The Innocent

1976 [ITALIAN]

Action / Drama / Romance

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 82% · 19 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 82% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.4/10 10 4748 4.7K

suicide fascism eroticism aristocrat illegitimate son turn of the century

Plot summary

Tullio Hermil is a chauvinist aristocrat who flaunts his mistress to his wife, but when he believes she has been unfaithful he becomes enamored of her again.

Director

Luchino Visconti Photo
Luchino Visconti

Top cast

Giuliana Farnese Photo
Giuliana Farnese as Party Guest
Roberta Paladini Photo
Roberta Paladini as Miss Elviretta
Marina Pierro Photo
Marina Pierro
Jennifer O'Neill Photo
Jennifer O'Neill as Teresa Raffo
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.16 GB
1280*544
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles it  
23.976 fps
2 hr 9 min
Seeds 4
2.16 GB
1920*816
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles it  
23.976 fps
2 hr 9 min
Seeds 12

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by brogmiller 8 / 10

The truth is seldom told to one's face.

Following a debilitating stroke seemingly caused by the rigours of filming 'Ludwig', wheelchair-bound Luchino Visconti somehow managed to make two more films, neither of which display a dip in form and indeed are without the extravagant campness to which he had become prone. The second of these was shown out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival two months after his death.He had hoped to film an adaptation of D'Annunzio's novel 'The Child of Pleasure' but was unable to obtain the rights and instead settled for that author's 'L'Innocente' which features the character of Tullio who epitomises the Nietzschean 'higher man' who answers to no man, moral code and certainly not to God. It seems at one stage that he will get away with one of the most heinous of crimes and declares that 'no court on earth would sit in judgement on me' but here Visconti and his writers Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Enrico Medioli have created a punishment that is in keeping with Tullio's monstrous egotism and 'makes a natural conclusion to everything'.Visconti had intended that Tullio be played by Alain Delon and one is fascinated as to what he would have brought to the role but this was not to be and although Giancarlo Giannini lacks Delon's charisma he is utterly convincing as a pathological narcissist whilst Laura Antonelli, arthouse pin-up of the 1970's, brings a captivating delicacy to her role as his put upon spouse. The character of Countess Teresa Raffo is somewhat shadowy in the novel and has been fleshed out here. Although not first choice for the role, under Visconti's direction Jennifer O'Neill is an absolute revelation and gives a performance of which this viewer at any rate would not have thought her capable. She is of course aided immeasurably by the seamless dubbing of Valeria Moriconi, a fine actress in her own right who receives a much-deserved mention as the closing credits roll.Suffice to say Visconti's aestheticism and eye for detail are paramount here with score, production, set and costume designs of the highest order whilst Laura Antonelli's costume in certain scenes has been designed by Mother Nature!Against the sumptuous backdrops Visconti depicts the infidelities, betrayals and double standards of a social class he knew so well.The relatively minor role of one of Teresa's aristocratic admirers is played by Massimo Girotti who had played Gino the drifter in Visconti's 'Ossessione' in 1943. His presence here is most fitting for as one critic has observed 'this last film might not be Visconti's best but is as sublimely and deceptively subversive as his first'.
Reviewed by PaulusLoZebra 8 / 10

A beautiful, languid, intense melodrama

Luchino Visconti's l'Innocente is a beautiful film. Magnificent details fill up the screen on every shot, as he has done so masterfully with other period films. It's also a strange, intense and erotic story set in the high society of Rome in the late 1800s. Giancarlo Gianinni is magnificent as an erratic, determined, egotistical and passionate man who alternates between arrogance and jealously, between lucidity and rage. Laura Antonelli is wonderful as his beautiful, repressed and enigmatic wife, who quietly surprises us at various points in this torrid tale. Jennifer O'Neill is very good as a mysterious and detached object of desire. This is a melodrama with some deeply disturbing themes. Occasionally, supporting characters show flashes of morality that contrast with the self-indulgent and self-destructive natures of the three protagonists. But the film does not need to have one character to provide a moral compass for the story, because the audience can see all too clearly everyone's very bad behavior.
Reviewed by CinemaSerf 6 / 10

The Innocent

There can be no doubt that Luchino Visconti was a master at putting together a film with class, style and beauty - and this is no different. A magnificent score from Franco Mannino (with plenty of classical assistance) and some fabulous cinematography from Pasqualiono de Santis breath much life into this - but not enough to compensate for a rather flawed, empty story with three really rather underwhelming performances. Tullio Hermil is "Giancarlo" a rather shallow pig of a man, who is married to Laura Antonelli ("Giuliana") and lives in their grand country palace whilst he constantly parades his glamorous mistress Jennifer O'Neill ("Teresa") for all to see. When he begins to suspect, however, that his wife has been ploughing her own furrow, he begins to get jealous and as with so many in the situation yearns for what he can no longer have. There is a real inevitability about how it will end and although our route to this denouement is bestrewn with gorgeousness and chic, Antonelli constantly reminded me of Anne Bancroft without, regrettably, the sophistication and charm and O'Neill, though certainly beautiful was almost as shallow as her paramour.
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