place before the curtain
rises. [. . .] But a sonof obsainty does pervade this opera, partiy
because it seems to be historical yet it is not the history we were taught
at school; and partly became in its clash between a just establishment
and a selfish rebeilion law and order are represented by the baritone
Senso 121
viktin, while the heroie temx is on the side of the trouble-makers. So
we get a topsy-turvy pichire of events; our loyalties are misdirected;
our comprehension misled.
(Godefroy 230)
This "alternative" version of history inciudes many elements that must have appealed
to Visconti, including rather minor details such as the "democratic" depiction of the "common
folk." Consider, for exarnple, the nature of the gypsies as they work (illustrated during the
famed "anvil chorus") :
These gipsies in the Biscayan mountains live unfettered by the
cloistered and balustraded protocol of their civilized betters. The
music tells us this at once, sprightly and with plenty of trills, scored
without brass but made piquant by the addition of a triangle. [. . .] The
anvils, metailically clanging an octave apart in turn, artiessly rivet the
rhythm. [. . .] These happy gipsies swing democratic hammers, and
when their works foreman bids them pack up, they obey cheemilly
and depart [. . .]"
(Godefroy 234)
While the majority of the opera is not included nor alluded to in the film. al1 of these
details about the opera surely must not have escaped Visconti's attention, and they
consequently act as influences on the director (and. it could be argueci, on the viewer of the
film). Thus, the impact of this particular Verdi opera on the film is significant and it creates an
undeniable resonance within the cinematic text. Therefore, not only is II Trovam an
influence, but indeed, its composer is, as well.
Senso 122
The influence of Verdi on Visconti and on Semo must be Iooked at in historical terms.
Giuseppe Verdi held a special role within the histoiy of My.
Verdi was the greatest artist of [the Risorgimento]. hroughout his
work its values, its issues recur constantly, and he expressed them with
great power. In a country divided by local dialects, customs, and
Qovernments his music provided a bond for ail sorts of men and
women. In his person - starting life humbly, living it honestly, even
nobly - he became for many a symbol of what was best in the period.
If he and his art were pady shaped by the Risorgimento, they also in
part shaped it.
(Martin 4)
The ciarnorous reaction to Verdi's work during the pe nd that Visconti depicts in Semo was
astounding, and to depia the opening scene of Senso by using the raucous reaction to II
Trovatore on the part of the Italian audience is both realistic and appropriate. W~th his
penchant for composing operas that could evoke the moa patriotic of sentiments in audiences
and his tendency to treat his subjects in a way that allowed audiences to make connections
between the heroes of his rnelodramas and their own liberai sensibilities, Verdi became in his
lifetime an artistic conduit for the revolutionary ideals of the time. Ciro Manganaro describes
an event that would be repeated ofien throughout this revolutionary era:
La marcia della rivoluzione era in atto e inmestabile, le file dei
pahioti si ingrossavano smpr e di piu e gi alla fine del 1858 sotto il
vigile e sospettoso sguardo della sbirraglia austriaca. sui muh delle
case in m e le citt italiane, le saitte "Viva V.E.R.D. i" significavano
chiaramente "Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re d'Italia."
(Manganaro 10)
Senso 123
To have one's own name becorne virtudty synonymous with the syrnbd of a new
political union is not a smail feat, but Verdi, by expressing such powemil sentiments through
his music. was able to accomplish just that. From early in his career, Verdi evoked reactions
similar to those depicted in the opening scene of Senso. This was inevitable given the
insistence within the composer's work on the themes of revolution, slavery and liberation. For
exarnple, the composer's renowned third opera, II Nubucco ( 1842). tells the story of
Nebuchadnenar's pride, downfall. and subsequent acceptance of Jehovah, whose people he
had taken captive. Even early on in his career, the staging of such a powerful work caused a
commotion:
Mi over Italy, as the opera passed from town to tom, Itaiian patriots
heard in hat chorus their own emotions afler Mi ng so often to end
their Austrian captivity.
[. . .] Oh, mia patria si bella e perduta!
Oh, membranza si cara e fatal! [. . .]
At the opera's premiere at La Scala in Milan and at most later
performances elsewhere, despite police prohibitions against repeats
audiences demanded the chorus be sung again. The police disliked
repeats for they were apt to become demonstrations against the
Austrian oficials in the boxes, but if the audience insisted, what could
the conductor do? Generally he shrugged his shoulders and later
pleaded that it seemed more dangerous to balk the audience than to
satisQ it.
(Martin 10)
The excitement that audiences showed over Verdi's operas did not diminish. The
composer and his librettists, in fact, did much to ensure that their works could incite their
audiences. Following II Nahcco, for example, Verdi presented I Lombordl o h prima
Senso 124
The brothen' smiggle is resolved years later dunng a crusade to the Hol y Land.
At the premiere the audience identified itself with the Lombards and
cast the Ausirians as the Saracens defiling the Holy Land; it advanced
the crusade into the future and geeted with frenzy a chorus calling the
Lombards from despair to battle. The tenor cries, "La Santa Terra oggi
nostra sar", to which the chorus - and the audience - replied, "Si . . .
Guerra! Guena!" Pandemonium followed and the police were unable
Co prevent a repeat.
Such scenes were not accidentai. Verdi and his librettists deliberately
wrote as close to sedition as the censors could be persuaded to dlow.
(Martin 1 1)
Thus, when Verdi's works were staged, they often caused an uproar that no amount of
police or rnilitary threat could quash. At performances of his operas, the Italian audiences
would oflen cal1 for the composer to appear onstage, particulariy in cases where there were
Austrians among the audience members. Even when he appeared in public. Verdi would
generate a scene, as crowds would spontaneously fom and break into cheer (Martin 18).
George Martin points out that Verdi went out of his way to incite (1 1). Even in an opera that
seemed to have no place for the theme of revolution or liberation, he included snippets that
could be consmied by the audience as relating to the national cause. As an exarnple, Manin
cites Macbeth ( 1 847). which includes an aria entitled "O patra oppressa." Verdi's musical
contributions to the "cause" of inspiring positive sentiment toward a unified Itaiy are perhaps
too numerous to catalogue here, but 1 should perhaps mention that his Tmvatore, dong with
Rigoleno and Ln Truviiora, have been seen as a trilogy, the ''tdogia popolar," which reprwnts
the "quintessence of the Risorgrmento," (Martin 17). In their depiction of, among other things,
the sel fless giving over of individual interests to "higher" pnnci pies (Martin 1 7). these works
Senso 125
npment the bue spint of Etalitui unification. a sentiment which, moreover, was felt not only
during Verdi's time, but also dunng the Resistance, the time period that is at the Forefront of
Visconti's thoughts when he came to the making of Semo in the 1950s.
in addition to Verdi's artistic and inspirational contributions to the Ri ~ o ~ me ~ t t u , one
mua remember that the composer in faa played a role in the politics of the time, as well.
Ne1 1859 troviamo il Verdi politico: infatti il 20 giugno. egii si faceva
promotore di una sottoscrizione 'per i feriti e per le fmiglie di coloro
che rnorirono per la Patria'; il 15 settembre presentava a Vittorio
Emanuele II i l plebiscito dell'Emi1ia (ricordato in una stampa alla
Civica Raccolta Stampe BertareIli di Milano); i l 15 ottobre dava
incarico al Mariani di acquistare i fucili per la Guardia Nazionale e ne
anticipava tutto il denaro necessario.
Nel 1861, sebbene riluttante, Cavour 10 chiamava nella prima Camera
dei Deputati, in seguito (1 874) fu nominato Senatore del Regno.
In politica fu libeale di destra.
(Manganaro 1 1 )
Verdi's special role within the history of Italian unification was fully recognized and
respected by Visconti. In Sem, this historical phenomenon is illustrated prominentiy in the
first scene, in which the staging of the Trovam is intempted by shouts from the audience. 1
have already alluded to the faa that Verdi's name was used as an acronym for the name of the
reigning king during the time of unification, Vittorio Emanuele. However, the shouts of "Viva
VERDP' dunng the time, which are reproduced in Visconti's film, had another significance, as
well. In alluding to the opening scene of the film. Visconti observes:
in realt, per gli Italiani dell'epoca sridare 'Viva Verdi' non
significava soluito gridare 'Viva Vittorio Emanuele re d'Italia',
significava anche 'Viva Giuseppe Verdi'. Significava anche che si
amava una musica determinata, uno spinto determinato, ed prima di
tutto ma questione di sec010 e di situazione. La vent che un e s t a
Senso 126
pub dire te cos+ che awerte il bisogno e k' intenzione di esprimere,
raccontando non importa quale storia. C' sempre una finestra dalla
quale ci si puo mettere ad osservare le cose. Io penso che sia questa
una delle vie che si aprono al cinema italiano: il realismo romantico.
Basta attingere alle nostre fonti liriche.
(Visconti 67-68)
To open Semo with a scene from a Verdi opera. and to depict the frenzied reaction of
the Venetian audience. therefore. not only enriches the Visconti text from an artistic point of
view, but it also adds a historically relevant touch to the film. It captures the mood of the time
in an accurate way and gives the viewer a key to interpreting the film. as well. Moreover, the
extreme and melodramatic nature of the scene (i.e., with the audience showering the theam
with red, white, and green flyen and bouquets among shouts of" Viva VERDI! Vva I ' ltalia!")
bdliantiy makes the point that sometirnes in life there are moments as drarnatic as those in
any opera, and therefore allows Visconti to convincingly illustrate that realism need not be as
stark and unemotionai as some artists and critics insisted.
2.4.4 Wsual Am
Now that 1 have examined the influence of Verdi and of his meloriramma on Senso. 1
wish to examine the impact of the visual arts had on the film. The influence of painting is
raher bki ng in Sem. The employment of vaRous types of painting techniques. and, more
specifically, the overt references to specific painters and paintings, can aiso be traced back to
an element that is characteristic of the melodrarna, that is, the tableau. Peter Brooks. on
examining the importance of muteness in the melodrarna, observes, "Even the scenes
constructeci of words tend toward a terminal wordiessness in the fixed gestures of the
tableau," (6 1). He sees tableaux as being used in melodrarna in order to convey climactic and
aitical moments in melodrama Tableau " [. . .] gives the spectator the oppominity to see
Senso 127
meanings represented, motions and m d states rendered in clear visible signs" (62). Finally,
Brooks observes that: "Occasionally the tableau will strive toward the memorability of a well-
known painting [. . .]" (61).
"Well-known paintings" are used throughout Senso. in different ways and to achieve
various effects. For one thing, Visconti makes use of actual paintings and frescoes in order to
decorate the villas of the Serpieris. The frescoes used in the Aldeno villa (which is the villa
Godi di Lonedo or villa Valmarana, a Palladian villa built in 1537) are by Giambattista Zeiotti
and Battista del Moro, two students of Veronese. Robeno Campari points out that there seems
to be much contamination between the paintings and the shots in the film. Campari quotes
Piero Tosi, costume designer on Senso: "Cosi la vestaglia di Livia alla villa Valmarana e in
armonia con le linee ncche e corpose degli affreschi. Sarebbe stata inadeguata e meschina una
vestaglia sgonfla, realistica accanto ai sol& di dell'Olimpo, al Trionfo della Serenissima in
ampollosi broccati" (Campari 57-58). Like almost al1 the shots in the film, the one described
by Tosi is very consmicted, very artistic, and seems almost a painting itself.
In t ems of specific influences from the visual arts on Sensu. the Macchiaioli are ofien
ated as having had an impact on Visconti. That these Italian realist painters of the nineteenth
century should have had an impact on Visconti is not surpnsing, for their propensity to depict
" r d " scenes from Italian contemporary life, and their principles of freedom and dernocracy,
were very much in tune with the director's sensibilities:
The Macchiaioli [. . .] represented a new cultural formation which
unfoldeci in Florence just after mid-century and lasted until the late
1860s. The strategy of their dissent took the form of anti-academicism
but in fact was aimed at foreign, specifically Austrian, domination of
Tuscan institutions. Their grouping atacted individuals from other
parts of the Itaiian peninsula who had fled their various indigenous,
subordinated cultures or were otherwise displaced by the ferment of
Senso 128
the revdutionary y ears 184849. Despite the autocde government of
Grand Duke Leopoldo 11of Lorraine, life was more tolerable in
Florence than aimost anywhere else in Italy; it was an environment
these patriotic-minded artists could exploit.
moime, "The Macchiaiolr" 33)
Visconti himself has denied this influence. In the following interview, suggestions that the
director may have been i nfluenced b y Giovanni Fattori, a Macchiaiolo who focused in part on
portraying Risorrgrmeenfo batle scenes, are rejeaed by Visconti
poniol-Valcroze and Domarchi.] ' esatto che in Srnso avete cercato
di ntrovare I'estetica di certi pittori italiani? Sadoul cita Fattori.'
[Visconti.] 'No, evidentemente conoscevo Fanon, che ha dipinto
scene di battaglia contemporanee a Setno, ma non ho mai voluto
copiarlo. Ho semplicemente cercato di awicinarmi alla verit, e
poich Fanon aveva dipinto la verit, si ritiene che le nostre opere
coincidano su un certo piano.'
(Visconti, "Da h e partie" 7 1 )
How reliable is the director's answer? That cannot be known. although there are fairiy
complex shots in the film that seem virtually identical to paintings of Fattori and others. While
many shots in the Custoza battle scene are reminiscent of Fanon's depictions of war, there is
one specific shot of a covered wagon in which Giovanni Fattori's Il camp iuIiano dopo la
batfugfia di Magenta " saccheggiato in ogni dettaglio [. . .] mantenendo il punto di vista del
pittore, sempre di spalle nspeno al1 ' azione," (Campari 59). Other Mucchiuiofi paintings seem
also to have influencecl Visconti while he was making Senso; Campan cites Telemaco
Signonni's Lu toilette del mattino and L a lettera, Francesca Haye's II bacio, and Silvestre
Lega's IL cmtlo delIo stornello, for example (Campari 57-59). Regardless of whether Visconti
may have had Fatton, Signonni, Hayu, and Lega in mind when he orchestrated certain shots,
Senso 129
his answer in the above-cited interview bRngs up a crucial point regarding the notion of
influence, that it is often not direct and that perhaps it is not even conscious.
2.4.5 Literature
Llp und this poini, 1 have identified a variety of influences that make up the
melodrama that is Senso. I cannot, however, neglect the many influences that are at the heart
of Senso and at the centre of my study of Visconti: the literary influences. Literature of
numerous genres and from various eras have left impnnts on Visconti's film. In fact, in
speaking of the influence of literature on Senso, one could speak of an entire web of
influences, a web whose mie sources may be rather dificult to unr a~el . ~
2.4.5.7 "Senson
To be sure, the reference that is at the core of the work is Camillo Boito's novella of
the same title. Although Visconti and his screen writer. Suso Cecchi D' Amico. had more than
one working title in mind for the film as they were writing (Custoza. Uragano J'estnte, I
vinti). they decided to select the title that had corne from the Boito text, and even included a
reference to the short story and to Camillo Boito in the opening credits of the film! Boito's
novella serves as the main inspiration for the film. There are several ways in which the novella
influences the film: in its basic definitions of the characters; in its reference to the time p e n d
that interested Visconti; and finally, in its adherence to the spirit of the Scupigiiatura. which in
many ways represents a historical trend that, one may speculate, Visconti could easily have
been a part of had he been living at that time. A bnef analysis of the sirnilarities and
The concept of the web of influence is quite a suitable one to use when speaking of
Visconti, and 1 shall return to a discussion of this concept later in the chapter.
As previously stated, this kind of acknowledgement is not present in Lo terra Remu,
where neither Giovanni Vkrga nor I MaImgIiu was included in the credits.
Senso 130
--
differmces baween Boito's text and Visconti's will shed m e light on how Wsconb shaped
this key literary source in order to achieve an essentially melodramatic tone and a politically-
One of the main points of influence in Boito cornes frorn the depiction of Livia. The
author's depiction of the female protagonist contributes much io Visconti's text. The
similarities between the two characters are marked, with Boito's protagonist clearly serving as
an influence for Visconti, aiding h m to create a character that works perfectly within the
scheme of the melodrama that he intended to make. At the sarne time, however, the
differences between the two Livias indicate that Visconti's aim was to tell a tale with poli tical
and social significance. 1 will now compare and contrast Boito's Livia and Visconti's
Countess Serpien .
