Luchino Visconti is best known for his film The Leopard, about Sicily amid the struggle for Italian unification.
His earlier 1954 film Senso deals with the same period, but is set in Venice during the dying days of Austrian rule.
It is a sumptuous movie with its opening scene set in La Fenice, the city’s opera house. The film centres on a tempestuous affair between a patriotic Italian countess played by Alida Valli and her lover, an Austrian officer.
Unfortunately this DVD version misses some key scenes and has poor colour. Even so, Visconti always impresses.
Senso
directed by Luchino Visconti
DVD out now, £17.99
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