La caduta degli dei (1969)

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Nicola Badalucco (story) and
Enrico Medioli (story) ...

Release Date:

18 December 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

The dramatic collapse of a wealthy, industrialist/Junker family during the reign of the Third Reich.

Plot Keywords:

Baron | German | Nazi | Germany | SS

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Frederick Bruckmann
Ingrid Thulin	...	Sophie Von Essenbeck
Helmut Griem	...	Aschenbach
Helmut Berger	...	Martin Von Essenbeck
Renaud Verley	...	Gunther Von Essenbeck
Umberto Orsini	...	Herbert Thallman
Reinhard Kolldehoff	...	Konstantin Von Essenbeck (as René Koldehoff)
Albrecht Schoenhals	...	Joachim Von Essenbeck (as Albrecht Schönhals)
Florinda Bolkan	...	Olga
Nora Ricci	...	Governess
Charlotte Rampling	...	Elisabeth Thallman
Irina Wanka	...	Lisa
Karin Mittendorf	...	Thilde Thallman
Valentina Ricci	...	Erika Thalman
Wolfgang Hillinger	...	Janek

Also Known As:

Die Verdammten (West Germany)
Luchino Visconti's The Damned (USA) (poster title)
The Damned (Götterdämmerung)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, nudity and aberrant sexuality. (edited version)

Runtime:

156 min

Country:

Italy | West Germany

Language:

Italian | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Ireland:18 | Spain:18 | Italy:VM18 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (cut version) (1979) | USA:X (original rating) | West Germany:16 | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Attersee, Upper Austria, Austria

Company:

Ital-Noleggio Cinematografico

Trivia:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's favorite film. He called it "perhaps the greatest film, the film that I think means as much to the history of film as Shakespeare to the history of theater."

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film is set between 1933-1934, yet most of the insignia and badges, shown worn on the German military and Nazi Party uniforms, were not invented until after 1938.

Quotes:

Aschenbach: [showing Sophie the Gestapo's secret file room] These are the most complete archives ever conceived. This is the secret Germany. Nothing is lacking. You can even find your history and Frederick's. Can you believe it? You see it's not very difficult to enter into the lives of people. Every German citizen today is potentially one of our informers. The collective thinking of our people is now complete. Don't you think that is the true miracle of the Third Reich?... If you wish, we could read Konstantine's future together - if he has one.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinemania: I anodos kai i ptosi tou Nazismou" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Nachts ging das Telefon

"Abandon hope all ye who enter here".

The first chapter in Lucino Visconti's trilogy of "German Decadence", "The Damned" ("Götterdämmerung"), 1969 is a deep and heavy drama; or rather tragedy with many references to Shakespearean and ancient tragedies themes. The film follows a German rich industrialist family, the munitions manufacturers (possibly modeled after Germany's Krupp family) who attempts to keep their power during the rise of Nazism regime. It takes place from the night of the Reichstag fire when the Von Essenbecks have gathered in celebration of the patriarch Joachim's birthday to their eventual downfall ("The Fall of Gods" is the film's Italian title) shortly after the Night of Long Knives.

A Marxist and an aristocrat, Visconti was both repelled by and drawn to the decaying society that he depicts in impressive and loving details and often in a flamboyant style - the examples are the scene with Helmut Berger impersonating Marlene Dietrich's Lola-Lola "Blue Angel", the beer party, the orgy and following them massacre during the "Night of Long Knives".

Both film's titles, "The Damned" and "The Fall of the Gods" prepare us for entering the gates of Inferno - "Abandon hope all ye who enter here". The characters we met, the members of the respected and famous family are "Fallen Gods" and they are ready to take the eternal damnation of their souls in the exchange for Power which is above money, love or any human feelings. The weakest and tender will vanish; the most unscrupulous, merciless, backstabbing, hating and cruel will celebrate on this feast during the time of plague.

The acting is very impressive by all members of a fine international cast that includes Ingrid Thulin, Dirk Bogarde, Charlotte Rampling, Renaud Verley, Umberto Orsini and Helmut Berger. I just want to say couple of words about Ingrid Thulin (Baroness Sophie, the widowed daughter in law of a steel baron Joachim) and Helmut Berger as her son, Martin. I've never seen Ingrid Thulin as beautiful, desirable yet wicked and evil as the German Lady Macbeth/Queen Gertrude/Agrippina the Younger. I dare say that I like her in Visconti's film better than in Bergman's films that made her world famous. Helmut Berger was born to play Martin - immoral, corrupted, and bad to the bone playboy-pedophile Hamlet/Nero in Nazi uniform yet at some point strangely sympathetic. And was he pretty as Lola-Lola :).

8/10