Upon reading Boito's "Senso," there are two marked characteristics that leap off the
page, so to speak, when one reads the Countess's secret journal: one of these characteristics is
her beauty (of which L i a herself continually reminds the reader) and the other is her vanity
(of which the reader is aware in large part based on the character-narrator's insistence on her
own beauty). The following quotation, which starts off the recollection of Livia's f l ai r with
Remigio Ruz (who becornes Franz Mahler in Visconti's version of the tale) illustrates both
Livia's beauty and her immense self-centredness:
A Venezia rinascevo. La mia belleva sbocciava intiera. Negii occhi
degli uomini brillava quando mi guardavano, un lampo di daiderio;
sentivo le fiamme degli sguardi rivolti sulla mia persona anche sema
vederli. Persino le donne mi fissavano in volto, poi mi ncercavano giu
gi sino ai piedi, ammirando. Sorridevo corne una regina. corne ma
dea. Diventavo, nella contentezza della mia vanit, buona, indulgente,
famigliare, spensierata, spiritosa: la grandeva del mio trionfo mi
faceva quasi apparire modesta.
(Boito 342)
Senso 131
The Boito text is fut! of Livia's descriptions of hersdf. and al1 of these uggesr the
character's exceptional beauty while at the same tirne illustrating a vanity that can be
described as extreme. Livia is well aware of this vanity:
Ho bisogno di mortificare la vanit. Alla inquietudine, che rode la mia
anima e che lascia quasi intatto il mio corpo, s'alterna la presunzione
della mia bellezza: n trovo altro confort0 che questo soIo, il mio
specchi o.
(Boito 339)
There is much irony in this statement. The attachment that Livia feels towards her mirror and
the obsession with her own appearance are so excessive that they occupy her (or perhaps
preoccupy her) to the point of leaving space for no other sentiment or action (including,
according to her reasoning, her vani ty ). For a substantial portion of the novella, in fact, the
reader almost has a sense that there is little or no action in the story, simply because Livia's
detailed descriptions of henelf often delay or prolong the narration of events. For example:
Una ma t h , mentre guardavo sulla mia coscia destra una macchietta
livida, forse una contusione leggiera, che deturpava un poco la
bianchena rosea della pelle, udii fori un romore corne di persona, la
quaie nuotasse rapidamente.
(Boito 346)
This sentence, which essentially States that one moming Livia heard a noise made by someone
who was swimming rapidly, contains a rather long and involved flourish that indicates both
the generally flawless appearance of the character as well as the extreme lengths that she goes
to in order to observe herself. Sentences such as these are cornmon throughout the fiat haif of
the novella. during the recounting of Livia's stay in Venice and the development of her
relationship with Remigio. (Note that these vain and detailed descriptions become less
Senso 132
conmon es Livia's feelings for Fninz becorne more fierce, obsessive. The focus within the
narrative then shifts from her appearance to the events that unfold, and, to a degree, to her
franled and declining emotional and physicai states. )
in Visconti's Senso. the viewer sees a Livia who is definitely beautifbl. at least in the
beginning of the film. The "constmction" of Livia's beauty has many layers. To begin with,
Visconti's choice of actor to play the Countess, Alida Valli, afforded him the luxury of having
to work with a penonaiity who was widely acknowledged as being beautihl at the time. In
addition to being physically striking, Livia Serpien is dso depicted as being glamorous, and.
at least in part, aware of her beauty. Livia's glarnour comes from her costumes, her clothing,
her hairstyles, her accessories. Her many elaborate gowns, particularly the one that she wean
in the first scene at the theatre, draw attention to her face, her figure, and give her a very
drarnatic look. This drama is further emphasized by Visconti's use of flanering lighting, sofl
camera filten, and veils and capes. (Of course, as her feelings for Franz lead her to despair,
Livia's beauty seems to deteriorate in a way sirnilar to that in the short story.) In Livia
Serpien, however, the vanity is absent. The viewer rarely sees Livia admiring herself in the
mirror (despite the fact that Visconti includes mirrors in many shots of the film), nor does
Livia make any references to her own beauty, the way she continually does in the novella.
This difference in characterization is significant, for in place of the vani ty Visconti uses her
patriotism as a defining characteristic. For example, the fira action that Livia perfonns is that
of placng a red, white, and green bouquet that had been tossed by a member of the crowd
ont0 the Austnans at the performance of II Trovatore, into the neckiine of her gown (an object
that her husband quickly takes from her when he realizes that she intends to go into the atrium
of the theatre wearing the patriotic bouquet). Subsequently, Livia's protection of her cousin,
Senso 133
the ci di an underground fighter, R W o Ussoni, illustrates her sympathy towards the Italiaxa
patriots' cause. She tries to protect Roberto by pieading with Franz not to duel with him, and
by pleading with her husband for assistance once she realizes that Franz, unwilling to duel, is
about to have Roberto arrested. She aiso gives Franz the following explanation regarding her
views on the Austrians:
Vede, mio rnarito ed io abbiamo opinioni molto diverse riguardo gli
Austriaci. Lui disposto anche ad accettarli e ne sollecita anche i
favori. Io sono come mio cugino, una vera Ltaiiana.
( Se m, 1954)
Finally, she becomes involved in the patriots' cause herself, prornising to convey messages to
Roberto's partners in Aldeno, and iater, holding the patriots' treasure for safekeeping. Of
course, Livia's obsession with Franz prevents her from following through on her patriotic
impulses, and l ads her to even betray the Italians' cause. The faa remains. however, that the
patriotic side of Livia initidly defines her charaaer, just as Boito's Livia is defined by vanity.
A third characteristic that can be compared in the two versions of "Senso" is Livia's
resolve, her moral strength. Specificdly, one can compare her desire to avoid her Austrian
lover in both texts, and one cm trace the way in which Livia's resolve weakens as the story
progresses. in the short story, it is clear that Livia desires order and discipline. As readers,
who are, in a sense, voyeurs lwking into the Countess's secret journal, we read the words on
paper and come to reaiize that with the exception of the notorious a a i r in her ps t , Livia is a
woman dways in control.
The novella S e m is a compilation of pivia's] egotistical jomngs.
These are never made in haste or at random. They are calculated,
organized and reveiatory in a posed controiled manner, they expose
Senso 134
tivia's perceptions, heighen her smsaons, and glorify her
independent assertiveness. They are her defence against chaos.
(Patridge 5 I )
The "chaos" is the lack of control experienced by the Countess throughout her love affair.
From reading about the way Livia deals with other lovers, one redizes that this chaos existed
on1 y with Remigio, and that othewise she was always able to control her emotions. For
instance, Livia remembers one of her first encounters with a male in the following way:
A sedici anni avevo assodata gi la mia fama xherzando con 17afTetto
di un bel giovane del mio paese e disprezzandolo poi, sicch il misero
tento di uccideni e, guarito, scappo da Trento in Piemonte, e si am010
volontario, e in una delle battaglie del '59, non mi ricordo quale, mon.
Ero troppo giovane allora per sentime nmono; e ddl'dtra parte i miei
geniton e parenti e conoscenti. tutti affezionati al govemo
dell' Austria, che servivano fedelmente qudi militari e impiegati, non
avevano trovata altra orazione funebre in onore del povero esaltato se
non questa: - GIi sta bene.
(Boito 342)
Although she claims to have been too young to feel remorse. her tone suggests that she would
not have felt remorse, regardless of her age. Her coldness is also seen in her dealings with the
"awocatino Gino," the young man who courts her dunng the present time of the narration:
Questo awocatino Gino mi secca. Guarda con certi occhi straiunati,
che spesso mi fanno ridere, ma qualche volta mi fanno gelare; dice che
non puo vivere senza la carit d'ma mia parola d'affetto; implora,
piange, singhioaa; mi va ripetendo: - Contessa, si ricorda quel giorno
in cui li sull'uscio, voltandosi, mi disse con la vuce di un angelo:
Sperate? - ed insiste e toma ad invocare piet, a singhiozzare ed a
piangere. Non ne posso piu.
(Boito 347)
Senso 135
This rndtess stance. which tivia mainlaiw despite h e ~ pstexpenence with Remigio, is her
way of overcoming her past weakness with the Austrian officer, a weakness that almost
destroyed her.
Cornparhg this figure of the woman attempting to maintain control to what we see in
Smo. Visconti's Livia, the Countess Serpieri, also claims to be in control. Rather, her
narration at the beginning of the film (which, incidentally, aids in giving us a feel that is
sirnilas to that of the scmtafaccio) indicates that she haci, up to the point of the beginning of
the affair with Franz, always had the moral fortitude to be in control:
Ormai era I'alba. La citta ricominciava a vivere. E adesso io provavo
quasi un senso di vergogna. Corne avevo potuto passare un'intera
notte con uno sconosciuto? Un Austriaco, un uficiale. Io, una donna
italiana, sposata. Una donna che non aveva mai commesso leggerezze
in vita sua . . .
(Senso, 1954)
In both the novella and the film, we see that Livia is unable to maintain the control that
she prides herself in having. The difference, though, lies in that the protagonist of the short
story is accustomed to dealing with her "senses" and keeping them in check, whereas Livia
Serpien is not used to handling lovers and keeping her feelings under control. The latter has a
much simpler set of rules for living her Iife: B e is faithm to herseIf; she is faithful, as much
as she cm be considering her different political views. to her husband; and she is faithful to
her cousin Roberto and to the cause that he loves, Venice's movement towards unification
with Italy. Ail of these principles are slowly but surely shattered as she gives in to Franz. Her
undoing is more radical, more complete, more rnefOrii.matic than that seen in Boito. for
unlike Boito's protagonist, Visconti's Livia had never compromised herself or her ideals
Senso 136
before, end when she does so, she compromises euerything that she had stood for in her Life.
Her compromise is utter, complete and disastrous.
The degeneration of both characten, in any case, is somewhat sirnilar. in the novella,
Livia describes that she is powerless against Remigio's charms from the begiming. Even prior
to their first forma1 meeting, Livia is drawn to Remigio uncontrollably: "Avrei dato non so che
cosa per poterlo vedere, tanto m'attraevano I'agilit e la forza" (Boito 346). It does not take
Livia long to realize that she is obsessed with Remigio. that she is extremely j ealous where he
is concemed, and that she cannot be without him. While the two are still in Venice and their
af'f'air is developing Livia quickly realizes that she cannot bear the thought of her lover being
with anyone else, and her emotions- are extreme:
Compresi dor a che il tenente Remigio era la mia vita. il sangue mi si
gel4 caddi quasi priva di sensi su1letto neila camera buia, e s'egli non
fosse apparso in quell'istante all'uscio, il more in un parossisrno di
sospetti e di rabbia mi si sarebbe spezzato. Ero gelosa fino alla pazzia;
avrei potuto diventare ail'ocwione fino al delitto.
(Boito 349)
As the above quotation illustrates, the lack of control in Livia is so excessive that i t ofien
manifests itself through physicai symptoms as well as mental alteration. These changes in
Livia's being become more acute as the &air intensifies:
11 conte, ritomando dalla campagna, mi trovo, dieci O dodici giorni
dopo la partenza di Remigio, srnagrha e pallida. Soffnvo in reaiti
rnoltissirno [. . .] sentivo delle accensioni alla testa e mi venivano dei
capogiri, tanto che tre o quattro volte, barcollando, dovetti
appoggiarmi alla parete.
(Boito 352-53)
Senso 137
FinaHly, whm she discovers Amigio's betntyd. tivia's phyeical and mental balence are
completely thrown off-
Tante ernozioni m'avevano affranto: l'ira. che bolliva dentro di me,
aveva messo in tutto i l mio corpo una febbre ardente. che mi faceva
tremare le gambe. Non sapevo dove fossi . . .
(Boito 366)
Boito's descriptions serve Visconti very well. Livia Serpieri, like Boito's protagonist,
slowly degenerates into a weak creature, one who is at the mercy of Franz and of the emotion
that she feels towards him. Mer having spent a night wal king the streets of Venice with
F m , Livia wonden how she could have spent the night with him, but then she continues:
Eppure, dopo quattro giomi, quattro giorni passati neiia vana
speranza d'incontrarlo, quattro giomi dopo, io correvo da lui.
(Senso, 1 954)
Aithough she temporarily seems to recover from the influence that Franz has on her (she
refers to her stay at Aldeno as a "convalescenza"), when F m visit. Livia at her villa, her
obsession with him becomes stronger than ever. It is so strong, in Tact, that she commits an
unspeakable act of berayal when she aids hirn in acquinng a fake letter of discharge rom the
Austrian army by giving him the treasure of the Italian rebeI fighten so that he can pay some
corrupt doctors. Once this awful deed is done, Livia's physical and mental undoing proceed
rapidly, and she manifests severai symptoms of illness as she hastens to Verona to be with
Franz. Physically, she seems il1 and fevensh while in Verona, and emotionally, she acts as if
Senso 138
- -
she is unstabte. Wscomi s mn s to take cues h m Boito regwding the undoing of Livie. end
the execution is very effective.
Thus. Visconti takes significant inspiration fiom the female protagonist of Boito's
novella, but h e shapes the characteristics of the protagonist in order to serve the purposes of
his social melodrama. The other main characters in the novella, the Count, and Remigio (who
becomes Franz in the screen version of the tale), receive analogous treatment by Visconti.
Boito's count, an anstocrat with no clear conviction, is quite similar to Visconti's count, a
rather spineless, self-serving creanire who is just as cornfortable siding with the Ausnians as
he is supporting the Italian rebels, so long as his own comfon is preserved. He, too, is a useful
instrument for Visconti, perhaps illustrating in some ways the weak stance that Italy had taken
historically, particularly during the two world wan. Boito's Remigio, who becomes Franz in
the film, is clearly more negative towards Livia from the beginning of the novella, but wi th
him, tw, Visconti's changes suit the melodrama well. F m does not flaunt his vile nature to
Livia (his carousing with other women, his tendency to take their money, his cowardice) the
way he does in the novella (although his negative traits in the film are fairly clear to the
audience from early on). As far as the melodnuna is concerneci, one way of looking at the
melodramatic tensions in the film is to see Franz and Livia as a combined negative force, one
that works against the positive influence of Ussoni and of his rebels. It is interesting to note
that this union of the two characters is in part constnicted by using the characteristics of
Boito's Livia and by distributing these characteristics among the two cinematic protagonists.
Stereotypically ferninine traits held by Boito's Livia "transferred" by Visconti into the
character of F r a . I have already examined examples of Livia's vanity above. I have
concluded that Livia's obsession with her appeanuice is very obvious in the novella 1 have
Senso 139
seem the more vain of the two, and the manifestation of this vaniry seems to have been
derived directly from Boito's Livia. Consider, for example, what Franz tells Livia when they
amive at his house after they have spent the entire night walking through the deserted streets
of Venice:
[Livia] Che cosa ha trovato?
Franz] Un pezzetto di specchio.
Fivia] Perch si guarda con tanto interesse? Le piace tanto guardarsi?
Franz] Si, mi piace. Non paso mai davanti ad uno specchio sema
guardarmi .
[Livia] E perch le piace tanto?
Franz] Mi piace guardarmi per essere sicuro che sono . . . io.
(Senso, 1954)
The effect that Visconti achieves by tramferring a key (ferninine) trait of Livia's into the
chmcter of Franz i s in a sense, to fise the two together into one "force" within the structure
of the melodrama,'an entity that in and of i tsel f constitutes the "evil" of the rnelodrama, the
force against which Ussoni mua fight.
Ussoni himself does not appear in the Boito short story. His presence supports my
hypothesis that Visconti takes every opporninity to shape the Boito tale into sornething with
politicai and social meaning. Robeno Ussoni is the me hero of the tale; he is, one might Say,
the Mannco of this melodrama. Like Manrico, he fights the establishment in order to try to
achieve freedom, and like Ma ~ c o , he is defeated by the negative forces at play. One may
conclude that the characteristics that Visconti inherits from Boito are filtered so as to create a
viabIe, social, rnelodrama.
Senso 140
fn botti versions of the tale, we aie aware chat the stwy i s unfdding dunng the
turbulent time of the Risorgimento, but whereas Boito's taie uses the Risorgimento merely as a
backdrop for the story, Visconti uses it as the Force that moves the characters into action.
