| The Damned | |
|---|---|
 American film poster | |
| Italian | La caduta degli dei |
| Directed by | Luchino Visconti |
| Written by | Nicola Badalucco Enrico Medioli Luchino Visconti |
| Produced by | Ever Haggiag Alfred Levy |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Armando Nannuzzi Pasqualino De Santis |
| Edited by | Ruggero Mastroianni |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
Production companies | Praesidens Pegaso Cinematografica Ital-Noleggio Cinematografico Eichberg-Film |
| Distributed by | Ital-Noleggio Cinematografico(Italy) Warner Bros.-Seven Arts(International) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 154 minutes[1] |
| Countries | |
| Languages | English German |
| Budget | $2 million[4] |
| Box office | 2,638,507 admissions (France) $1.2 million(US/Canada rentals)[5] |
The Damned (Götterdämmerung) (Italian:La caduta degli dei,lit. 'The Fall of the Gods')[a] is a 1969historical drama film directed and co-written byLuchino Visconti, and starringDirk Bogarde,Ingrid Thulin,Helmut Berger,Helmut Griem,Umberto Orsini,Charlotte Rampling,Florinda Bolkan,Reinhard Kolldehoff andAlbrecht Schönhals in his final film. Set in 1930s Germany, the film centers on the Essenbecks, a wealthy industrialist family who have begun doing business with theNazi Party, and whose amoral and unstable heir, Martin (played by Berger in his breakthrough role), is embroiled in his family's machinations. It is loosely based on the GermanKrupp family of steel industrialists fromEssen.
Principal photography ofThe Damned took place in locations throughout Italy, West Germany, and Austria. The film opened to widespread critical acclaim, but also faced controversy from ratings boards for its sexual content. In the United States, the film was given anX rating by theMPAA, which was lowered to a more marketableR after 12 minutes of offending footage were cut.
Visconti won theNastro d'Argento for Best Director, and was nominated for aBest Original Screenplay Oscar with co-writersNicola Badalucco andEnrico Medioli. Helmut Berger received aGolden Globe nomination forMost Promising Newcomer. The film won theGolden Peacock (Best Film) at the4th International Film Festival of India.
In Germany in early 1933, the Essenbecks are a wealthy and powerful industrialist family who have, reluctantly, begun doing business with the newly electedNazi government. On the night of the birthday of the family'sconservative patriarch, Baron Joachim von Essenbeck, a member of the oldGerman nobility who detests the upstartAdolf Hitler, the family's children have prepared performances. Joachim's grandnephew Günther plays a classical piece on his cello, while his grandson Martin performs adrag performance, which is interrupted by news that theReichstag is burning. Assuming Hitler will use this incident to seize even greater control, Joachim announces at dinner that he is replacing Herbert Thallman, an outspoken anti-Nazi who is married to Joachim's niece Elizabeth, with his boorish and unscrupulous nephew Konstantin, who is an officer in theSA, as vice president of the family steelworks.
Martin's possessive mother, Sophie, has been in a relationship with Friedrich Bruckmann, an ambitious executive of the steelworks, for some time, but he has not proposed because he worries Joachim would not approve of him as the husband of the widow of Joachim's beloved son. Friedrich is friendly with Aschenbach, an Essenbeck relation who has attained a high position in theSS,[b] and, acting on Aschenbach's suggestions that things would be better for him if the anti-Nazi Joachim were to die, Friederich kills Joachim and frames Herbert for the crime by using his personal handgun. Herbert narrowly escapes abroad, but, in his haste, is forced to leave behind Elizabeth and their two daughters. Martin inherits the majority of shares in the steelworks, and Sophie manipulates him into placing Friedrich, rather than Konstantin, in charge.
Aschenbach convinces Friedrich and Martin to bar their company from selling weapons to the SA, in hopes of marginalizing the rival group and currying the favor of thearmy, whose might Hitler will need in order to conquer territories beyond the current German borders. Konstantin discovers Martin has been sexually abusing his nieces and Lisa Keller, a youngJewish neighbor of Martin's girlfriend who commits suicide, and he uses this information to resume providing the SA with weapons and get Martin to call a meeting to place him in charge of the company. Sophie finds Martin hiding in the attic of the family castle and, mostly for Friedrich's sake, agrees to help free him from Konstantin's blackmail. She meets up with Aschenbach, who reveals that Hitler is planning to purge the SA, as he feels its work securing Nazi power in Germany is done, but its leader,Ernst Röhm, is unlikely to quietly let it take a back seat to the SS and army.
Many high-ranking members of the SA, including Konstantin, gather at a hotel inBad Wiessee. They have a drunken celebration, and the evening ends with the officers engaging in sex with one another. At dawn, the hotel is stormed by SS troops, whoslaughter the SA members. Konstantin is personally executed by Friedrich, whom Aschenbach brought along to make him do his own dirty work.
Friedrich is now in control of the steelworks, and Sophie even gets Aschenbach to arrange a decree that gives him her father-in-law's last name and royal title of Baron so they will be able to marry as equals. He is affected by all of his newfound power, and Aschenbach begins to feel that he is not displaying the appropriate subservience toNational Socialism, so Aschenbach offers to help Martin destroy Sophie and Friedrich. Martin accepts, as he is bitter that his mother has used him to benefit Friedrich and herself.
