‘Ossessione’ or — Naturalist Noir?
All the trappings of neorealism are present: working class characters; real-time events; social realism; a “factual” landscape. Yet why does it feel like I’m watching a noir? Possibly because Luchino Visconti’s ‘Ossessione’ (1943) is based on the novel ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ except rather than being hard-boiled it’s been baked under the Italian sun to ensure that suitably bitter taste.
Shirtless tramp Gino turns up at a remote gas station/cafe in the Po River Valley and is immediately sexually attracted to cafe owner, Giovanna, who also discovers herself lusting after this rugged, young hobo. Unfortunately Giovanna runs the station with her older slobbish husband, Giuseppe, whom she despises and only married for financial security. Gino reminds Giovanna of all she has sacrificed and it’s not long before the two begin a passionate affair with Gino lodging with the married couple in exchange for providing mechanical work whilst secretly getting extra portions at mealtimes, if you know what I mean.
Gino persuades Giovanna to run away with him but Giovanna loses her nerve at the last minute letting Gino to travel on without her, leaving her with her fat husband in their roadside establishment. Gino moves on, but not too far and after a chance encounter with Giovanna and her husband at a sea-side town he is convinced to return with them. When Gino tells Giovanna he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about her, and with running away not an option, it seems the only way out of this predicament and to free Giovanna from her husband is murder!
‘Ossessione’ starts as dusty, dirty and ragged as Gino’s clothing. It reeks of poverty, authenticity and totally shorn of the cosmopolita… OOH! LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS CAMERA MOVE! You see, like most Italian directors, Visconti had a deep affinity for the poor but only if they were beautifully lit and shot well. And ‘Ossessione’s style sort of creeps up on you because although the landscape is stripped of any romanticism the camera-moves and lighting certainly aren’t.
What this does is build up the tension and dramatic pressure as although the events and setting are mundane the style is pregnant with total oblivion. This is best exemplified in the famous scene of Giovanna eating a bowl of soup and as we watch her perform this simple task uninterrupted we become aware we are witnessing a woman being spiritually crushed rather than simply eating a meal. This could explain why the mountains of crockery look so ominous.
The pressure increases with another, albeit, gradual shock — Giuseppe isn’t that bad a guy. Sure, he’s a messy, obnoxious slob but he’s not pure evil in the slightest. He has old fashioned attitudes regarding women but he provides for his wife, has a love of Verdi and, unlike Gino, appears capable of enjoying life. Do we really want this guy bumped off?
Apparently Vittorio Mussolini, editor of the Italian film journal Cinema and son of the Duce, stormed out of ‘Ossessione’s first screening declaring “this is not Italy!” But why? After all, do you really think an Italian would be outraged at a tale of lust, betrayal and death? I think it was less the characters and more their environment that could be the problem: Gionvanna longs to leave but feels trapped by her location whilst Gino, after committing a horrific deed, blames his surroundings for his continuing pain. It could also be said it is the landscape itself which commits the final, terrible, blow and even if you do leave and escape you’re faced with having to sell your body to survive out there. If this is Italy then it’s not how the fascists wanted to see it.
‘Ossessione’ is a very good film. The realistic setting contrasts against the drama which surges and pulsates with doomed sexual torment (even two rutting cats are shot dead). Massimo Girotti as Gino is so tramp-chic filthy that it could be his squalor that Giovanna is actually attracted to as opposed to any handsomeness lurking beneath, whilst Clara Calamai is pathetically radiant as Giovanna, a beautiful woman who’s own internal emotional life is as mixed-up and confused as her soup (life is a minestrone indeed). Visconti shoots all this with care and craft and as ‘Ossessione’ goes on the imagery becomes bolder and more striking, powering events up for a devastating crescendo.
‘Ossessione’ is often seen as a starting place for both Visconti and neorealism, yet it was a nice surprise to discover it’s an early noir too, and a very good one at that.