Unlike Boito's Livia, Livia Serpieri is motivated by her love of Italy and her respect for the
cause of the rebels who are trying to defeat the Ausmans. Unli ke Boito's Livia, Visconti's
female protagonist is metonymically linked to the culture and the time in which she is created,
and as such represents the intellecnial spirit of the time. In general terrns therefore, it may be
said that the process of conversion from literary text to cinematic text in Semo is quite similar
to that in La terra tmm. In both cases, we can see a definite politicization of the literary text
for the purpose of creating an artistic work wi th social relevance.
2.4.5.2 The Scapigliatura and its Literary Heritage
Semo is influenced by literary themes, tropes and devices used not only in Boito but
also in other literature from Boito's time, the literaiure of the Scapigfiamra. Moreover, these
literary devices come, in tum, to Visconti, to Boito, and to the Scapighatz, as influences from
literaiure throughout the Italian literary canon. A web of influences that begins with the
courtly literature of the Troubadours, progresses in Italy in the Middle Ages with the Dolce
StiUKovo and continues into the Renaissance can therefore be traced. 1 wi11 not attempt to
define and trace such influences in great detail, for to do so would fall outside the scope of my
work. However, 1 will briefly outline this web of infiuence, by looking fira at the Scapigfiati,
and then at the literaxy precedents that infiuenced them.
Senso 141
Gli 'scapigtia' sono [deil 'vinti' : intellettudi che rifiutano i l
progressa e il positivismo avaiuate; rifiutano la scienza: non accettmo
le stmtture borghesi, nelle quali vedono la negazione delle loro
illusioni, dei loro ideali di arte, dei valori in cui credono ...
(Petronio 595)
Like that of Boito's Livia, the spirit of the Scapigiianira is one of ambivalence and of
rebellion. The Scupigliari, both attracted to and repulsed by society, lived at iis margins,
attempting to gain some control. some order, with their writing. Livia, a metonymy for the
culture of the Scapigliati, is constructed in a similar fashion. Living within a structure that
yields her both privilege and frustration (Le., her maniage into the upper class of an Italy that
sympathized with Austia), she exists at the margins, and, although she wishes to be part of
the tide of change, she is reiegated to the fringes of society because of the unfortunate events
that unfold. This is mie, to varying degrees, of both Boito's and Visconti's venions of Livia,
and consequently, the spirit of the Scqigliatura makes an imprint on Boito's novella which
then makes its way into Visconti's Sensu.
As was mentioned above, severai themes and figures used by Boito and taken up by
Visconti are found within the Scapig/iatura but have their basis in previous Italian literary
traditions, most notably, that of Medievai love poetry. An example of this can be found in the
construction of the female image that 1 have already discussed. As a spea*fic charaaer created
within a partinilar literary work, Boito's Livia serves as an undeniable influence on Visconti's
1954 film. However, the depiction of Livia within the novella is itself derived rom many
influences in previous literature. It mua be remembered that Boito had a rich tradition of
literature to inspire him. Among the most f'ous figures within Itaiian literature have been
wornen, and have been created by the most celebrated artists of al1 time: think, for instance, of
Dante's Beatrice, Petrarch's Laura and Boccaccio's Fiammem. These figures were in tum
Senso 142
inspirai by iitermure that cwie befom, &a of the Ddfe Ski! N'vu, of the poetry of the Si di an
school, and that of the Troubadours. Boito's text draws on this rich tradition, and Visconti uses
the same tradition to create a modem work. The notion of Livia's extreme beauty, for instance,
is reminiscent of heroines or earl y Italian literature. Boito's descriptions of Livia evoke, to cite
one example, Petrarch's descriptions of Laura. in tum, Visconti uses these same images to
construct Livia, particularly as she is seen in the eyes of Roberto, who, just as Dante might Say
of Beatrice, refen to her as his "ange10 custode." There are thematic allusions to courtly
literature, as well. For example, the notion of love as illness is explicitly used both in Boito
and in Visconti. 1 have already cited numerous passages from the novella above, passages that
illustrate Livia's physical and mental deterioration as she becornes more and more obsessed
with Franz. These allusions to il1 health, both physical as well as mental, are preserved by
Visconti. For instance, when Livia goes to Aldeno, she narrates that her days there reminded
her of pstst periods of convalescence. Her health continues to improve, however. when Franz
follows her to Aldeno; the tire of her obsession is rekindled, so to speak. By the tirne she
reaches F m in Verona, she is buming up, as the fever caused by her intense love rages.
Finally, in the last scene, after Franz is executed, we see Livia running alone through the dark,
dangerous streets of Verona, shouting out Franz's name; her actions by this point indicaie that
her mentai well-being has been completel y shattere.
At the core of the Medieval literature from which Visconti draws these images and
tropes is the notion of c o d y love, which was bom within a very specific historicai and
cultural context:
Senso 943
Courtiy love is the expression of the ideals and values of an
aristocratie class, which has its own pattern of behavior and derives its
sense of superiority by thinking and acting in ways others cannot. The
courtiy code of conduct, of which love is an essential part, evolved in
the late eleventh century to f i I l the needs of a relatively new and still
fluid class, the knights. Young men from noble families but without
lands of their own went into the service of more powerful men in order
to make their fortunes or to engage in their favorite occupation.
fighting: some simply wandered in search of combat and booty. They
took their identity from the community of fellow knights; to
counterbalance the violence. crudity and instability of their lives they
needed an ideal or secular code. in a penod of increasing culture, of
heightened self-awareness, of literate d e n and ladies who patmnized
the arts, it is not surprising that this code found literary expression in
al1 fonns of vernacular Iiteranire.
(Ferrante and Economou 4)
The notion of courtly love was very welldefined.
Courtly love first appears as a literary convention in the lyric where
the poet, playing the role of the lover, gives voice to aspirations of the
courtiy class. It is his love which defines the p e t as a rnember of that
class. Love makes him noble, for if he were not noble, he could not
love. [. . . ] The essence of his love i s the worshi p of an ideal,
incarnated in or transposed to a woman. The continua1 striving to be
worthy of, to attain that ideal, is what ennobles the lover and provides
an exarnple for those who can understand and follow him.
(Ferrante and Economou 5)
in the literaure of courtiy love, which was composed and disserninated in large part by
the Troubadours, the notion of love and the notion of woman were interchangeable; both
repment not a flesh and blood woman, but an ideal that the male is striving for, an dtimate
Senso 144
nobility and gentility thrit consuintly &des him. Thus, this literature is wncemed more with
the male than with the fernale (Ferrante and Economou 1 ).
As time went on, notions of courtly literature mutated in specific directions in Italian
literature:
The trouvres, whose songs were set in a court, were pnmady
interested in exploring and developing the possibilities of figurative
language; courtly life was not the subject of their lyrics, but rather the
context which determined their figures of speech and their diction, and
in this respect its funaion was no different from the context of any
uttenuice. [. . .] The stilnovists, though they inherited much from the
troubadours. completely rejected the courtly setting and every theme
associated with it. They sought to mat e a new lyrical rhetoric and a
new seting for their songs: they substituted for the real courts of the
troubadours and the Sicilians an even more exclusive fellowship of
pets. and the language they developed was not intended for the
celebration of the ethicai effect of love. They sought, by their difficult
vocabuiary, to make their language the unifying force of their intimate
and exclusive Qrcle. [. . .] the lady in the Italian lyrics is not a figment
of the poet's imagination, which remains p e r f ' only so long as he
believes in it. istead, she is God's creation, perfct by virtue of His
endowments; she has a reaiity of her own and, potentially, a real power
over the poet which he cannot control.
(Ferrante and Economou 1 1 - 12)
There is much that coufd be said on the topic of the ways in which this rich literary
tradition influences Boito in particular. From the rich heritage of the Troubadours and the
Stilnovists are derived several notions, both thematic and linguistic, which can be identifiai in
"Senso." Boito's use of literary devices and tropes from the past is deliberate, but it is also
ironic, for unlike the heroines of early Italian literature, LiMa is a force that drives men to
destruction, not to salvation. The same literary figures used by different senerations of
Medieval poets are employed by Boito not to communicate elegance and nobility, but to
convey human weakness and failure. Livia's beauty does not help Frant to elevate himself; in
Senso 145
while very similar to depictions of female figures in the poetry of the Troubadours and of the
Stilnovists. is used in an ironic, and therefore subversive, way. The principles in aristocratie
society that were being praised in the Middle Ages via its literature, are questioned, perhaps
even mocked, by Boito. The subversive nature of this stance must not have been lost on
Visconti, who employed Boito's shon story to create a modern, eclectic text, a melodrarnatic
text. Visconti's social melodrama uses literary tropes that were once employed in order to
elevate the aristocracy, and manipulates them in order to make the opposite statement: that the
aristocracy is an institution in decay.
2.4.5.3 Closing the Loop: Boito to Courtly Literature to II Trovatore
Before concluding, I should like to add that given the tradition of courtly literature that
influences Sensu, the introduction of the story of L i a and Franz via II Trovutore becomes
even more poignant. The opera includes descriptions of love. valour, and heroism. that are
deliberately reminiscent of the types of literature that have been outlined above. For example,
in A a U, scene II, Leonora describes her love for Manrico in the following way:
Di taie amor, che dirsi
Mai puo dalla parola,
D'amor, che intendo io sola,
11 cor s'inebrio!
I mio destin0 compiersi
Non pu6 che lui dappresso . . .
S'io non vivro per esso,
Pet esso moriro!
(Cammarano 60)
Senso 146
Laer. when temont and ManRco cve together (in the scene that Visconti uses at the
opening of the film), the troubadour professes his love for Leonora by saying to her:
Amor . . . sublime amore,
In tale istante ti favelli al core.
Ah! Si, ben mio, coll'essere
IO tuo, tu rnia consorte,
Avro pi l'alma intrepida,
il braccio avro pi forte.
(Camrnarano 134)
The inclusion of such themes and laquage in Senso. as has been discussed. is quite
subversive. he image of the brave hero, Manrico, finding nobility and strength in the love of
the woman, is juxtaposed in an ironic fashion to the image of Livia and Franz conversing in
the opera box. Like Boito, therefore, Visconti uses these images taken fiom courtly literature
to mate a sense of irony within the work.
Senso 147
Using melodramatic fonns and social themes, and combining these with influences
originating fiom a mu1 titude of genres and fiom throughout history, Visconti arrives at what
he himsel f referred to as "real i smo romantico. " The various connections between influences
are many and are not trivial. Consider, for example, that the time of the Scupigfliarrrro is also
the time of Verdi, and in fa* sornething very real connects Giuseppe Verdi and Boito. for
Carni110 Boito's brother Amgo was one Verdi's librenists. There are many such connections
related to the making of Senso and to the various sources that were used within it. The web of
influence, therefore, is very inmcate, and also extends outside of M y (Stendhal and Heine,
among others, are a h direct influences on ~enso).' The mu1 tiplicity of literary and arti stic
influences adds dimension to the text. It allows Visconti to create a melodrama that is very
similar in spirit to the works of Verdi. It is a lyrical, complex work, that both manifests beauty
and addresses the issue of social unity as an ideai.
1 am not suggesting that al1 of these literary (nor other artistic) sources are direct
inff uences on Visconti. Rather, I am attempting to illustrate that a web of influences has
helped to shape the text of Senso in a way that made the work uniquely modem. In reality,
influence is o h not direct nor specific. As I have pointed out, for instance, in the case of the
influence of painting on Visconti. there may have been many instances where the director did
not have a specific source in mind when he crafted his film, but the fact that he was concemed
with themes that were also relevant for a Fatton or a Hayez, may have led to an artistic output
' Stendhal's Cherterhuuse of P m a has been quoted in this chapter as having been an
influence on S e m. Indeed, Visconti in i n t e ~e ws ofien spoke of Stendhal as an
influence. As for Heine, the poet is quoted directly by Fraru during his and Livia's
first night together on the streets of Venice.
Senso 148
that mults in a similm smsibility. In the redm of ideas, it i s not unlikely that aesthetic or
ideological notions can seep into the collective unconxious, and can thereby influence
different individuals in a similar way, even if they are separated by space or time.
II Gattopardo
[. . .] siamo di fronte a un autore O un regista? Il suo
temperamento di creatore O quel10 di un geniale traduttore?
(Kezich 35)
Released in 1963.11 Gattopordo is a landmark piece wi thin the filmography of
Luchino Visconti. The film allowed the director to revisit some of the themes that he had
explored previousiy, such as the issue of the Italian Mezzogiorno and that of the Ri ~o~rnent o.
The former had b e n touched upon in Lu terra ~ e ma (1948), as Visconti modernized Verga's
impressive nineteenth century real i st work by emphasizi ng the social injustices suffered by
Sicilian fishennen at the hands of the establishment. He continued his exploration of the
qrrestione meridionale with Rucco e i suoifrate/li. This film i s an expos of internai migration
within the Italian peninsula. It depicts the graduai undoing of a southern Italian family after
they migrate to northem ltaly on the mother's hope that the sons will find bener oppominities
than they would have had in their irnpoverished homeland. As for the issue of the
Risorgimento, Wscsconti used Semo to draw parallels between this era of "failed revoiution"
and his own age. the pend immediately following World War U. His interest in these social
issues, and his skill in depicting them masterfiilly within fiction films, made the director's
choice of adapting Giuseppe di Lampedusa's 1958 best-seller about the dedine of Sicilian
II Gattopardo 150
nobiliy duing the Ri-ment0 an undersiandable choice as he once again tumed to the
works within his library to find inspiration.
Wtth respect to the focus of my study. 1 shall examine how Lampedusa's novel acts as
a blueprint for the film. As previously mentioned, the notion of blueprint brings me as close to
examining mainstream connotations of fidelity in adaptation as I shall discuss in this
investigation. While 1 have avoided the approach of fidelity criticism, 1 must acknowledge
that there may be suficient correlations between a source text and its cinematic quivalent to
speak of that source text as having been the main starting point for the film, with the film
being clearly based on and taking significant cues from the original text (in other words, with
the film being an hpt at i on of the written text, in the conventional sense of the term. i.e.. as a
remaking of a written text for the screen). The similarities between the novel and film, in this
case, suggest the proximity between the two artists who created them, Lampedusa and
Visconti, for the two were contemporaries and had similar sensibilities. Extremely literate,
well-travelled, and a descendant from aristocracy, Lampedusa is arguably cl oser to Visconti
than any other author used by the director throughout his career. However, the focus of this
study is not on the parallels between the lives of the two artists but rather on those between the
two texts. My discussion will focus on strategies that one can use in order to compare
l i terature and film in an effective manner.
I I Gattopardo 1 S i
Quando un film viene tratto da un'opera letteraria, bisognerebbe
cercare di valutarlo per il suo vaiore intri nseco, giudicare. ci&, 1 'opera
cinematografica indi pendentemente dai romanzo O dai racconto che
l'ha ispirata. Cio possibile se il testo letterario pressoch
sconosciuto O se. come awiene in molti casi. e servit0 al regista solo
come spunto per la realiaazione di un'opera assolutarnente autonoma.
Ne1 w o contrario viene naturale paragonare il film all'opera letteraria
dalla quale stato tratto, per vedere se e in quale rnisura il regista
rimasto fedele a quanto 10 scrittore ha voluto esprimere nelle pagine
del suo romanzo.
(Furnagaiti 23)
Paola Fumagalli's words are ci propos as an introduction to the issue of adaptation in relation
CO Il Gattopmdo. i have already described two "modes" of adaptation, in Chapter 1 (literature
as "sourceT') and in Chapter 2 (literature as "influence"). With II Gattopmdo, I will now
analyze the role of literature as "blueprint," exploring the notion that the film is an
"adaptation" proper. This is a relevant approach to use with the 1963 film, for with its release
in 1963 there began some of the more vivid debates surrounding the issue of adaptation that
Visconti ever provoked. Aside frorn the fact that the film does seem to bear several key
similarities to the novel (as my subsequent analysis will illustrate). there is another issue that
calls for an analysis of the two texts in the context of "Iiterary adaptation." As Paola
Fumagalli suggests, the notoriety achieved by the Lampedusa novel and the animated debates
surrounding it could not but ignite an even more fiery set of contmversies when the tilm based
on the novel was released, five years d e r the publication of the Lampedusa text. Given the
critical and popular success of the novel and given the amount of attention that it received, the
release of a film based on this work just a few years aflewards, could not but provoke
additional discussions on the subject matter presented. Hence, it was understandable that the
II Gattopardo 152
adaptation of the Lampedusa te% and that much of the flurry of critical activity be focused on
the issue of adaptation. Speaking on the subject of adaptation and I f Guttopardo, Visconti
made the following statements:
Capita spesso, leggendo quanto viene scritto a proposito di un film che
ha tratto la sua ispirazione da un rornaiuo di autore, di vedere
affiancare e confrontare le due opere, quasi che dovessero essere la
nessa cosa. Quando. per la natua stessa dei mezzi di espressione di
cui si servono, un film e m'opera letteraria non possono
assolutamente essere la stessa cosa. Film ed opera letteraria non
possono essere la stessa cosa neppure ne1 caso di una nmtiva
realistica e nahiralistica i cui terni principali hanno una certa affinit
con I ' espressione cinematogafica. Figuriarnoci II Gut~opurdo.