During a family dinner, Friedrich announces that Aschenbach, Günther, and Martin must submit themselves to his will and whims, since he is now the head of the family. Herbert surprises everyone when he enters and reveals that, although Sophie had supposedly made arrangements for Elizabeth and her daughters to join Herbert in exile, they were really arrested and sent toDachau, where Elizabeth died. Now a broken man, Herbert has returned to confess to murdering Joachim, in exchange for the release of his daughters. Günther, upset by this news, is enraged when Martin reveals that Friedrich killed Konstantin, and Aschenbach is able to use his hate to radicalize him to the Nazi cause.
Martin sexually assaults his mother, and she falls into a catatonic state. Without her help to strategize against Aschenbach and Martin, Friedrich is lost. Martin, who is now part of the SS, gets Friedrich and Sophie to go through the motions of getting married before ordering them to take cyanide capsules, which they willingly consume, killing them both. He inherits control of the steelworks, and the Essenbeck empire thereby comes under Nazi control.
| von Essenbeck Family Tree | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Damned has been regarded as the first of Visconti's films described as "The German Trilogy", followed byDeath in Venice (1971) andLudwig (1973), and the character Aschenbach even shares the same name as the protagonist ofThomas Mann'sDeath in Venice. Author Henry Bacon, in his bookVisconti: Explorations of Beauty and Decay (1998), specifically categorizes these films together in a chapter titled "Visconti & Germany".
Visconti's earlier films had analyzed Italian society during theRisorgimento and post-WWII periods.Peter Bondanella'sItalian Cinema (2002) depicts the trilogy as a move to take a broader view of European politics and culture. He says that, stylistically, "they emphasize lavish sets and costumes, sensuous lighting, painstakingly slow camerawork, and a penchant for imagery reflecting subjective states or symbolic values."[6]
The film was shot on location in West Germany and Austria, and atCinecittà Studios in Rome. Locations includedDüsseldorf,Essen, andUnterach am Attersee - the latter doubling forBad Wiessee. The scenes of the Essenbecksteelworks were shot inTerni, Italy.
The Damned was the breakthrough film forHelmut Berger, who is given an "Introducing" credit, even though he had already appeared in Visconti's segment of the anthology filmThe Witches. At the time, Berger was in a romantic relationship with Visconti.Dirk Bogarde later expressed disappointment with Visconti for sacrificing his character's development to place a greater focus on Berger's Martin. In his memoirs, Bogarde specifically cites a long scene showing Friedrich becoming overwhelmed with guilt after murdering Joachim, which was filmed, but cut.
ComposerMaurice Jarre was hired by the producers without the knowledge of Visconti, who originally wanted the film scored entirely with pre-existing classical music byGustav Mahler andRichard Wagner. Visconti reportedly was dissatisfied with the composer's efforts, which he compared disparagingly to Jarre's work onDoctor Zhivago, but was forced to use the music due to contractual obligations.
In Visconti's preferred, primarily English-language version of the film, most of the cast members provide their own voices, butUmberto Orsini is dubbed by an uncredited actor, due to his accent.
Nazi war criminalKarl Hass appeared in the film as anextra.[7][8] Hass was a perpetrator of theArdeatine massacre, but was not charged or convicted until 1998, allegedly due to his work as an American agent against the Soviet Union in the 1950s.[9] It's unknown if the filmmakers were aware of Hass' identity when he appeared in the film, though some sources suggest he was employed as a technical advisor.[8] Hass did appear as an extra in several other Italian films during the 1960s and '70s, including two about the Ardeatine massacre.[7]
The Damned was released to worldwide acclaim.[10] It was nominated forBest Original Screenplay at the42nd Academy Awards, and was named one of the Top Foreign Films of 1969 by theNational Board of Review. Among the international cast, Helmut Berger was singled out for his performance as Martin, a vicious sexual deviant who uses his amoral appetites to achieve his own twisted ends. The film was the tenth-most popular release at the French box office in 1970.[11]
Retrospectively, the film has appeared on such critics' lists asThe New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made[12] andHalliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown.[13]
The film's entry in theLexikon des Internationalen Films praises its presentation of the connection between "moral decadence, sexual neurosis, aestheticist death wish, narcissist self-centeredness and political opportunism", but comments that this effect is weakened somewhat by the film's "decorative circuitousness and artificial stylisation".[14]
FilmmakerRainer Werner Fassbinder calledThe Damned his favorite film. He said it is "perhaps the greatest film, the film that I think means as much to the history of film asShakespeare to the history of theater".[15]
After the first screening of the film, 12 minutes were cut, including the scene where Lisa hangs herself after being molested.[4] For the initial American release, much of theBad Wiessee/Night of the Long Knives sequence was cut.
In 1969, the film was given an "X" rating by theMPAA due to a nude incest scene.[4] Warner Bros. submitted the film for re-classification before releasing it on DVD in 2004, and the rating was changed to "R".
The film was shown on CBS television late at night in the early 1970s. It had to be so heavily edited that one executive reportedly joked it should be retitledThe Darned, but, technically, it was the first X-rated film to be shown on American network television.
The film was released on DVD byWarner Home Video in 2004.[16] A2K restoration of the film by theCineteca di Bologna andInstitut Lumière was released on Blu-ray and DVD byThe Criterion Collection on 28 September 2021.[17] All of the previously censored footage was restored to the film for both of these home video releases.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |