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Obsession

262 votes

Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1944-04-08

Runtime: 140 mins

Director: Luchino Visconti

Spoken language: Italiano

Genres: Crime, Drama, Romance

Original title: Obsession

Production Companies: Industrie Cinematografiche Italiane (ICI)

Production Countries: Italy

Cast

Clara Calamai

Massimo Girotti

Dhia Cristiani

Elio Marcuzzo

Vittorio Duse

Michele Riccardini

Juan de Landa

Il Bambino (uncredited)

Michele Sakara

Reviews

Geronimo1967

So much of this adaptation of James Cain's "Postman Always Rings Twice" novel depends on it's stunningly intimate, almost adulatory, photography and on that score this really does not disappoint. "Giovanna" (Clara Calamai) is trapped in a loveless marriage with the older, drunken and thuggish "Giuseppe" (Juan de Landa) when the drifter "Gino" (Massimo Girotti) happens by. He's a jack of all trades and they can use him to help around the place in return for his bed and board. Quite quickly, though, she makes it clear she'd prefer it were her bed, and the pair are soon scheming an end to her loathsome predicament. It turns out that that's not so difficult to achieve, but what of events thereafter? The police, the insurance, the struggling business, oh - and the guilt. It's that latter element that gradually gnaws away at their relationship and it's this last hour or so that sees Visconti at his creative best. The highly structured but entirely natural look of the scenarios, the score and the increasingly frenetic dialogue raise the tension appreciably and though there is a tangible chemistry throughout from Calamai and Girotti, it's one that intensifies as an uncertain denouement beckons. You can just imagine the response it would have received in wartime Italy as it questions issues of faith and fidelity, crime and lust - indeed I'm quite surprised all the prints weren't burnt at the stake. Did this postman actually ring twice? I'm not sure he did, but I'm not sure that mattered to me in the end.

2025-01-19

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