(Visconti, "II G u t t o ~ o : romanzo e film" 70)
il mio film non , n potrebbe essere, una trascrizione in immagini del
rornanzo [. . .] Sia pure conservando una grande fedelt al romanzo
che 10 ha ispirato (e spero che sia il caso del mio Gattopardo) un film
per essere valido deve avere una sua originalit espressiva. E non
parlo soltanto del lato visivo.
(Visconti and Trombadori 94)
in the above quotations, Visconti is. in eflect, denying the validity of fidelity cnticism.
How is it possible, then. to discuss II G~tzopardo as a text that is inspireci by, based on, and
that foliows ciosely, the story taid out in the original? After aii, how can the essence of a text
be preserved and expressed using such a radicaily different form? In Chapters 1 and 2.1
suggested that in the process of transforming a literary work into a film. the literary work is
"filtered," for lack of a better term. through the sensibilities of the director. so that the vision
of the writer mutates into sornething diflerent, which may or may not complement the vision
of the original. But to answer the question of whether the film keeps the author's vision intact
(and I maintain that there is always a degree of subjectivity in this type of exercise), it is
II Gattopardo 1 53
Millicent Marcus provides a clear synopsis of the different positions within criticism on this
subject (Filmmaking 14- 1 5). She states that the debate around the issue of literary adaptation
revolves around the notion of whether a narrative cm be "preserved using different means of
expression. On the one hand there is a stance that a story can exist independently of the
discourse used. and can be conveyed using different media.
According to Paul Ricoeur. Roland Barthes, and A.J. Greimas in
France. Ange10 Moscarello and Gianfranco Bettetini in Italy, and
Seymour Chatman on this side of the Atlantic. there exists a universal.
nonspecific code of narrativity which transcends its emboiment in
any one particular signi fy ing sy stem.
(Filmmaking 1 4)
On the other side of the debate one finds those who maintain that narration of a story is
completely dependent on the medium and that a story narrated using one means of expression
cannot be conveyed satisfactonly using a different means. Marcus sums up the stance of this
group of critics:
II Gattopardo 154
Those w ho oppose the stmy / discourse distinction, including Jean
Mitry, and Grard Genette in France, Luigi Chiarini, Emilio Garroni,
and Gavano Della Volpe in Italy, insist that meaning is indivisibly
bound to the concrete materid terms of its realization in art and bat it
is absurd to posi t a significance separable from, and equall y available
to. a plurality of discursive systems. According to such critics,
adaptation per se is impossible. For them. it is more proper to speak of
inspiration or "resymbolization" - the attempt to recreate, in another
medium, the aesthetic experience of the textual source.
( Filmmahg 1 4)'
For this latter group, therefore, one must totally transfonn a text in order to adapt it.
It is my contention that it is possible to obtain a reconstruction of a tex& which,
although created using a different type of discourse, cm preserve fundamentai elements of the
original that are clearly identifiable, and that cm retain some crucial reference points that can
allow a close cornparison. In other words. as a master of the literary und performance arts
once wrote:
Non possibile, insomma, una riproduzione della medesima
espressione originale, ma tutt'al piu la produzione d' un'espressione
somigliante, pi O rneno prossima ad essa.
(Pirandello 2 1 7)
When closely comparing adapted films to their original sources, it is essential to keep
in mind the point that Pirandello makes here. The proposition of anal yzing an adaptation can
fa11 very easily into a discussion of fidelity, i.e., are the themes represented in the novel
adequateiy reconstmcted in the film? Are the scenes in the film reconsmicted faithfully in
'See the Works Consuited for titles of selected works by the critics mentioned by
Marcus here and above. Marnis does not provide a detailed bibliography for this topic,
but 1 have a ~mpt e d to suggest some te- by al1 of these critics which may act as a
starting point for an understanding of the debate on "the aory / discourse distinction"
in titerature and film.
II Gattopardo 155
compaion to the images evoked by the witten namtiue? While this approodi cm prove
interesting it has lirnits. It rnay be interesting to see where a film differs from the original text
and where it conforms to if but there is not very much to be learned about the process of
making meaning. A study of this type merely points out to what degree the individuals who
created the two works may have differed in their views and even in their interests, in their
exploration of the subject matter. Moreover, this type of study is rather subjective. as there are
no criteria for the interpretation of the two texts and for the subsquent comparison of the two.
For these reasons, it is essentid to establish that a film cunnot be identical to its source work,
its literary blueprint, both because of the differing points of view. as well as because of the
limits imposed by the two different media. Having laid out these premises, it is possible now
to outiine the focus of my andysis of Il Gattopardo. This study will focus not as much on the
faithfulness of Visconti's adaptation as it will on the techniques used in the reconstruction of
the Lampedusa text and in the response that this reconstruction evokes in the viewer (vis vis
the reaction that the reader may have to the written text). The divergence between the two
texts will be identified according to specific categories, but not within the context of the
potential success or failure of the adaptation. The preservation of the thematics of the
Lampedusa novel will be not be the focus, but rather, the notion of nmmtivzty of the two texts
will b e defined, and it is in this light that the two texts will be ultimately compared.
II Gattopardo 156
3.2 On Adaptation
A cinematic adaptation of a literary text is essentially an interpretation of the original
text using a different medium.' It is findamentally a framIation, from one medium to another,
of a narrative. Lt could be arped that the process of adaptation or intralinguistic3 translation is
more cornplex than an interiinguistic translation. in that the fonner deals with a transfer of
rneanings between two series of signs that are completely different from each other, whereas
the latter deals with a transfer between two systems that, while having different cultural
influences and nuances, have the sarne substance.
in an adaptation from novel to film. there is a process that produces two new texts, Le..
there are two adaptations. TI, the novel (or shon story), is adapted into TI, the screenplay,
which is then adapted into T3, the film. T3, as with any adaptation, acquires its own depth and
meaning, and tends to cancel out the traces of T2 (which in tum tends to cancel out the traces
of Tl). In rny study, 1 will leave aside the screenplay, for, while demonstrating some
interesting discrepancies that could shed some light on the decisions made in the adaptation
process, including the screenplay in my equatim would change the focus of the analysis. The
point to remember, however, is that in the process of adaptation, there is an intermediate step
in between the creation of the two t e a . which acts as a transitionai point between the two.
Both plays and stories generate fictional wntexts, [...] but a
performance or enactrnent (whether of a play proper or of a story
dramatized for the occasion) alters the way in which a fictional context
is generated. (So, tw, of course, does cinema).
(Scholes 33)
7
- The ideas in this section were developed during a course at the University of Toronto
with visiting Professor Paolo Fabbri (Sept.- Oct., 199 1).
3That is to say, a passage between two types of discwrse.
II Gattopardo 157
Lf cinema "dtersthe way in which a fictional context is generated," one must devise a
way of cornparhg fictional contexu of a novel and of a film. Using the notion of adaptation as
invalinguistic translation, to translate within a language, i.e., frorn one type of discourse to
another, one could think of an adaptation as one system of signs being translated into a
different senes of signs. (1 use the Saussurian notion ofUsign" as developed in Course in
Grnerai Linguistics and develop it using concepts conveyed by Paolo Fabbri in 199 1 .)
FORM
SUBSTANCE
//
SIGN = SIGNIFIER = EXPRESSION
SIGNIFIED CONTENT
\\
FORM
sSTANCE
This scheme requires some explanation. It is best to begin with the Saussurian notion of the
sign. Saussure explains the "nature of the linguistic sign" in part one of his work, as he defines
"sign," "signifier," and "signified," (see Cws e in General Linguistics, parts one and two,
65-78). According to Saussure, the sign is the basic building block of language, and is
corn posed of two elements that are linked together arbi traril y, the concept "out there" in the
wodd that must be named (the "sigrufied") and the arb itraq sy mbol, be i t wrinen, uaered, or
otherwise communicated (the "signifier"). In his course. Paolo Fabbr expanded on this notion
of Saussure's, postulating that a signifier was also an expression or utterance, whereas a
signified constituted the mie content of that utterance. Finally, Fabbri argued that both
expression and content each had an identifiable "form" and "substance."
II Gattopardo 158
In an adaptation, tbere is a translation of the expression of the tex& or rathec, a
transformation both of the form and of the subsuuice of the expression.' Ln any case, one must
keep in mind that the changes to the expression may affect the content, as well, given the
intimate relationship between the two. Still, a cinematic reconstniction can preserve some of
the same meanings as its blueprint, and can convey those meanings in a manner that affects
the consumer of the text in very sirnilar ways.
Having said this, 1 must firm that the literary sign is quite different in nature from the
cinematic s i p. The substance of the expression of the two varies greatly:
There are two distinct formai chmensions to narrative utterances: a
presentational form, which i s immediate (language, gesture. etc. ), and
a represented form, which is at one remove from the level of
performance itself in a novel, for instance, there is the language of the
author. at one level, and the representation of the character, situation,
and event at another. In a play there are the language of the author, the
pefiormance of the actor, and the deeds of the character to consider:
three easily discemed levels at which form is perceptible. And film
adds at least one level to these. just through the processes of
photopphy itself camera angle, lighting focus, and so on.
(Scholes 58-59)
Here Scholes identifies the difference between literary narrative and film. To round
out his definition of narrative, 1 would add the language of the narrator, which distinguishes
itself from the language of the author. As for the levels alluded to in film, there is the level of
the film ''author" or director, and other technical dimensions such as sound, editing, etc. in
?echnically, therefore, in creating an adaptation one translates the forrn as well as the
substance.
II Gattopardo 159
any case, it ma. be said tbat the cinematic text has a larger range of components than the
li terary text.
To continue to expand on my distinction between literature and film, 1 will use the
words of Christian Metz:
in the literary texf the function of the language is to assure a first layer
of intelligibili ty (called "literd meaning" and which corresponds in
generai to denotation), while writings involve a second level of
meaning, which is of the same number as connotations. In the cinema,
the tint comprehension of audio-visual elements is assureci - only
partially [. . .] - by the ensemble of codes which are constitutive of
analogy, ... (perceptual codes, codes of iconicity. codes of
identification, etc.): they make it possible to recognize visual and
auditory objects which appear in the film thanks to the similarity for
which they are responsible. These codes do not result from a
conscious work of a small group of men. but are rooted profoundly in
the entire social body (socio-culniral classification which enumerates
perceptual "objects", etc.). and even in psycho-physiologicai
processes (perceptions as such). These are stable stmctures. highly
coherent and "integrated", with a slow and unconscious evolution,
largely free from the action of individual innovations. in al1 this, they
somewhat resernble spoken language. to which, moreover. they are in
part linked.
( hguage and Cinema 269)
To put it another way, cinematic language functions on elements of immediate
perception. the likes of which are not found in literary language. In the cinema, there is a
constant explicimess. For example, in a novel, there may be a need to repeat a feanire of a
character's appearance numerous times; in a film, this is unnecessary. herefore. there are not
only a greater number of levels in the cinematic text, but these levels are also different than in
the written text.
1 will now explore the criteria that can allow for a cornparison of a film to the literary
work on which it was originally based. 1s it worthwhile to compare a cinematic text to the
I I Gattopardo 160
hne n tefi by which it i s inspirai? As v&wsly suggested, I would like to postulate that
comrnon categories cm be found in narratives, and, in the case of an adaptation from one
medium to another, these common categories can be compared, in order to detenine where
similuities and differences lie between the two texts. In order to compare novel and film,
therefore, the individual texts must be reduced to their basic stnicniral building blocks, and
the internai reiationships within each set of building blocks must be exarnined to detenine if
any strong sirniladies exist.
Before tuming to an analysis of the two texts in question. it is usehl to review the
work of Roland Barthes in the field of narrative, for his contribution can be used as a proper
framework for my snidy. I shall refer specifically to Barthes's "Stnictural Anal ysis of
Narratives." a landmark piece that puts forth several notions that can be used as a springboard
for my discussion of II Gattopdo. in Ins essay Barthes introduces the idea that al1 narrative
can be decornposeci into key elements, which are the same for each narrative, regardless of the
medium. According to Barthes's scheme, al1 narratives are made up of small functions, and
these are the units that create meaning: "A narrative is never made up of anything other than
functions: in differing degrees. everything in it signifies." (Barthes 89). Barthes categonzes
the narrative functions into different classes. making the point that the units exist at various
Ievels of the narration:
The bctional units must be distributed into a smail number of
classes. If these classes are to be determineci without recourse to the
substance of content (psychologicai substance for example), it is again
necessary to consider the different levels of meaning: some unia have
as correlates units on the same levei, while the saturation of others
requires a change of levels; hence, straightaway, huo major classes of
functions, distributional and integrational.
(Barthes 9 1-92)
I I Gattopardo 161
Banhes provides examples of didbutional functions: "[. . .] the purchase of a
revolver has for correlate the moment when it will be used (and if not used, the notation is
revened into a sign of indecision, etc.); picking up the telephone has for correlate the moment
when it will be put down [. . .]," (92). He then defines integrational functions i n the following
way :
The integrationai units [. . . ] comprise al1 the 'indices' (in the very
broad sense of the word), the unit now refemng not to a
corn plementary and consequential act but to a more or less diffuse
concept which is nevertheless necessary to the meaning of the story:
psychological indices conceming the characters, data regarding their
identity, notations of 'atmosphere'. and so on. [. . .] The relation
between the unit and its correlate is now no longer distributional (oflen
several indices refer to the sarne signified and the order of their
occurrence in the discourse is not necessarily pertinent) but
integrational. In order to understand what an indiciai notation 'is for'.
one must move to a higher level (characten' actions or narration), for
only there is the indice clarified.
(Barthes 92)
1 would conclude, therefore, that to conduct a comparative anaiysis of narratives
within different media, one must do so by discerning the relationships within different levels
of functions within the te* and reconstructing their implied meanings. Only in this way can
the process of narration or narrativity be uncovered, and the two texts can consequently be
examined. Barthes's notions of fiinctions and indices are fundamental to his study of the
structural analysis of narratives, and while I do not wish to delve t w deeply into the
explmations of these two categories of units within a narrative, it is important to point out that
Barthes's framework for diaecting a narrative ailows for a cornparison of two texts by
i dmtieing similar functions within the two texts and then identieing similar correlations
within each text.
II Gattopardo 162
A final idea introduced by Barthes rhat is pertinent to my study is that a narrative is not
a linear entity. He points out thac "[. . .] each part of the narration radiates in several directions
at once," ( 11 8); and that "[. . .] meaning is not 'at the end' of the narrative. it nins across it
[. . .]" (87). This, toc. is a key notion, because if a narrative is not a linear en& then it cm
be concluded that narratives composed using two different media should not be compared by
executing a line-by-line or story analysis. In other words. as I have aiready stated. one should
not seek out points where the adapted story is faithful to the story from which it originates.
3.3 11Gattopardo as Blueprint: an Analysis
in order to compare the two versions of II Gattoprdo, one must reduce the distance
between the two media. Given that bot!! the written text and the cinematic text are made up of
a system of signs. in order to be able to compare the two, one must discem the relationships.
or. as Barthes labels hem, t he cor~futions (Barthes 89) between the signs in both texts. In
addition, it is essentid to discover the cornmon categones in the texts. My aim is to
accomplish this via my analysis of II Gattopudo, which will consist of two parts. 1 will begin
with a cornparison of general thematic and discursive categones within the text. Examples
fiorn both versions of ri GattopmCro will reveal cases where comparisons between the two
texts can be made. For the general analysis. I will Focus on the following aspects of the two
texts:
j William Luhr, in discussing the way that Barthes sees a narrative, uses the tenn
vectoriaI (Luhr 35). This terni captures Barthes's concept of the non-linear nanve of a
narrative quite lucidl y.
