Continuing last week’s investigation into Visconti’s 1954 classic Senso, let’s double-tap pinch-and-zoom? into less of a throwaway scene and more of a flashbulb moment:i
Livia: Che cos’ha trovato?
Franz: Un pezzetto di specchio.
Livia: Perché si guarda con tanto interesse? Le piace tanto guardarsi?
Franz: Sì, mi piace. Non passo mai davanti a uno specchio senza guardarmi.
Livia: E perché le piace tanto?
Franz: Mi piace guardarmi per essere sicuro che sono… io.
Livia: Soltanto allora ne è sicuro?
Franz: No. Anche quando vedo una donna che mi guarda come lei mi sta guardando in questo momento.
Franz: (recitando) “È il giorno del giudizio. I morti risorgono all’eterna gioia o all’eterno dolore. Noi restiamo abbracciati e non ci curiamo di niente, né di Paradiso né di Inferno.”
Franz: Le piacciono questi versi di Heine?
Livia: No.
Franz: Perché no?
Livia: È il loro significato che non mi piace.
Franz: Peccato, ma all’imminenza di una guerra…
Which is to say, when people tell you who they are, believe them! Whether it’s as a self-absorbed, nihilistic, amoral, faithless scoundrel as in the case of Lt. Franz Mahler, or to take a more contemporary geopolitical example, as a vengeful, plebiscitary, personalist populist as in the case of Generalissimo Quarantasette when he says:
I am your warrior, I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.ii
For all the Straussian veils and masks in the world, moments of crystal clear candour are forever slipping through the cracks of ego.
Can you spot them?
- In English:
Livia: What have you found?
Franz: A little piece of mirror.
Livia: Why do you look at yourself with such interest? Do you like looking at yourself so much?
Franz: Yes, I do. I never pass a mirror without looking.
Livia: And why do you like it so much?
Franz: I like to look, to be sure that it’s… me.
Livia: Only then are you sure?
Franz: No. Also when I see a woman looking at me the way you are looking at me now.
Franz: (reciting) “It is the Day of Judgment. The dead arise to eternal joy or eternal pain. We remain embraced and care for nothing—neither Paradise nor Hell.”
Franz: Do you like those verses by Heine?
Livia: No.
Franz: Why not?
Livia: It’s their meaning I don’t like.
Franz: A pity. But on the eve of a war… - via C-SPAN ↩