All the prevalent themes in Luchino Visconti’s work–the collision of cultures, the clash between old and new, the sociopolitical gap between generations, the imminence of death–are manifest in Conversation Piece.
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Italian theatrical release poster
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| Italian | Gruppo di famiglia in un interno |
This penultimate film reunited the director with Burt Lancaster, who had starred in the Visconti’s undisputed masterpiece, The Leopard of 1963.
Directed, co-written, and produced by Visconti, Conversation Piece (Italian: Gruppo di famiglia in un interno) boasts an international cast, including the aforementioned American Lancaster, Austrian Helmut Berger (also Visconti’s real-life partner) Italians Silvana Mangano and Claudia Cardinale, and the French actress Dominique Sanda in a cameo as the professor’s mother.
The title refers to informal group portraits, especially those painted in Britain in the eighteenth century.
A retired American professor lives a solitary life in a luxurious palazzo in Rome, surrounded by his art and books, maintaining only one contact, with his loyal housekeeper, Erminia.
Things change, when the rich but vulgar Countess Brumonti (married to right-wing industrialist) talks the Professor into renting the empty apartment of his palazzo to her, her younger lover Konrad, teenage daughter Lietta, and Lietta’s fiancé Stefano, a conservative entrepreneur.
The Professor is disturbed by the pushy new tenants who have their apartment rebuilt, examine the Professor’s apartment for clues to his past, throw parties, and have amorous experiences with each other (Konrad with the Countess’s daughter).
But the Professor also feels animated by the youngsters; he is particularly drawn to the provocative Konrad. Konrad’s past, as a gigolo and as a leftist radical who then slipped into drugs, stands in sharp contrast to the Professor’s former, completely different life, shaped by his nupper-class upbringing and experience of World War II. ‘
Occasionally, the Professor sinks into memories of his former wife and mother. The Professor and Konrad have a common interest in art, and they closer friends after Konrad is beaten up due to gambling debts and the Professor provides medical care.
The Professor invites the Countess, Konrad, Lietta, and Stefano to dinner, referring to them his “new family.” However, a dispute arises about Konrad’s dubious past and his relationship with the Countess. She wants to separate from her husband, but she does not want to marry Konrad, who is younger and socially beneath her.
Konrad goes upstairs after writing a goodbye letter to his new “father” signed by him as “Your son.” Shortly after, there’s gas explosion in which Konrad is killed. Blaming himself for Konrad’s death, the professor falls seriously ill.
In the last scene, on his deathbed, the countess tells the Professor that Konrad committed suicide—to hurt everyone who loved him—failing to realize that, in time, he would be forgotten. After the Countess leaves, Lietta contradicts her account, telling the Professor “Don’t believe her. He didn’t kill himself; they murdered him.”
Left alone, and overcome with grief and despair, he gazes upward, clasping his hands as though in prayer to God.
The main character was based on the art critic and scholar Mario Praz. The English film title is a nod to Praz’s book “Conversation Pieces: A Survey of the Informal Group Portrait in Europe and America.”
Visconti’s penultimate film might have been affected by the his poor health. Due to a stroke suffered some years earlier, it became necessary for the shoot to be simpler and faster, which meant working in a a studio-constructed set.
Some critics at the time complained about the dissociated dialogue in the English language version, about the indoor setting, and even about Lancaster, who, they thought was miscast.
To his credit, Visconti, approaching the twilight of his career, tried to creates a world outside of time in the professor’s house that’s at once artificially unreal and emblematic of his interior life.
Conversation Piece is ambitious, contemplative, and often beautiful to watch, even if it is not as fully realized as his 1971 film, Death in Venice.
Cast
Burt Lancaster as The Professor
Helmut Berger as Konrad Hübel
Silvana Mangano as Marchesa Bianca Brumonti
Claudia Marsani [it] as Lietta Brumonti
Stefano Patrizi [it] as Stefano, Lietta’s fiancé
Romolo Valli as Michelli, Professor’s lawyer
Dominique Sanda as the Professor’s mother (uncredited)
Claudia Cardinale as the Professor’s wife (uncredited)
Credits:
Directed by Luchino Visconti
Written by Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Enrico Medioli], Visconti
Produced by Giovanni Bertolucci
Cinematography Pasqualino De Santis
Edited by Ruggero Mastroianni
Music by Franco Mannino
Release dates: December 1974 (Italy); March 1975 (France)
Running time: 121 minutes