II Gattopardo 163
the plot structure of the noueL u s the plot stnicruie of the tilm
+ the construction of the theme of death in the novel vs. that in the
film
+ narration in the novel vs. narration in the film
Once 1 have analyzed the texts at this general level. L will move on to a more detailed analysis.
Because of the richness of the iexts with which 1 am dealing, a close comparison is de rigeur
here, for it will allow for the uncovenng of similarities that one might othenvise miss. The
close comparison of the texts will focus on the bal1 scene in the film, that is to say beginning
with scene LM to the end of scene LXXXV of the screenplay (Cecchi d' Arnico 125-49). This
will be corn pared to part VI of the novel (Lampedusa 1 89-2 1 1 ). In m y anal y sis of the two
versions of the ball at Ponteleone Palace, i will be comparing specific elements of the two
texts:
+ objects: how does Visconti combine objects and film techniques to
produce meanings that are similar to those in the novel?
+ the segmentation in the text: every text has divisions and internal
rhythms; cm those of the novel be compared to those of the film?
+ narrativity: are there parallels behveen the narrative stmcture of the
novel and that of the film?
in exefuting a close comparison of these elements, I can then begin to make connections
between my findings regarding the ball scene and my general obsentations on the two texts.
These links can hopefully lead to some conclusions about the nature of cinematic adaptation
as executed by Visconti.
II Gattopardo 164
To begin with. I will compare the plot structure of the novel to that of the film. A
comparison at this level is useful in that it allows me to define the more obvious discrepancies
between the texts from the outset. and therefore enables me to move beyond theses
discrepancies to more involved compansons. It may be fair to contextualize this comparison
by linking it to what has been arguably the principal debate surrounding Visconti's adaptation
of the Lampedusa novel. It seems that critics have associated the "success" of Visconti's
adaptation to their perception of whether the structure of the novel had been followed. A part
of the debate surrounding II Gatfopmdo as a cinematic adaptation, in other words. deals with
the structure of the two texts. Moreover, the debate on structure is one that was bom beginning
with the publishing of the novel itself:
Contrariamente ai non pochi patiti delle resezioni chirurgiche di
appendici considerati inutili, dunque, mi pare che le parti V, VU e WI
si ano da considerare (con Bassani) essenziali al1 a vera comprensione
del romanzo. Del resto, chi volesse avere un'idea dell'effetto della
storia espurgata del presunto supeffluo pub rivedere il film di Visconti.
che necessariamente dtro rispetto al romanzo: un quadro dai colori e
dalle luci straordinarie, una sontuosa rappresentazione dei momenti
visivamente pi accattivanti del libro (il pranzo a cui interviene
Angelica, I'esplorazione dei palazzo di Donnafgata, il ballo) e di
quelli drammaticarnente pi efficaci (il colloquio fia il Principe e
T'mm, qudio con Chevattey). Ii viaggio di Pack Pirrone, la morte
del Principe, la fine di tutto, essenziali nell'economia sottilmente
'meditativa'del libro, sono estranei a quella esse~alrnente
spettacolare e narrativamente lineare di questo film ( per questo che
va perduto, ad esempio, ilflizshback delle udieme concesse da re
Ferdinand0 a Don Fabrizio).
(Masi 59)
Given that Visconti eliminated parts V, VI and W of the novel from the cinematic
version of the te* and given that the quality and usefulness of these parts of the novel had
II Gattopardo 165
been debated by critics of Lampedusa. it is inteiesting to note that the titerary debate. in a
sense. is cmied over into a debate of the film. It is not a coincidence that Visconti eliminated
from the sr ni ar e of the film the very parts of the novel that several critics found to be
extraneous to it. Visconti's deliberate choice to leave out Padre Pirrone's voyage to San Cono,
the death of the prince in 1883. and the 19 10 epilogue that illustrates the decay foreshadowed
throughout the novel, hint at the fact that Visconti, like other critics of the novel, was not
satisfied with the lack of "stylistic and dramatic unity" (Marcus, Filmmuhng 46) that these
parts of the novel introduced. Perhaps more imponantly. however, the reduction of the plot of
the original text allows Visconti to emphasize certain elements that have rnerely an expository
role in the novel. but that are of primary importance to the director. I am refemng specificdly
to the politicai underpinnings of the Lampedusa text, which are made explicit in the film and
are used to put forth Visconti 's ideological stance. This "stance" leads to the introduction of
various scenes that are not present in the novel, al1 of which deal with a critical depiction of
the political events of the time. For example, Visconti depicts the battle of Palermo. in which
Tancredi is wounded and m e local officiais are lynched for being supporters of the
Bourbons. This point is nipported by Millicent Marcus:
This ditorid decision fto ehi nat e parts of the novet from the plot
structure of the film] also fwuses Our attention on the final political
developments of the story - Garibaldi's defeat at Aspromonte, which
gives rise to Visconti's most momentous addition to the novel in the
inclusion of the news that the rebel prisoners will be shot at d m .
( Filmmaking 46)
The result of these changes in plot structure is to shift the foais of the original text
slightly, so that the story acquires a political significance that is perhaps not as developed in
the novel. "The addition and subtraction of scenes thus amounts to a deliberate politicizing
I I Gattopardo 166
mategy on Visconti's pst" (Marcus, FiImmcckjng 47)- 473. strategy may have been in part a
defensive one, as Visconti must have been very aware of the attacks from the Left that had
been made on the novel. Once again, then, the critical debate over the novel may have perhaps
in part shaped the cinematic tex& as Visconti worked to give the plot a depth that Leflist critics
had faifed to see in the noveI.
Thus Visconti 's Leopmd is a polemi c response to the debate
surrounding the novel, a prise de position in the heated political
atmosphere of early 1960s Italian cnticai thought. What makes
Visconti's cinematic defense of the novel so unassailable [. . .] is his
use of Marxist cultural heroes - Gramsci and Lukacs - against n e
Leopmi's detractors within the LeR.
(Marcus, "Visconti's LeoparrP' 45)
Once again, Visconti's poli tical views hel p to shape a cinematic reworking of a literary text,
and lead him to make specific choices in the mation of that text.
3.3.2 The Depiction of Deatl,
Now that the basic differences at the level of plot structure have been identified, 1 wish
to compare the treatment of one of the p h a r y themes within both texts, that is, death. Death
is one of the fundamental themes of the Lampedusa novel. It is a theme that recun constandy
and bxmies a leitmotiv within the tem. Theopening wwds of the noue1 already introduce the
therne of deah. Part 1 opens with the line: "Nunc et ln hora mortis nostrae. Amen"
(Lampedusa 23). It is as if these opening words set the stage for the many deaths to corne. For
instance, the recuning symbols of b l d and of slaughter (Meyers, 20 17), both human and
animal, serve to continually remind the reader of the inevitability of death. Such symbols are
II Gattopardo 167
repeated throughout: in part 1, there is Don Flbrizio's reculiection of the soldier found dead in
the garden:
Ricordava il ribrezzo che le zaffate dolciastre avevano difiso i n tutta
la villa prima che ne venisse rimossa la causa: il cadavere di un
giovane soldato del 5' Battaglione Cacciatori che, ferito nella zuffa di
S. Lorenzo contro le squadre dei ribelli era venuto a morire, solo. sotto
un albero di limone. Lo avevano trovato bocconi ne1 fitto trifoglio, il
viso affondato ne1 sangue e ne1 vomito, le unghia confine nella terra,
coperto dai formiconi; e di sotto le bandoliere gl'intestini violacei
avevano Formato pozzanghera. Era stato Russo, il soprastate, a
rinvenire quella cosa spezata, a rivoltada, a nascondere il volto col
suo fazzolettone rosso, a ricacciare con un rametto le viscere dentro 10
squarcio del ventre, a coprire poi la ferita con le falde verdi del
cappottone; sputando continuamente per Io schi fo, non propri O
addosso ma assai vicino alla salma.
(Lampedusa 27)
in part iIi, there is the dead rabbit during the prince's hunt:
Arguto depose ai piedi dei Principe una bestiola agoni mi e. Era un
conigiio selvatico: la dimessa casacca color di creta non era bastata a
salvario. Orrendi squarci gli avevano lacerato il muso e il petto. Don
FabriEo si vide fissato da due grandi occhi nen che [. . . j lo
guardavano senza rimprovero ma che erano carichi di un dolore
attonito rivolto contro tutto 1 'ordinamento delle cose; le orecchie
vellutate erano gi fredde. le zam pette vigorose si contraevano in
ritmo, simbolo soprawissuto di una inutile Fuga; l'animale moriva
torturat0 da un'ansiosa speranui di saivena, imrnaginando di poter
ancora cavarsela quando di gi era gherrnito, proprio corne tanti
uornini [. . .]
(Lampedusa 102)
The iandscape itself evokes images of death: "Intomo ondeggiava la campagna
funerea, Qialla di stoppie, nera di restucce bruciate; il lamento delle cicale nempiva il cielo;
era m e il rantolo della Si di a ana che alla fine di Agosto aspetta invano la pioggia,"
(Lampedusa 6 1). The sun is frequently used to evoke the image of deathiy h w of destruction,
1 Gattopardo 168
and niai the vcgaation stems to remind the reader of death in no uncertain terms.
Accompanying the vivid descriptions of colours and textures are the many suggestive
adjectives such as "funereo," which explicidy and constantly remind the reader of death.
Finally. death is ofien on the mind of the prince. As the narration altemates between the
omniscience of a third-person narration and the subjectiveness of a first-person narration. the
reader becomes privy to thought patterns of the prince. such as the following, which occurs
towards the end of the hot and uncornfortable trip to Donnafugata:
Risvegliatosi ai primissirni albori. immerso ne1 sudore e ne1 fetore non
aveva potuto fare a meno di paragonare questo viaggio schifoso alla
propria vit% che si era svolta dapprima per pianure ndenti, si era
inerpicata poi per scese montagne. aveva sgusciato attraveno gole
minacciose per sfociare poi in inteminabili ondulazioni di un solo
colore. desene corne la disperazione. Queste fantasie del primo
mattino erano quanto di peggio potesse capitare a un uomo di m e n
et& e bench don Fabrizio sapesse che erano destinate a svanire con
I'attivit del giorno ne soffriva acutamente perch era ornai
abbastanza esperto per sapere che esse lasciavano in fondo al1 'anima
un sedimento di lutto che, accumulandosi ogni giorno avrebbe finito
con I'essere la vera causa della morte.
(Lampedusa 65)
The above contemplation of death, of coune, is not the lone one in the novel. In one of
the more well-known passages, Don Fabrizio ponden the subject of death dunng the
Ponteleone bal1 in front of a copy of he Death ofthe Just Mm by Greuze:
Si mise a guardare un quadro che gli stava di fronte: era una buona
copia della "Morte del Giusto" di Greuze. II vegliardo stava spirando
ne1 suo letto, fra sbufi di biancheria pulitissima, circondato dai nipoti
afflim e da ni potine che levavano le braccia verso il soffitto. Le
ragazze erano carine, procaci, il disordine delle loro vesti suggeriva
pi8 il libertinaggio che il dolore; si capiva subito che e m o ion, il vero
soggetto del quadro. [. . .] Subito dopo chiese a s stesso se la propna
morte sarebe stata simile a quella: probabilmente si, a parte che la
biancheria sarebbe stata meno impeccabile (lui 10 sapeva, le lenzuola
de& agoninanti sono sempre sudice, ci son le bave, Ledeiezioni, le
rnacchie di medicine. ..) e che era da sperare che Concetta, Camlina e
le aftre sarebbero state piii decentemente vesti te. Ma in complesso, 10
stesso. Corne sempre la consideraione della propria morte 10
mssenerava tanto quanto Io aveva turbato quella morte degli altri;
forse perch, stringi stringi. la sua morte era in primo luogo quella di
tutto ii mondo?
(Lampedusa 202-03)
This passage reveals much about the notion of death as presented in the Lampedusa text. it
cleariy suggests that al1 of the imagery of death is i n support of the one, most significant death
in the novel, that of ihe prince. At the same time, however, Don Fabrizio's death itself stands
as a metaphor for the death of his line, of his class, and of the life that they will no longer
enjoy once the imminent political and social changes have been executed.
in truth, it may be fair to say that death itself is one of the protagonists of I!
Gattopcrrdo; it is for this reason, perhaps, tbat Lampedusa (or rather. Don Fabrizio) pomays
death as the long-awaited femaie figure whom Don Fabrizio summons at the end of part VI:
Don Fabnno sospiro. Quando si sarebbe decisa a dargli un
appuntamento meno effimero, lontano dai torsoli e da1 sangue, nella
propna ragione di perenne certezza?
(Lampedusa 2 1 1 )
and who finally m e s for Don FabriPo at the end of part M:
Fra il gnippetto ad un tratto si fece largo una giovane signora: snella,
con un vestito manone da viaggio ad ampia tournure, con un
cappellino di paglia omato da un velo a pallottoline che non riusciva a
nascondere la maliosa awenenza del volto. Insinuava una manina
inguantata di camoscio fra un gomito e l'altro dei piangenti, si
scusava, si awicinava Era lei, la creatura bramata da sempre che
veniva a prenderlo: 1 'ora della partenza del treno doveva esser vicina.
Giunta faccia a faccia con lui sollevi, il velo e cosi, pudica ma pronta
ad esser posseduta, gli apparve piu bella di corne mai I'avesse
intravista negli spazi stellari.
(Lampedusa 225)
Thus, deah is mbodied as e young woman metaphorically ready to be taken by the dying
man.
One final observation on the theme of death in II Gaffopardo is that the last two parts
of the novel, which cover the death of Don Fabrizio and the subsequent revelation of the
unravelling and decline of the Salina line, are bnmming with images of death. Aside from the
depiaion of the expiration of the prince (which, as described by Lampedusa, resembles
closely the Greuze painting described in part VI), practically every description in these pans
of the novei evokes an image of death. For example:
Era il mezzogiorno di un Lunedi di fine Luglio, ed il mare di Palenno
compatto, oleoso, inerte, si stendeva di fionte a lui, i nverosimilmente
immobile ed appiattito corne un cane che si sfonasse di rendeni
invisibile alle minacce dei padrone; ma il sole immoto e
perpendicolare stava li wpra piantato a gambe larghe e lo fmstava
sema piet. II silenzio era assoluto.
(Lampedusa 2 16)
And from part VILI:
Per chi conoscesse i fatti. per Concetta, essa era un infemo di memorie
rnummificate. Le quartro casse verdi contenevano dozzine di camicie
da giorno e da notte [. . .] quei chiavistelli non si apnvano mai per
timore che saltassero fon demoni incongrui e sono l'ubiquitaria
urni di t i paiemitana la roba ingialha, si disfaceva, i d l e per sempre
e per chiunque. 1 ri& erano quelli di mort non piu amati, le
fotografie quelle di amici che in vita avevano infrto ferite e che per
cio soltanto non erano dimenticati in morte [. . .] Se si fosse ben
guardato ne1 mucchietto di pelliccia tarlata si sarebbero viste due
orecchie erette, un muso di legno nero, due attoniti occhi di vetro
giallo: era Bendico, da quarantacinque anni mono, da quarantacinque
anni imbdsamato, nido di ragnatele e di tanne, abokto dalle persone
di servizio che da decenni ne chiedevano I'abbandono
all'imrnondezzaio [. . .]
(Lampedusa 236-3 7)
II Gattopardo 171
Deattr, t hdor e, is omnipment in the Lampedusa text. k pemeates the landscape and
it penetrates the mind of the protagonist. Lampedusa fills the reader's mind with imagery of
death. Even seemingl y "innocent" descriptions of elements such as landscape, food, etc., are
depicted in such a way as to constantly remind one of decay and mortaiity. By using death
imagery at various levels of the text, i n similes and metaphors. in the actual objects depicted
in the novel and seen by the characters, in the events that are part of the narrative, the achieved
efFect is a son of layering, i.e., layer upon layer of death imagery is laid out, alrnost like
themes and variations within a musical piece. The music builds and builds to a crescendo. and
with the death of the prince, we hear the climactic moment in the piece, af3er which a coda is
appended to the piece, one which. once again, is a variation on the same theme. Al1 of this
imagery, including the actual death of the prince, is itself a metaphor for the ultimate death
that is dluded to in the novel. the death of the aristocracy and of the worid in which this class
lived and thrived. Thus, the novel cm be seen as a novel about death, the death of an era.
