164: Obsession

Ossessione

IT 142m  Dir: Luchino Visconti  Key Cast: Massimo Girotti and Clara Calamai)

Based on: The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (Novel)

Obsession is regarded as the first of Italian neorealist film movement. It was largely unseen until many years later due to being banned by the fascist government and not being shown in America until 1976 due to being based on the book The Postman Always Rings Twice and not owning the rights to it. 

Drifter Gino (Massimo Girotti) arrives at a roadside café and quickly falls for beautiful Giovanna (Clara Calamai). Giovanna is married to the slovenly Giuseppe (Juan de Landa) and despite beginning an affair with Gino refuses to leave the husband she married who provides her with financial security. Eventually the pair conspire to murder Giuseppe but it's fair to say things don't turn out well after that.

Director Luchino Visconti took was was ostensibly a crime drama and focused on the themes of desperation and jealousy. It's an interesting study into human nature and the way people are trapped by the capitalist regime. 

It was a brave move to make such a film under a fascist government and it's ban was inevitable. As well as being pretty anti-capitalist it is really casual about sex with Gino casually being shown topless in bed with Giovanna and even has a pretty overt homoerotic subplot between Gino and a street entertainer known as 'Lo Spagnolo'.

The realism really works here. For a start Visconti filmed this on location around the Po delta which is far more effective than trying to replicate a real place in a studio. The sets are incredible including a messy kitchen which you can almost see the grime on. The characters are also allowed time to breathe, with Visconti slowing the pace and give a glimpse at the routines and reality of the characters. The lead performances are also incredible- Massimo Girotti and Clara Calamai were both stars of Italian cinema and successfully manage to take a more realist approach which comes off superbly. 

Mussolini's Minister of Culture said that this is "a movie that stinks of latrines". It's a comment that immediately sounds like and was presumably intended as an insult but actually it is a good description of a neorealist film. It sort of does stink of latrines and that's the reason it's so great.