Film Review
In a similar vein to Luchino Visconti's
Ossessione
(1943),
Desiderio offers an
intoxicating blend of Italian neo-realism and classic film noir that is
distinguished by some intense performances and an unremitting aura of
oppression and fatalism. Whilst it is less polished and far less
well-known than Visconti's film,
Desiderio
is just as effective in its use of the familiar motifs of film noir and
the result is an arresting character study about a fallen woman who is
tragically incapable of making a new life for herself. The film
is highly evocative of the post-war gloom that hung over Italy in the
immediate aftermath of WWII and through its characters it reveals a
nation poisoned by guilt and recrimination.
Desiderio is far from being a
masterpiece, but it is nonetheless a striking portrait of human
frailty, brutally rendered in the harsh neo-realist style.
Desiderio's troubled
production is as interesting as the film itself. Roberto
Rossellini began work on the film in July 1943, when it was originally
titled
Scalo merci (which
translates as
Goods Yard).
Several times the filming was interrupted by the war, and the lead
actress Oretta Fiume was replaced at an early stage by Elli
Parvo. Rossellini abandoned the film early in 1944, and a
few months later Marcello Pagliero was drafted in to complete it.
Pagliero had directed one film prior to this,
Nebbie sul mare (1944), and today
he is better known as an actor, remembered for his appearances in
Rossellini's
Rome, Open City (1945) and
several French films such as
Les Jeux sont faits (1947) and
Dédée
d'Anvers (1948). Pagliero rewrote much of the
screenplay, changing the original railway setting to one involving a
rural community in the Abruzzo region. It was not until May 1946
that the film was finally seen by the Italian public.
Desiderio shows little sign of
its fragmented production and if it does, on occasion, feel a little
crude and unven, this only adds to its biting sense of realism.
As the doomed heroine, Elli Parvo makes a stunning Italian femme
fatale, a conflicted soul whose longing for a respectable life is
constantly thwarted by the blind prejudice of others and the
devastating power she exerts over the opposite sex. The blatant
sensuality of Parvo's screen persona is matched by that of her equally
seductive co-star Massimo Girotti, who gives the film the same erotic
charge that he had previously brought to Visconti's
Ossessione. By contrast,
Carlo Ninchi exudes nothing but goodness as the man who comes so close
to salvaging Parvo's doomed character. How fitting that the film
should end with Ninchi walking off into the sunset to meet the woman he
has resolved to save, unaware that he has lost her forever - an
exquisitely poignant ending to a desperately bleak film.
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Paola Previtali is a young woman from the country who makes a living as
a prostitute in Rome. One day, she is badly shaken when she
arrives at a spot where a desperate woman has recently fallen to her
death, a suicide. A stranger named Giovanni comes to her
aid. He befriends her and she feels compelled to conceal her true
profession. Giovanni is a dedicated horticulturist with a special
aptitude for reviving sickly plants. Aware that he is falling in
love with her, Paola yearns to tell Giovanni the truth about herself,
but she cannot. Instead, she leaves him and returns to her home
village in the Abruzzi mountains. She receives a warm reception
from her sister Anna, who has just married the handsome Nando, but her
father shuns her, unable to forgive her dissolute way of life.
Despite her desire to turn over a new leaf, Paola continues to inflame
the passions of the men around her, including the hot-blooded
Nando...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.