Tuming now to the cinematic adaptation, 1 will examine the stratesies that are used in
the film to evoke images of death, and attempt to uncover whether Visconti achieves similar
effects in his depiction. A good deal of Lampedusa's death imagery cornes in descriptions of
scenery as well as in the interior monologues of the prince, and al! of the descriptions are
reinforced by adjectives and by metaphors that explicitly evoke decay and death.
Anche Visconti, [. . .] corne 10 scrittore siciliano, fa della morte il leit-
motiv dell'opera; ne1 film come ne1 manzo, essa si impadronita di
tutto: del paesaggio, degli intemi di palaao Salina e di palazzo
Ponteleone, dell'amore e di tutto cio che cade sotto 10 sguardo del
principe di Salina, perch proprio attraverso gli occhi del
protagonista che 'vedono' Lampedusa e Visconti, due uomini
accomunati da un'angoscia esistemiale che rende le loro opere
'ambiguamente' vive, proprio perch dense di morte.
(Fumagalli 46)
II Gattopardo 172
In the fitrn. it is a deah that di smpt s the peacefui scene of the family reciting the
rosary: the death of the sarne soldier depicteci in the opening pages of the novel (see page 167
above). In the film, there is a sipificant transposition, in that in the novel, the death occurs in
a time pnor to the opening of the novel and the image evoked is in Don Fabrizio's mind. in the
film. on the other hand, the soldier's death is an explosive intrusion and interruption within
the opening scene. one that sets the stage for the violent events that will follow. In addition,
the death is quickly linked to the landing of Garibaldi in Sicily and to the imminent revolution,
as the prince rads Malvica's letter about the Piedmontese landing in Sicily while his staff deal
with the issue of the corpse on the Gattopardo property. The pace, therefore, is rather different
than in the novel, and the associations that the farnily makes with the death instill panic in the
entire fmil y (save for the prince) and cause them to fret about the imminent political
revolution.
ther images from the novel are present in the film. The arid landscape is
reconsauaed. For example, in the scene where Tancredi initially leaves to fight with the
rebels, we wimess the women seeing him off with their parasols, as the blinding Sun bat s
down on them. In the meantirne, Tancredi departs, with a huge cloud of dust lifting behind
him, showing the ardity of the ground. It is clear from this scene that the hanhness of the
Sicilian elements are being used to evoke images of death. Vegetation sways in the wind, and
ya one cannot help but sense that the wind is stifling and does not help to relieve the
iandscape (and its inhabitants) from the effects of the scorching Sun. This, and most extemai
shots, include dl of the hanh elements of sun, du* and wind. h another example, during the
piebiscite scene, as Don Fabrizio and Padre P i me walk towards the polling station, Don
Fabrizio coughs and holds a handkerchief to his mouth. He says to Padre Pirrone, "Non siate
Il Gattopardo 173
cosi triste, Padre. Non stiamo seguendo un fitnerale, mi pare." to which Father P i m e
responds, "11 vento, questo vento schifoso!" to which the prince retorts "Ringraziamo il
Signore, invece. Senza vento, l'aria sarebbe un putrido stagno" and he continues to cough,
(Miccich, II Gattopardo 142-43).
The sequence reconstructing the battie of Palemo is also filled with images of violent
death. This scene, which is not present in the novel, links death to politics and io the
revoluion, just as the deah of the soldier had done in the opening of the film. Many violent
acts are depicted in this realistic reconstmction of the battle. We witness lynchings, see a
hanged man, people dying in hand-to-hand combat; fires rage and violence erupu.
Yet another image of death can be seen dunng the voyage to Donnafugata, when the
prince's farnily stops at a peasant dwelling. The shot of the Salina family members sleeping
silently in a di1 apidated bedroom. al1 of them in close quarters, reminds us of decay and
evokes images similar to those in the novel. As the Salinas lie sleeping, Don Fabrizio
scratches his torso, to indicate discornfort and heat. The scene is similar to the one described
in the Lampedusa passage on page 168 above. tt is fair to assume. in fact, that this shot
constitutes the reconstruction of that passage, for it occun at precisely the same point in the
story in both texts. As the camera pans across the bedroom, the bodies iying still remind us of
corpses in a tomb wom down by tirne.
Another scene that is replete with death imagery is that of the arrivai at Donnafugata.
Dust is pervasive in this scene. The family arrives in a cloud of dust, and as they descend fiom
their carnages, several of them shake the dust off themselves. Then, as the family marches in
a son of procession towards the church, their Iack of energy (due to the long, diEcult voyage
and heat) is made very evident, particularly in juxtaposition to the music being played by the
II Gattopardo 1 74
band as diey al! rnarch (the pi ece is the Verdi erio "Noi siamo zingarelle'v).6 Some of the
characten appear as though they are about to fall over as they enter the church. Later. seated
in their pews, the family members, still pale and languishing from the dust, appear to be
especially "cadaverous." As the carnera xans their faces, a cloud of dust actually rolls by each
one of them. Thus the physical actions of the actors, the mise-en-scne. and the camera
movements. dl function together to evoke images of death.
The rabbit caught in the hunt described by Lampedusa is also depicted in the film. and
iilustrates the subdeties of Visconti's filmmaking and the director's attention to detail. Many
shots in the film are rich with rneaning, and the scene in which the hunted rabbit appears is no
exception. The rabbit is shot during Don Fabrizio's and Don Ciccio Tumeo's hunt. In the next
sequence, as Don Ciccio and the prince discuss the bogus resul ts of the plebisci te and the
family of Don Calogero, the dead rabbit is seen hanging from a tree, and, although not tembly
evident, is present in several of the shots in this sequence. At one point, though, the prince
calls the viewer's attention to the dead rabbit as. whiie asking Don Ciccio about Don
Calogero, he begins to stroke and pat it. This seemingly inconsequential action is a direct
reference to the dead rabbit described in detail by Lampedusa in the novel.
Just as in the novel. images of death surround Angeiica and Tancredi as they explore
the empty rooms of the pdace at Do~afbgata. Visconti goes to great lengths to depict the
decay of the castle. The empty, cavemous rwms are home to mice (as is reported by
Angelica), to rundown wardrobes, pieces of broken funiiture and motkaten paintings, and
JUS& as in Senso. Visconti employs Verdi several times in this Risorgimento tale. ui
this case. the choice of the whimsical aria h m La Traviata is meant to be ironic. The
piece is intended to be Sung by youthful girls, and yet i t is being played during a scene
that depicts how decrepit the Saiina family seems. Note that Visconti will showcase an
unpublished Verdi waltz later in the film, during a pivotal scene. SN below for
additional details.
I I Gattopardo 175
to pounds and pounds of mer-present dus(, which is s t i d up as the charactes walk through
the roorns.
In addition, as with the palace scene, the scene in which Don Fabnzio contemplates
death in the library dunng the ball is consauaed with the images of the novel in mind. The
prince is clearly depicted as being in a contemplative state when he notices the painting. He
stares at it. He lights a cigar slowly and deliberately. Then he begins walking around the rwm.
but once in a while seems to be cornpelled to retum his gaze to the painting. When Angelica
and Tancredi enter the library (as they do in the novel), the prince utters the words that are
reponed by the narrator in the novel verbatim (see page 169 above). He wonders aloud
whether his own death will be like the one in the painting.
As the end of the ball draws near, there is a sequence in which the prince stares at
himself in the mimor. There is a close-up of his tired face. A tear falls down his face, and as he
tums away corn the mimr and wipes away the moisture, he sees a room filled with dirty pots
and dishes fiom the ball. This sequence, li ke many othen at the close of the ball, is symbolic
and rich with implied meaning, ail suggestive of the death that is to corne. Following several
sequences in which good-byes are said, the prince, obviously tired and il1 (as is made apparent
by Tancredi's question as the prince leaves, "Zione ... ti senti poco bene?" (Miccich, II
Gattopdo 21 1)). leaves the ball on fwt, alone. In the closing sequences, we witness what I
could cal1 a "litemy" scene, in which the prince kneels dom in the street and utters words
that are reported indirectly in the novel: "Oh Stella, oh fedele Stella, quando ti deciderai a
II Gattopardo 176
damY un epprntameniv rneno efimero. Iontano & hitto, nelh tua @one di perenne
certerza?" (Micci ch, II Gattopdo 2 14).
As I have illustrated, death is prevalent in Visconti's adaptation of II Gattopmdo.
Where Lampedusa uses vivid (or perhaps morbid) descriptions peppered with funereal
adjectives and metaphors of death, Visconti uses objects, montage, and carnera work to
convey sirnilar meanings. It is clear that the director makes a point of using the means at his
disposal to create deah imagery, as is perhaps most evident with his use of the elements -
wind, dust, sun - and of decrepit objects. In the end, however, death is left as something that
is perhaps imminent, but still at some distance. While the viewer is aware that the prince and
his class have reached the inevitable end of their glory, that end is not made real within the
confines of the text, and the viewet is not forced to witness its aflemath. Moreover, the
aforementioned Focus on the political aspects of the Gattopardo a o y causes a shift in
meaning between the novel and the film, and this shiR changes the function served by death
within the film. In the novel, the notion of death is more personal, existentid, whereas in the
fi lm, the ciear links between death and the imminent revolution hint once again at the fact that
the fundamental discourse at the hem of the film is not one of existence but one of political
smiggle in hiaory.
II Gattopardo 177
-
3.3.3 Narrative Strstegies
Now that 1 have exarnined the predominant therne in the written and film versions of il
Gotto@o, 1 I l l analyze different aspects of the narration of the texts. First off, 1 will review
the techniques used by Lampedusa to construct the fictional world of the prince of Salin* and
compare these to the narrative strategies employed by Visconti in the construction of his
cinematic text. Lampedusa's style is defined by Simonetta Salvestroni as "explicit." She
States:
Se Lampedusa avesse voluto [. . .] restare fedele al gusto
dell"imp1icito' per tutto il libro, avrebbe dovuto soppnmere circa
met delle pagine del romanzo. Basta ricordare ad esempio come e
sviscerata in tutti i suoi. possibili sottintesi, che potrebbero restare
oscuri al lettore medio, la Frase dei Principe Ponteleone: "Ed
aspettiamo anche il Colonnelio Pallavicino, quelIo che si condotto
tanto bene ad Aspromonte" [. . .] Di passi di questo genere ne1
Gattopordo ce ne sono molti . E ver0 che in certi episodi sembra
rafiorare il gusto dell"implicito', ma Tomasi non resiste quasi mai
aila tentazione di analinare e spiegare tutto.
(16)
Salvestroni also observes:
Ne1 romanzo c' poi chiaro e evidente quello che [. . . ] Tomasi
definisce 'il difetto di tanti romanzi', quello cio di rilevare I'animo
delle persone attraverso cio che esse dicono. Net didogo con
Chevalley (capitolo IV. pp. 204-218), Don Fabrizio mette a nudo la
sua anima, con le angosce e i tomenti che la travagliano, proprio
attraverso le parole, con una confessione diretta fatta ad un estraneo,
sema nascondergli niente.
(16-1 7)
Recalling the words of Christian Metz (Language and Cinema 269), thi s type of
expki i mss is also characteristic of a cinematic text. In fact, the specific strategy of having a
character reveal his or her state of mind by vocalizing it to other characten is typical in genres
II Gattopardo 178
such as theatre or cinema. The expficitness of the Lampedusa tex& thecefore, mskes it a viable
candidate For an adaptation (and perhaps makes the adaptation a viable target for cntics).
But the explicitness of the novel dws not corne only from the clear revelations of the
characters' States of mind. The text is sumptuous, sensuous. and tactile. Each sentence is
pregnant with meaning. Descriptions are deliberate, specific, colourfl. and irnagery and
metaphor are prevalent. As illustrated by my analysis of death in the novel. the namator is
often able to convey a sentiment by describing a scene from the outside world, by defining it
in vind detail using sights, sounds, scents, and tactile sensations, and by using metaphors and
allusions to make the image more clear.
This style is replicated quite faithfully in the film. The use of the littie-known tilming
technology of Technirama (Miccich, II Gattopanio 85) resulted in an ultra-vivid pnnt that
made the film a feast for the eyes. The sets, costumes and objects recreate very closely the
scenes described on the pages of the novel. The film was shot on location in Sicily, adding a
layer of "authenticity." Many descriptions in the novel were reconstructed i n painstaking
detail, with attention paid to paintings, coloun. music. sounds, and al1 the slightest nuances on
the pages of the novel. in addition, the Pace and canera work both aid in creating a very lush,
very sensuai film. The rhythm is often slow and deliberate. There are numerous scenes that
have no dialogue but that show a pemn or a group of people involved in the most mundane of
actions. The shots of the dinner table during the soire in which Angelica and Don Caiogero
are inaoduced into the Sdina househoid convey a sense of leisure; the many shots of the
guests at the Ponteleone bal1 depict characters sitting, chamng (with inaudible dialogue),
eating, fanning themselves, smoking, etc. This rhythm adds a sort of weight or depth to the
film, and gives one the sense that one is witnessing the most minor details of the characters'
II Gattopardo 179
lives unfotding. As for the camera wokin the film, in addition to the fundmcntal
contribution that the shots make to the pace, the studied movement and focus of the carneras
aid in generating meaning within the te* in that they serve to generate or at least to capture
visual metaphon in the film. Many of these metaphors can be seen. for instance, dunng the
bal1 scene, which 1 shall anaiyze next.
3.3.4 A Textual Cornparison of the Bail Scene
The aspects of Visconti's II Gattopardo discussed in the above anaiysis can be
reinforced if one anaiyzes the text more closely. 1 will now focus on the key scene in the film,
the bal1 scene, which is the equivalent of part VI of the novel. The scene depicting the
Ponteleone ball has ban chosen for specific reasons. It is interesting to note that the biggest
point of contention wi th respect to the success of Visconti 's adaptation of II Gonopardo lay
with the treatment of the ball scene, For envisioned the scene as lasting one hour or a
full one-third of the entire film. The expansion of the scene is seen in a negative light by
Geofiey Nowell-Smith:
In 7he Leopard the pomp and splendeur of the aristocratie bail and the
patriarchal figure of Burt Lancaster as the Prince appear almost to
have taken precedence over the themes developed eariier in the film,
and gradudly ege them out to diow for the iremendous finale. Not
oniy has the episode grown in physicai size, so that contrary to
original indications it now lasts, in its complete fom, for well over an
hour. It has also aquired a character of unquestioning nostalgia.
Where the film had previously taken a critical attitude to the events
described, it now slides gently into sharing the point of view of one of
the protagonists. Given the manner in which the Rince has been
ideaiised as a figure right From the beginning the move into "indirect
' Moreover, this use of temps morts links II Ganopmcb to Visconti's expenments with
neoreaiism, and, going further back in time, to the French reaiist hen tage to which
Visconti was exposed in his eariy career.
I I Gattopardo 180
fibre" can be interpfeteci only in oneway, es identification by Visconti
with the central figure.
(Now el 1-Smi th, Luchiho PLsconti 1 1 0- 1 1 )
On the other hand, there are Gianni Rondolino's observations:
U bal10 in casa Ponteleone occupa ci r a un terzo del film e si cdloca in
chiusura, a suggello di quanto vi stato rappresentato e ad
anticipazione simbolica di quanto sarebbe accaduto storicarnente nei
decenni successivi alla vicenda del Gattopardo. Visconti, in altre
parole, distorcendo la struttura narrativa del romanzo, ne coglieva
cinematosraf~camente le potenzidit drammatiche e la giusta chiave
di lettura ideologica. L'osservarione minuta e precisa dell'aristocrazia
al tramonto condotta con quel10 sguardo, proprio del migliore
Visconti. che si posa sugli oggetti, sui corpi, sui volti, sui costumi,
~ g l i atteggiamenti. sui gesti, nella grande sequenza del ballo, in cui
tutti i personaggi maggiori e minori paiono confluire in un quadro di
noia esistenziale e di sfaceio etico ed estetico, confen sce al1 'insi eme
non soltanto una straordinaria unit espressiva - nonostante
l'apparente dispenione degli elementi drammatici e narrativi in un
flusso informe di piccoli fatti e dialoghi smozzicati -, ma anche un
signiftcato politico-sociale non equivoco. Dawero il bal10
interminabile diventa la metafora d'una classe ai tramonto; ed la sua
lunghezza i nusitata a produrre quell' accumulo di elernenti
caratterizzanti, la cui stratificazione d corne Rsultato un giudizio
critico severo e impietoso.
(Rondo1 ino, Luchino Esconri 43 6)
These contrasting observations may prove quite usefl for the purposes of my analysis.
3.3.4. ' The Use of Object and Metaphor
The surface elements described in the novel are represented very faithfully in the film.
We note Conceta's and Carolina's "vesti ti identici," (Lampedusa 19 1 ); we see the
"pantofoloni di pelle lucida del (Lampedusa 191); we even see small details
replicated, such as donna Marghenta's "tripke collana di srneraidi," (Lampedusa 194).
Howwer, as much as the objects describeci in Lampedusa's narration are replicated in an
"auttrentic" rnamier, diere are certain elements that eannoi be d a t e d . Consider the
followi ng description:
La sala da bal10 era tutta Oro: Iiscio sui cornicioni cincischiato nelle
inquadrature delle porte. damaschinato chiaro quasi argente0 su meno
chiaro nelle porte stesse e nelle imposte che chiudevano le finestre e le
annullavano conferendo cosi all'arnbiente unsigni ficato orgoglioso di
scriyo esdudente qualsiasi nfen mento dl 'estemo non degno. Non
era la doratura sfacciata che adesso i decoratori sfoggiano, ma un oro
consunto. pallido come i capelli di certe bambine del Nord, irnpegnato
a nascondere il proprio valore sotto una pudicizia ornai perduta di
materia preziosa [. . .]
(Lampedusa 1 99-200)
Despite the similarity in appearance of the hall in which the scene takes place, the
camera cannot communicate the meanings of these objects as they are constructed in the
written nmt i on. The gold of the cinematic hall may be paie gold, but that it is "come i capelli
di certe bambine del Nord cannot be reproduced (and the irony of that sirnile cannot be
conveyed). The resonance of such a staternent is lost in the translation, so to speak. (The issue
of the "untransiatable" will be picked up again on page 188.)
On the other hand, using a medium such as film, objects can be used to acquire a
different kind of significance. For example, the uniforms of the Piedmontese oficials are very
noticeable even in the very crowded shots dunng the bail scene. There are numerous instances
where an aligned group of officials crosses a shot in a diagonal movement, from nght to leR
fiom the top to the bottom of the screen. In this way, they create a sort of blue stripe that
crosses the screen, one that almoa seems a larger version of the aqua-coloured stripe on the
individual uniforms. The mere presence of these "blue stripes" has a deep meaning within the
wnt m of the narrative, and the visuai game mounted within the cinematic tem serves to
emphasize the significance of the attendance of the Piedmontese oficials. The rnilitary
II Gattopardo 182
presence of the NoRfrent (Wian) officids at e saci d gahkng of the Sicilian lite reminds us
of the new social and political reaiity that the Gattopardo and his ciass must deal with.
The visual is mixed with the aura1 to create even deeper meaning. This is evident, for
instance, in the opening of the scene. It begins not with a visual, but with a sound queue, that
is, the sound of then-unpublished Verdi waltz that is heard throughout the last part of the film.
After the music is heard, the sho, which captures peasants working on a hill, dissolves into a
shot of the inside of the Ponteleone palace. The superimposition of the piece by Verdi. who
has historically been seen as a hero of the Risommeno and a patriot, ont0 a visual of a social
class so humble that is lefi untouched by the "triumph" of a united Italy, is very symbolic, and
indeed, ironic. Visconti plays with such elements to mat e a text whose every nuance exudes
rneaning.
Returning to the visual elements, the bal1 scene is filled with what 1 would term "visual
metaphon." When Tancredi, Angelica and the prince leave the library and retum to the bail,
they form a triangle, with Tancredi at the head. This is meaningfbl for various reasons: it
represents Tancredi's jealousy, to which Angelica alludes in the novel (Lampedusa 204). It is
al so representative of the shifl in power from the Gattopardo to the young Falconeri, from the
oid wodd order to the new. In addition, it establishes the nature of the link between the young
lovers, for it is because of the prince's rather Machiavellian manoeuvring that the two are
joined together (and that, in an albeit diminished and infenor form, the power of the prince
can continue).
Visual metaphors are ubiquitous in the bal1 scene. The dancers, seen from above, seem
to make up one, hannonious body, moved by a singular energy. Geofiey Nowell-Smith
observes: "Even the dance is ody an enactment on human sale of the etemal gyration of the
II Gattopardo 183
movement of the stars that is often referred to in the novel. Moreover, unlike in the novel,
there are no explicit references to the stars throughout the bal1 in the film, Save for Don
Fabrizio's expression of the desire to have an appointment with the stars (which is adapted
from some indirect speech at the end of part VI of the novel, p. 2 11). These visual metaphors
that remind us of the stars, therefore, ennch the text in the same way that Lampedusa's verbal
metaphors do.
The decline of the prince's world is also expressed using visual rnetaphors in the bal1
scene. Don Fabrizio is ofien moving away from the carnerq while the Piedmontese soldiers
are often moving towards the carnera. This choreography could be suggestive of the passing
of the old regime. and the coming of the new.
Thus, the cinematic text offers some images that are comparable to those evoked by
Lampedusa's words. While the metaphors cannot always be reconmcted in the same way
because of the essentially different natures of the two media, the shades of meaning of the
Lampedusa text have been "translateci" by Visconti and incorporated appropriately into the
cinemati c text.
3.3.4.2 Segmentation of the Texts
Another aspect that can be comparai in the two texts is the intemal divisions of the
two. The Lampedusa text contains deliberate, rnetaliterary separations. The index of the novel
reveals that part VI is made up of eight segments defined by Lampedusa as follows:
Andando ai bdlo - Il bdlo: ingresso di Pdlavicino e dei Sedara -
Malcontento di Don Fa b d o - La sala da bal10 - In biblioteca -
Don Fabrizio balla con Angelica - La cena; conversazione con
Pallavicino - Il bal10 appassisce, si ritorna a casa.
(Lampedusa 250)
II Gattopardo 1 84
This segmmtatim is panrtld to one ttrat exists in the cinemetic text. The film includes a
cruciai segmentation mechanism that is achieved through the use of music. In the ball scene,
there are tw moments in which no music is to be heard in the bal1 scene. There are six
different dances played in the scene: a mazurka, a polka, a quadrille, a gallop, and two
waltzes.' Therefore, the film scene has been reconsmicted in such a way as to maintain
similar internai rhythms and divisions. These divisions cm be broken dom, anaiyzed, and
compared at a greater level of detail, as well. For instance, the eight divisions traced by
Lampedusa in the novel cm be subdivided into eleven narrative segments:
O going to the ball
e the bail
e entrance of Pallavicino and of the Sedara farnily
O Don Fabrizio's melancholy
* the dance hall
O in the library
O Don FabnEo and Angelica dance
the dinner
conversation with Pdtavicino
+ the bal1 dies down
'one of the waitzes has the distinction of being the only musical pieces n a cornposed
by Nino Rota exciusively for the film. The previously-unpublished waltz by Giuseppe
Verdi is, significandy, the wdtz to which the prince of Saiina and Angelica dance. This
is meaningful not ody because of the special importance that was attributed to Verdi
during the Risorgimento, but dso because, as 1 have outlined in Chapter 2, Visconti
used Verdi in his depiction and exploration of the time period. The use of this Verdi
waltt, therefore creates a resonance at various levels.
II Gattopardo 185
fhere is a sirnilar division in the text, one thet is punctuated by music:
+ Waltz, (Verdi)
+ Mazurka
+ Wa l q (Angelica and Tancredi dance)
O Mazurka
+ Unidentified piece (in the ~ i b r a r ~ ) ~
0 Waltq @on Fabrizio and Angelica dance)
4 Silence (conversation with Pallavicino)
O Polka
O Quadrille
r Gdlop (the bal1 subsides)
Notice that the waltzes serve to "punctuate" the text. They create a certain symmetry
within the scene. Angelica dances to both pieces, one with Tancredi, one with Salina. This
acts as a metaphor within the text. Salina represents the last true Guttopardo. while Tancredi
symbolizes the new species. The visual metaphor of the triangle described previously further
reinforces thi s image.
'This is the oniy piece during which no dancing is seen; this emphasizes the
importance and the senousness of the scene in the library.
II Gattopardo 186
-- - -
3.3.4.3 The Duration of the Bat) Scene
The length of the bal1 sceneiO contributes much to the process of signification in the
film. By lengthening the scene in the way that he does, Visconti is able to translate relevant
aspects of the novel in unique and creative ways. For instance, the novel contains various
references to tirne, which make evident that the bal1 at the Ponteleone palace Iasts an entire
night: " E m o sol tanto le dieci e mezza," (Lampedusa 192); "erano gi le due," (Lampedusa
202); "si fecero le sei del mattino," (Lampedusa 209). By making the bal1 scene so long
Visconti succeeds in rendenng the idea that the bal1 is "interminabile" as Lampedusa
describes (222). This is done in very subtle ways, without having to make use of other tools of
exposition such as a clock, a charader's announcement of the time, etc.
In addition to communicating the notion of time passing, the unfolding of such a long
scene creates a deeper meaning, as well. In the novel the narrator reminds us quite ofien that
Don Fabrizio is tired, and indeed, references to the prince's state are accompanied by
references to time: "Fino a questo momento I'imtazione accumulata gii aveva dato energia;
adesso con la distensione soprawenne la stanchena: erano di gi le due" (Lampedusa 202).
The length of the scene helps to convey this feeling of fatigue and weariness. The viewer,
- -
"1t is quite clear that Visconti took every opportunity to Iengthen the scene. There are
several moments in which the camera records scenes with no action. For example, at
one point, the camera focuses on the dancers, who wait while the musicians tune their
instruments. At least ten seconds pass before the action picks up again. While it may
be tnie that these temps morts are used partially for "historicaln reasons (Le., to recall
the neorealist elements with which Visconti had experimented over the past two
decades), in the case of this film, the effect created is one of weariness.
II Gattopardo 1 87
-- -
having dready been watchmg the frtm for mer two hours, begins to fiel a '%teral" sense of
tiredness. ' '
In addition, Salina's fatigue is not limited to a physicd fatigue that c m be restored; it
is the tiredness felt by someone who is at the end of life. It is therefore a fatigue mixed with
melancholy. or. at the very least, with a reflective state. The evidence of this is in the
prince's remembrances. such as his voiced musings on his old lovers like Eleonora
Giardinelli, whom he calls "un cigno su uno stagno fitto di ranocchie" (Lampedusa 198).
in part VI1 of the novel, the reader discovers that the prince's life draws to a close. In
the film, the bail, which in essence closes the film, acts as a metaphor that preannounces his
death. One witnesses the "death" of the bal1 itself. When the guests l ave the Ponteleone
palace, the hall is almost empty. The image of a few dancers, who, curiously are dancing the
gallop, a very lively and spirited dance, reminds us of the opening shots of the ball, in which
countless couples were dancing energetically to the wala music. The two images are in stark
contrast. The very different camera work at the begi ~i ng of the bal1 and at the end of the ball
add to the contrast. in the opening shot of the bal, the view is from above looking dom,
whereas the final shot is at floor level. This visual metaphor works in various ways. It
emphasizes the contrast between the energy of the guests at the beginning of the ball and at
llln the performance arts, to have a very lengthy scene towards the end of a piece goes
against convention, as viewers typically are more restiess towards the end. It codd be
arguai that other artists have used the technique of lengthening the final scene in order
to create a sense of weariness in the viewer. Thidc, for instance, of Eugene O'Neill's
Long Dy S Jarney into Nighl, whose four-act sucture goes against dramatic
convention by having a final act that is the longest of the four in the play.
12~owell-~mith is right when he uses the term n d l g i a when he describes the scene.
Where he em, however, is in not seeing that the sarne element is present in the novel,
and that its presence in the film shows Visconti's desire to convey the same tone that is
created in the original text
the md. The two diRering images remind us that ths enchantment, the splendow and the
celebration. have ail come to an end; and, so, too, has the prince's life. Of course, at another
level, this metaphor also preannounces the death of Salina's class t he aristocracy, and
therefore. in a certain sense, takes the place of part VIII of the novel. in whic h the reader is
witness to the changes that occur in Sicily fi@ years after the beginning of the narration.
Therefore, the ball consthtes a crucial metaphor within the cinematic text. a metaphor that
would not be as effective were it not as developed as it is.
3.3.4.4 The "Untranslatable"
Despite the fact that there are elements of a wrinen text that cannot be "translated"
literally, a creative adaptation cm include traces of the meaning generated by the original
elements. Let us look at the following description of the hall in which the ball takes place:
Ne1 soffitto gli Dei, reclini su scanni dorati, guardavano in gi
sorridenti e inesorabili come il cielo d'estrrte. Si credevano eterni : una
bomba fabbricata a Pittsburgh, Penn. doveva ne1 1943 provar loro il
contrario.
(Lampedusa 202)
The irony expressed in the last sentence cannot be tnuislated. However, if we take the
metaphone meanhg of the passage, we can find affinities in die cinematic text. At the levet of
metaphor, the gods alluded to stand for the Sicilian people, who have felt themselves
immortal, but who are not aware of the "death" of their civilization that is about to occur with
the unification of M y . In a more restricted sense. the "gods" are the aristocrats of Sicil y (as is
II Gattopardo 189
ststed aplicidy by the prince in both versisions of the texti3). And, as has already been
discussed, the metaphorical meaning of the ball includes the death of the nobili Siciliani. The
guests at the ball. who are smiling and gay, are not aware of the fact that they have reached the
end of their glory days. This metaphor is reinforced by the camera work, as previously
discussed. The ball is shot from above in the beginning of the scene and throughout ic but at
the end, when the hall is empty, it is shot at fl wr level. This technique creates the sarne son of
effect as the written metaphor of the gods falling from the sky, albeit in a much more subtle
way.
3.3.4.5 The Notion of Narrativity
In order to draw some conclusions from my analysis, I should now examine briefly the
notion of narrativity, and establish whether cornparisons may be made between the narrativity
of Visconti's II Gattopardo and the Lampedusa text. To define narrativiry. 1 will consider
Robert Scholes's work, "Narration and Narrativity in Film and Fiction." in it, Scholes defines
narration as "a process of enactment or recounting that is a common feature of a cultural
experience" (Scholes 60). Narrative occurs "when this process [i .e., the process of narration]
is suffiently coherent and developed to detach i tsel f from the flux of cul turd interchange"
(60). Next, Scholes defines the term mry, which is "distinguished by ceriain stmcturat
features in presentation which in tum require of the perceiver an active participation that 1
should like to cal1 'narrativity'." Scholes defines this narrativity as "the process by which a
perceiver actively consmicts a story h m the fictional data provided by any narrative
13Tn part IV of the novel, Don Fabrizio recounts a personal anecdote in which he had
explained to some English marine officiais that the GQljbddini could never have
taught good manners to the Sicilians as he say s, "perch siamo degli dei" (Lampedusa
1 66).
Il Gattopardo 190
medium," (60) By nmtivityT thefore, I do not intend the construction created hy the sender
of the message (i.e., the creator of the text), but the process of creaon on the part of the
receiver of the message. In other words, narrativity is created in the process of reading and
viewing, not of narrating.
As I have aiready discussed. because of their different substances, the process of
signification in the reading of the novel is different from bat in viewing the film. In the
reading of the sentence "Angelica e Tancredi passavano in quel moment0 davanti a loro. la
destra inguantata di lui posata taglio sulla vita di lei, le braccia tese e compenetrate, gli occhi
di ciascuno fissi in quelli dell'altro," (Lampedusa 202), the reader translates the graphical
symbols on the page into a mental image, using the categories of "Angelica," "Tancredi," and
so on, that have been constructeci throughout the course of reading. There are, however, some
empp categories (for example, the cdour of Tancredi's gloves), the concretization of which
"wiil depend on an interaction between (the sender's) narration and (the receiver's)
narrattivity" (Scholes 66).
in the film, Visconti reconstructs the action describeci in the above sentence. The
process of signification is completely different. There are no empty categones; al1 of the
potentialities have been developed for the staging of the scene. The camera acts as a heuristic
instrument (Bordwell, Mokng M e d g 162-63). filling al1 of the categories that rnay have
been empty or only partially full in the reading of the novel. '' There is, however, a different
"problem" with the film text: the transmitted sign is closely related to a referent, that in tum
may be linked to a concept linked to category. or to a senes of concepts through a process of
which the receiver may or may not be fully aware (Scholes 66). For example, the receiver sees
'"ether the reader of the film text notices or not, Ta n c d is wearing white gloves.
