Black Angel (2002)
"Senso '45" (original title)

Trapped in an unhappy marriage, the wife of a high ranking Fascist official starts a dangerous, self-destructive relationship with a duplicitous S.S. Officer.

Director:

Tinto Brass

Writers:

Camillo Boito (novel), Tinto Brass

Stars:

Anna Galiena, Gabriel Garko, Franco Branciaroli

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anna Galiena	...	Livia Mazzoni
Gabriel Garko	...	Helmut Schultz
Franco Branciaroli	...	Ugo Oggiano
Antonio Salines	...	Carlo
Simona Borioni	...	Elsa
Loredana Cannata	...	Ninetta
Erika Savastani	...	Emilietta
Sabrina Colle
Agostino Nani
Giulia De Gresy
Franco Barbero
Eleonora Mazzoni
Ciro Scalera
Maria Pia Colonnello
Hermann Weisskopf

Storyline

March 1945 Asolo, Italy. Livia Mazzion, the attractive wife of a top ministry official, slips into the car of lawyer Ugo Oggiano, Livia's admirer and her husband's informer. Livia must reach Venice and her lover Helmut Schultz, a Wermacht lieutenant, as beautiful and accursed as a pagan god, with whom she is having a burning love affair. During the trip she relives the high points of her devastating sexual abandonment gone adrift, one that has shattered her life and her destiny, swallowing her up in the ruinous vortex of a sybaritic and bituminous Venice. The city, in the throes of the final months of the war, is rife with traffickers, officials, nabobs, military brass, sharks and adventurers of every kind. Yet a surprise awaits Livia upon her arrival in Venice, a surprise in which the heroes' own personal defeats interweave with those public, as historical and political events now seek to settle accounts.

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Plot Keywords:

italy | unhappy marriage | director cameo | apostrophe in title | sex standing up | 

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Taglines:

Soredemo hoshii [Japan]

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

12 April 2002 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Angelo nero

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cine 2000

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Italian ratings board originally gave the film "no one under 14" rating. Tinto Brass later personally fought for a "no one under 18" rating because he thought that the younger audience would not understand the film's subject matter, but later he agreed to allow a lower rating.

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Connections

Spoofed in Christmas Eve '45 (2011)

User Reviews

An erotic masterpiece...

I was quite amazed by this passionate, old-fashioned style tragic romance. The costumes, the cinematography, Ennio Morricone's sweeping score, all come together to create an absolute classic of it's genre. Anna Galiena and Gabriel Garko are beautiful together as doomed lovers that find each other in the desperate, waning days of the second World War. Helmut Schulz, played by the impossibly sensual Garko, is a sleazy and corrupt young SS officer, addicted to gambling, women, and to other of life's excesses. His decadent lifestyle does not come cheap, and when the beautiful but lonely Livia, (in an amazingly elegant performance by the wonderful Anna Galiena) offers to financially support Helmut, the amoral man does not refuse. Director Tinto Brass photographs the present day in glorious black and white, while we see, in blazing color the erotic love affair as it unfolded, in a series of flashbacks described by Livia, while en route to Venice. "Senso 45/Black Angel" is Tinto Brass' most serious work. It seems like he wanted to create something impressive here, and he did just that. A much more accomplished film than his "Salon Kitty." Effectively capturing the decadence of Fascist Italy, 1945 in a dizzying orgy scene, filled with graphic and strange sexuality and drug taking, a trademark of Tinto Brass, and unforgettable images of Anna and her SS lover in desperate embraces in shadowy back alleys or sparse rooms, with rays of sunlight filtering through lace curtains. It is hard to describe the beauty and elegance of this film. For fans of erotic romance, and films that possess this specifically European style of film making, this intoxicating art-house film is certain to impress. As of yet "Black Angel" has not had a DVD release for North America, but there is a wonderful edition from the UK that offers an uncensored, widescreen version, in original Italian with English subtitles.