War, marriage, loyalty, all these are abstract human concepts and showing them up as false is common fodder for romance. 1954's Senso starts out that way but then becomes something weirder, offering a glimpse of the nightmare at the other side of the argument.
During the Austrian occupation of Italy in the 19th century, a wealthy, fiercely partisan Italian countess, Livia (Alida Valli), falls very much against her will in love with a handsome young Austrian officer called Franz (Farley Granger).
In this tale of star-crossed romance with beautiful cinematography, one might be surprised by how much a feeling of constant anxiety is the primary emotional impression of the film. Franz following Livia as she tries to walk away from him in Venice at night, only to come across a murdered Austrian officer lying alone in the street; Livia dealing with the ambiguous circumstances around her cousin's organising of a protest and meeting Franz at the same time, her compulsions and loyalties already becoming confused at a time when firm decision is desperately required; so many scenes contribute to a sense of constant, dangerous, insoluble issues.
The centrepiece of the film occurs when Livia and her husband are staying at a gorgeous countryside villa and Franz decides to make a surprise visit. The scene begins with Livia asleep, slowly awakened by a clamour outside accompanied by ceaselessly barking dogs. Someone has been seen on her balcony, she overhears. Of course it's Franz so she yells out to her servant that it was only she herself who was seen on the balcony. The sounds of barking dogs continue throughout the scene, though, as Franz, smug and cocksure, saunters into the room. In response to Livia's panic, he threatens to go out and let her husband's men catch him, seemingly a self-conscious reference to a similar scene in Errol Flynn's Robin Hood. It's punctuated so that it becomes clear that Franz gets a predatory pleasure from manipulating Livia's anxiety.
It transpires finally that Livia must hide Franz overnight. As they embrace in the granary, Franz remarks on how meaningless are all these things human beings believe in. How men in uniform are still just men, the uniform's only their to flatter their shape and provoke women to coo over them.
Does Franz think he's really comforting Livia? Here's a woman who, at the start of the film, had been fiercely declaring her support for an Italy free of Austrian oppression. Now her passions are concentrated on Franz and concealing him. The final act of the film is the logical next step in the descent as Franz and Livia's shared madness is reflected in a chaotic street scene of soldiers with prostitutes.
This Luchino Visconti film is some of the most beautiful Technicolour filmmaking of the 1950s. Senso is available on The Criterion Channel.
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