Visconti was born in 1906 into a family that embodied the meeting of Italy’s past and future: his father was a nobleman, while his mother was an entrepreneur. This dual heritage offers a key to understanding his artistic vision – capable of bringing the performative traditions of the nineteenth century to cinema, the art form of the twentieth. A revolutionary director of opera and drama, he helped shape a generation of costume designers, set designers and screenwriters who would go on to become legendary, and a group of actors and actresses who, under his direction on screen and on stage, found the defining roles of their careers: from Delon to Callas, from Valli to Lancaster, from Cardinale to Gassman, from Magnani to Mastroianni. Today we regard his filmography as one of classics, often overlooking the profoundly experimental and exploratory nature of his entire career. His first, astonishing, feature-length work, Ossessione (1943), was cut and condemned by the Fascist authorities, and many of his later films were likewise the subject of era-defining clashes with the censors. The fiftieth anniversary of his death offers an opportunity to rediscover – also through important new restorations – his masterful ability to bring the past to life through art, to create new relationships between music and images, as well as to continue to speak powerfully to the present.

Curated by Caterina d’Amico

Ossessione (1943) • Bellissima (Beautiful, 1951) • Siamo donne (1953) • Senso (1954) • Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and his Brothers, 1960) • Il gattopardo (1963) • La caduta degli Dei (The Damned, 1969) • Morte a Venezia (Death in Venice, 1971) • Ludwig (1973) • L’innocente (1976) • Per Luchino Visconti (1986) d. Caterina D’Amico e Vieri Razzini