II Gattopardo 191
"Angelid' and "Tmc~edi" dancing, but can superimpose onto this image the faft that in
reality, the two dancen are Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, actors who are playing the
parts of these fictional characters. The referent is assigned to a category "that is fictionally
correct but facndly false," (Schola 66). In a written narration, of course, this process cannot
exist.
Given this large gap between a wrinen narrative and a filmed narrative. one could once
again ask whether there are techniques for generating rneaning within the reader and / or the
viewer that can allow a cornparison between literature and film. Me r having analyzed the two
versions of il Gattopdo, it is my contention that indeed, comparable techniques do exist in
fiction and film. Using techniques similar to those highlighted here, a film can convey similar
themes and constmct meaning in a way that is analogous to that in a written text. For instance,
using object and coiour, movement, sound, and camera work. a director can invoke in the
viewer the same r a t i on that metaphor and imagery can conjure in the reader.
3.4 Conclusion
In a review of Visconti's version of II Gattopmdo, Pauline Kael writes:
The movie isn't what we n md l y d l 'noveiistic' [. . .); everything
cornes to us physicaily. Visconti suggests Don Fabrizio's thoughu and
feelings by the sweep and texture of his li fe. The fabrics, the medai-
laden rnilitary unifomis, the dark, heavy fumiture, the huge palaces,
with their temces and broad marble staircases, and the arid, harsh
landscapes they ' re set in - are ail made tactile.
(Kael 50)
It is rather ironic that the phrase hot novelistic' be used to describe the film. The lush and
tactile world created by Luchino Visconti was made possible in part by the rather sirnilar
II Gattopardo 192
-
world constnicted by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Filled with abject$ colour, music,
scents, and texture. the novel provides excellent raw material to be transformed into a visual
representation. As previously discussed, there are elements of the novel that can be deemed
"cinematic." Undeniably, the novel contains many elements that are "untranslatable," as the
vivid descriptions of the exremai world are almost aiways accompanied by rich metaphoa
and images that give the writen text its depth and dimension. However, by combining the
phy sical obj ects with camera work, music, and timing, Visconti creates similar metaphors and
images within the cinematic t ea. And, in this sense, Visconti's work may be temed as
"literary." The two teas have more in cornmon than I MaImogIia and L4 terra trema or the
li terary and cinematic versions of Se m. Ln this sense, Visconti 's If G u t t o ~ o can be
labelled a bheprinr according to the cri tena that 1 have defined.
To conclude, even in cases where there are divergences in form and content, Visconti
manages to employ various filmmaking techniques that allow t he viewer to keep in mind
important themes and motifs of the film; these techniques reconsuct the motifs developed by
Lampedusa in the novel. Undeniably, there are deviations from the original text, inspired
partially by the restrictions posed by the conventions of the film medium, and partidly by
Visconti's interest in exploring ideological and political issues that are not present in
Lampedusa's novel. However, 1 can conclude by stating that, at the very ieast, Visconti's film
bct i ons as a mastemil and thought-provoking response to Lampedusa's novel.
Visconti tende ad 'usare' il romanzo verghiano quale aggregato
di 'materidi': quasi si tramse, per cosi dire, di inquadrature e /
O di brevi sequenze di un film di attuaiit, da de-
contestualizzare e ri-contestual izzare, mutandone, e talora
rovesciandone ampiamente, il senso originario ne1 proprio
racconto. Nella storia del rapport0 (viscontiano) fra cinema e
letteratura, questo atteggiarnento pi vicino alla posizione che
Visconti assumeri nei confionti del Boito di Semo, del Testori
di Rocco e i suoifiafeiii, del Maupassant de II i mm - per non
dire del D'Annunzio di Vaghe sfelle &il 'Orso. e per Cain di
Ossessione - che non alla posizione, assai pi ' fedele' alla
lettera del testo letterario, che il regista adotteri per il Tomasi di
Lampedusa de II Ga~fopurdo, per il Camus de Lo saunier0 O
per il Mann di Morte a knezza.
(Miccich, k.' e i l neoreaksmo 152-3)
In conclusion, the works of Luchino Visconti, a director who influenced and shaped
film not only in Italy but in Europe and indeed on a global level. are suitable choices if one
wishes to examine the role that literature can play in the production of film. Visconti's works
are appropriate not only because of the director's tendency to incorporate literary works into
hi s films. The role that the director himself had within the history of Italian film is also a
significant factor in this study. Visconti worked in the cinema between the early 1940s and the
mid1970s, and his influence in those years is indisputable, most notably with respect to the
impact that he had on the development of neorealism. This much-studied, muchdiscussed,
almost mythcal moment in cinematic history revolutionized the medium of film in Itaiy, and
had a pmfound impact on literature, drarna, and the visual arts, as well. It introduced
audiences to a socially aware kind of cinema that had never been seen on the screen before.
Curiously, what should have been a "naturaIn rejection of literature on the part of filmmakers
never occurred during neorealism, and in fact, the filmmaker whose works 1 have disaissed
193
Conclusion 194
h m, Luchino Visconti, successhilly employed litemtu~e to take the neoredia experiment into
a unique direction. It is consequently instructive to examine the role of literature in Visconti's
films by using his post-war films as a starting point, because this p e n d follows one of the
more formative expenences in the life of the director (and in the modem history of the
country). Visconti himself once pointe out:
U penodo pi interessante della mia vita e quel Io della Resistenza;
quel poco che ho ponito dare al movimento della Resistenza, quel10 mi
pare il periodo migliore.
(Costantini 50)
The portion of Visconti's filmography that 1 have selected. therefore. provides a
significant look into the history of the Italian national cinema and into an important formative
period in the life of Visconti. At the same tirne, it gives a sense of continuity that has allowed
me to examine different rnethods for adapting literahire from the point of view of one
individual. The films that 1 selected for my study, Ln terra Remo, Semo, and II Gaffopardo
span a period between 1948 and 1963. These years were historically significant for the
directot as well as for Itaiian cinema. For Visconti. this period of time allowed him to
experiment with his ideas on neurealism, as well as on history and contemporary society. His
artistic sensi'bilities and his socio-poIiticai ideas developed and crystailized, and were dso put
to the test. The films that he produced were often criticized and attacked from the Right as
well as from the Left, from anyone who wished to pigeonhole not only Visconti, but the
national cinema, as well. The heated debates surrounding neorealism and its betrayal of the
late 1940s and early 1950s. the discussions of whether a film can have the same weep and
effect as a so-cailed mmmo S ~ O~ C O, al1 involved the director diredy. Despite criticism and
censonhip. Visconti continued to make films on his own ternis throughout this period, and in
Conclusion 195
many ways, the f i k m made in these yess are a restament t o the director's determiBation at
exploring crucial aesthetic and social issues in contemporary Italy. The parameten of
neorealism and of the medium of film, but also the pressing social issues identified by figures
influential in Italy at the time such as Antonio Gramsci. George Lukacs, etc., are depicted with
mastery and conviction. From an andysis of the various ways in which the Risorgimento
failed to live up to its promise, to an expos of the exploitation of the South, to an
investigation of the possible limits of the medium of film and of the well-constructed story, al1
of these thematic and formal issues are analyzed by Visconti in the three films that I have
selected. and within the span of time that the films cover. Impressively enough, al1 of these
issues are analyzed by using literature as the starting point of Visconti's investigation.
C.1 Other Areas for Study
1 have chosen a very specific perspective for each analysis in this dissertation. I
explored how the adaptation of Lu terra tremu fit into the context of neorealisrn. I have
questioned the motivation for the debate on Smo and the boundaries of neorealism by
examining how Visconti's melodramatic style allowed him to explore mcial issues i n the
development of Italian history, issues that for critics who had attacked Visconti could only be
expressed via a very specific brand of "reaiist" art. Finally, I have examined how the debates
surrounding the issue of literary adaptation and Visconti could potentially be put to r at . by
examining some strategies that were used by the director as he adapted a text written by an
author whose sensibili ties were close to his own. Of course, there are many other approaches
that one couid use whm discussing the topic of the role of literahrre in Visconti. The one that
immediately cornes to mind is to employ the notion ofuuteur cinema to analyze the strategies
Conclusion 196
used by the director in the seiection and adapation of litera~y texts. As 1 have indicated
indirecly throughout the course of this study, Visconti's interests and point of view are quite
specific, and, despite the substantial evolution that the director goes through fiom the early
1940s to the 1970s. it is fairly evident that there is a degree of consistency in the themes that
the director attempts to explore throughout his entire filmography. For example:
Pressoch tutto i 1 ci nema di Visconti, da Ossessione a L 'innocente,
intriso dall'idea proustiana che I'amore autodistruzione.
@e Giusti 7)
This notion of love as self-destruction (itself taken from the literature of Proust) is
only one of the threads that one could follow if one were to examine Visconti's choice and use
of literary texts. One could examine the director's fascination with death. From a stylistic
point of view, one could aiso look at the propensity towards tragedy or towards melodrama.
The study of Visconti as auteur and his use of literanire would certainly be worthwhile and
offer much insight into his films.
A possible extension to this type of study would be to see the ways in which cinema,
and specifically Visconti's cinema has influenced and continues to influence literature. A
variety of critical perspectives on the influence of film on literature have b e n expressed over
the yean and could be usenil for this type of analysis. For example, in "A Future for the
Novel," Alain Robbe-Grillet larnents the stagnation of the genre of the novel, and compares it
to the more ''redistic" and imrnediate (and more popular) medium of the cinema. Robbe-
Grillet calIs for the construction of "a worid both more solid and more immediate" (21) within
narrative fiction. in nte Nickel wusfor the Movies Film Ni the Novelfrom Pir&fio to Puig,
Gawiel Moses looks at the way in which the invention of cinema has influenced numerous
Conclusion 197
novdists, ell of wh m have chosen to FepceSeni some aspect of the cinema within their
narratives. in a conceptually similar but more semiologically based study. Keith Cohen's Film
and Fiction: 7?1e Dynamics of fichage takes a look at the influence of the medium of film
on what he ternis "modem novels" by Gertrude Stein, Jules Romains, Marcel Proust, James
Joyce, and Virginia Woolf. Given the debate surrounding Visconti and the rornanzo
cinematografico, it could prove useful to examine the influence of Visconti's work in
literature. One wonders, for instance, to what extent the thernes, tone, and sensibility of Serlso
could have affected an author such as Tomasi di Lampedusa, whose Gattoprdo cleearly
echoes. whether consciously or unconsciously, the work of Visconti. Admittedly, this area of
exploration is as yet completel y unexplored, and 1 am putting it forth as a mere hypothesis.
Another potential area for andysis that 1 have ieft untouched here is Visconti's later
cinema. Perhaps the issue of influence that I explored in Chapter 2 is the most relevant for
discussion of the director's later work, for, as much as some continuity can be traced in the
films rom Vaghe stelle dell 'ursa to L 'innocente. from an ideological standpoi nt, the di rector
seemed to retreat from the outward-looking, socially-committed issues that h e covered in the
first two decades of his work, and seemed to focus on his own personal interests and
influences. The more inward-foaised, idiosyncratic kind of cinema that the director produced
in his last years perhaps requires an analysis of the web of influence that includes direct as
well as indirect Iiterary sources rom the director's own encyclopedia. The concept of the
web of influence already mentioned in Chapter 2 can be seen even in my very brief discussion
of Visconti. interesting connections cm be traced, which allow one to see the significance of
director's choices more clearly; this type ofapproach could prove miitful in a discussion of
Conclusion 1 98
the director's tater w& because of the faa that there is no strong i ddogi cal grounding in
these films. and the themes explored are more personal.
Related to the previous point, an analysis of Visconti and melodrama rnay also prove
to be a solid starting point for an analysis of Visconti and literature. i have looked in depth at
the way in which Scmo is melodramatic, and the way that melodrama is conducive to the
assembly of an eclectic mix of influences. Given that melodrama may be seen as a
compendium of many genres and given the melodramatic nature of Vtsconti's style, one way
to examine the director's wuwe would be in light of the melodrama. The melodramatic nature
of Visconti's films is undeniable. Even works that Visconti created using a relatively stark
style can be examined as melodramas. The storm scene in La terra trema, i n which the
Viastro women stand at the edge of the water wondering what will become of the male
members of their family, who are trapped at sea, is an appropriate example of Visconti's
tendency. The montage evokes strong emotion. We see dramatic shots of the women staring
immobile at the tempest-tossed sea, and we see close-ups of their distraught faces
(reminiscent of the tableaux described by Peter Brooks in The Meldartmiic Imagnaion).
The sounds of the storm contribute to the drama. Moreover. when speaking of Lo terru mm,
Visconti often spoke about the musical aspect of Verga's novel, which suggests that his
approach even when reading a narrative text was to see it in terms of a "musical drama." One
mua not forget that Visconti was far more proli fic as a theatre director, and, more specifically,
as an opera director, than he was as a film director, which in and of itself provides one with
motivation to examine the mie of literature in Visconti using melodrama as t he key.
Conclusion 199
fhus, what t have presentcd here, is oniy a staning point for an analysis of the role of
liteniture in the films of Visconti. 1 have by no means exhausted the topic. What 1 have
atternpted to do, has been to ini tiate a discussion on a topic that could be extended in several
directions and / or applied to the entire filmography of the director.
C.2 How Can One Speak about "Adaptation"?
[. . .] su1 piano artistico, di fronte alla reald regista e scrittore si
trovano nella stessa posizione: su1 piano tecnico, per quel che riguarda
corne esprimere quella realt, non vi puo essere punto di contatto. II
romanziere non dispone di sirnultaneit d'azione e di descrizione, e
nella sua tecnica vi sari sempre un dato conve~onale: il regista,
invece, tanto meglio si esprime quanto meglio sapr servirsi della
simultaneit di cui tecnicamente dispone. Non per nulla dire 'rornanzo
cinematografico' O 'film letterario' equivale a una lirnitazione, ad un
giudizio negativo.
(Bo 72)
Given my analyses of the three Visconti texts and given my coverage of the topic of the
relationship between literature and film, it would be appropriate to attempt to address the issue
of the nature of adaptation before 1 conclude. Although 1 have, for the most part, stayed away
fiom dealing with the notions of adaptation and of fidelity to a literary work my study of II
Gattopaido has hopeflly shown that we cannot. and perhaps should no5 avoid this issue
aitogether. What constitutes a literary "adaptation"? Might one say that II Gat t opdo is more
of an adaptation than Senso or La f er a Rema because it follows the original text more closely,
because it is more fuithfil to the Lampedusa t ea than are Senso and La terra trema to their
li terary source texts? After d l , 1 did speak of the novel version of II Gattopardo as a blueprint
for Visconti's film, which may lead one to say that the film follows the novel closely. What
makes II Gatiopmdo a " ~s l a t i on" is the faa that the source text has the same sensibility as
Conclusion 200
Visconti's translation of it. This fact constitutes a diReremce between II Gattopardo and the
other two films, which are both based on texts whose points of view have strong affinities
with Visconti's own, but that are ultimately written under very different circumstances.
However. 1 must admit that, like many discussions on the faithflness of an adaptation to the
literary text on which it is based, this kind of assertion can be rather subjective. and has limits.
One cm. using a variety of methods analyze the influence of literature on film, but the
cinematic medium is mature and complex enough that one cm gain pleasure from
experiencing it without having to compare it to other media The depth of expression of the
cinematic medium allows for the incorporation of a variety of sources that can enrich the
cinematic experience, but that need not be analyzed in order for a film to be satisfying. After
dl, as my discussion of Visconti has hopefilly shown, a film that is denved from l iterary
sources has a life of its own, and has an intrinsic value that can be judged and appreciated in
its own right Through an almost magical kind of artistic alchemy, the combination of
elements from the original text, the point of view of the director. and the mastemil use of the
tools of the cinema, camera work sound. editing, and so on, al1 combine to create end
products that can be enjoyed on their own. ltimately, as the saying goes. the whole becomes
greater than the sum of its parts.
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