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Vague stars of ... (Sandra) 1965 Luchino Visconti

Content: Sandra (Claudia Cardinale), now with the American Andrew (Michael Craig) married versa, after many years in their home village of Volterra in Tuscany back, because her father, a well-known scientists, will be honored there. She had hardly known him since he was in 1942 died as a Jew in Auschwitz in the gas chamber. In Volterra

take it for a long time and her brother Gianni (Jean Sorel) again, an aspiring writer, with whom she had an intimate relationship. In particular, the conflict with their Mother (Marie Bell), a former concert pianist who had later married the lawyer Gilardini (Renzo Ricci) welded together the siblings. Even now, the greeting of the mother, who was incapacitated due to their mental illness and under medical supervision with her husband, lives more than frosty. Their hatred for the Jewish share in their children break out of it again ...


As Visconti "Vaghe dell'Orsa imagine ..." in 1965 brought in the cinemas, so he came to wonder, for opposing his film would have compared to its last, the two years before appearing "Il Gattopardo" can not fail. His spirit there in colorful panoramas, he attacked again on a strong black - white - back contrast, included it there mentally several epochs full socio-political relevance, he raises here an intimate look at the visit of a young woman in her home town after several years of absence . The only constant seemed to be Claudia Cardinale, who played already in "Rocco and His Brothers" 1960, the female lead, but that impression changed even at the first look on her face. Spotted coarse-grained and one had the beautiful actress had not previously seen.

How aware Luchino Visconti, the black and white technique used, one can already see the first scenes of the film, after Sandra (Claudia Cardinale) and her American husband Andrew (Michael Craig) in the direction of Geneva had left their native Tuscan town of Volterra. The previous evening they had a cocktail party for an international audience, where - a scene that is mainly because of their solidification in playing the piano important - now the imagery, which receives the camera from a subjective point of view of passengers, with low light / dark contrast overexposed. The sky seems cloudy, white, country and city are bathed in a harsh light, and only when they reach their goal and in the old palace of her family enter into it, the brightness returns to its opposite. This underlines the fatality Visconti of an event, from which there is no escape.

precisely this operatic gravity and accompanied only by piano music gloom is spread out with Sandra's family history here, presented the greatest difference to Visconti "Il Gattopardo" is that despite the tragedy and consequences of emotional restraint
was still ruled by the sovereign attitude of the nobles. But ultimately it is the parallel between the two works, which are similar in their intentions more than the external implementation wants to believe. Visconti's own noble origin, he owed thanks to substantial funding and artistic freedom, was a constant source of friction with his Communist stance and his homosexual tendencies, which influenced all his films, here - as in "Il Gattopardo" - addressed specifically. Also in his contribution to "Boccaccio '70" was already out of focus, but implemented more playful.

Similar to the history in "Il Gattopardo" , he describes in "Vaghe dell'Orsa imagine ..." the demise of a noble family, reminiscent of their former glory, only the large palace and surrounding gardens. If we understand the consequences "Il Gattopardo" as outlook on the future policy of Italy to the seizure of power by the fascists is to "put Vaghe dell'Orsa ..." the logical continuation of this theme. Although the film is set in the then present, the decisive event is for the plot more than 20 years back. The occasion for Sandra's return to her hometown is honoring her father with a bust in the garden of the Palazzo, which will allow the public to be transferred. 1942, the famous Jewish scientist at Auschwitz had died in the gas chamber.

only slow down the film on the consequences thereof, which are manifested mainly in the scene where her mother Sandra (Mary Bell) is reunited. The former concert pianist showered her with their hatred of everything Jewish, insult them and would also have the garden for the ceremony of her former husband not be given out if they would not have been disenfranchised because of their mental illness. She lives under medical supervision in the home of lawyer Gilardini (Renzo Ricci), whom she married after the war. Visconti leaves open whether they delivered up even her husband to the fascists, but makes no secret of the moral situation in which their children were growing up, were the death of her father's still very small.

In this context, the role of Sandra's brother Gianni (Jean Sorel) is clearly not the artistic, mentally fragile soul of this confrontation has grown. Only the proximity to his sister and the secret location where they were met, survive him this situation. When he now meets Sandy for the first time, he has first established, are on their way to a career as a writer, but his internal instability at the site of his childhood is increasingly revealed. In his slender figure Visconti handles the situation of an outsider who does not the sexual norm - the incestuous relationship with his sister is a synonym of Visconti's homosexuality and experiences here just disgust - especially by the mother and stepfather.

misunderstood Accordingly, if not offensive at all from the historical context, are former German Film Title such as "The instinctive" or summaries that speak of family decadence. On the contrary, according to Sandra is in their self-control and confidence in the Prince Nothing in "Il Gattopardo" . self loses her husband, overwhelmed by the high swinging events, the control, it remains a model of control, without having to suppress their emotions. In her Visconti refers again to the previously prevailing spirit in the family, but can save them to anyone.


Obviously, this is his intention for the choice of artistic means, the direct in their Opposition to the colors in "Il Gattopardo" that are similar again. The piano symbolizes the constant presence of the mother and gives, like the dramatic look, only an outward emotion, while the interaction of the protagonists is characterized by cold. This external force only makes the tension evident in the Sandra and her brother were growing up, and thus its strength and its weakness.

Visconti's attitude toward the sisters speaks in the movie, which regrettably was not translated into German. "Beautiful Star the sign of the big bears ... "- the same title by Giannis's first book - attest to its beauty, but also of their being lost in infinity.

"Vaghe dell'Orsa imagine ..." Italy 1965, Director: Luchino Visconti , writer: Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi d'Amico , Actor: Claudia Cardinale, Jean Sorel, Michael Craig, Renzo Ricci, Marie Bell, Runtime: 100 minutes


- further discussed in the blog films of Luchino Visconti :

"Ossessione" (1942)
"Boccaccio '70" (1962)
"Il Gattopardo" (1963)
"Lo Straniero" (1967)
"Morte a Venezia (1971)