Directed by:
Luchino ViscontiComposer:
Maurice JarreCast:
Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Griem, Helmut Berger, Umberto Orsini, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Florinda Bolkan, Nora Ricci, Charlotte Rampling (more)Plots(1)
The most savagely subversive film by the iconoclastic auteur Luchino Visconti employs the mechanics of deliriously stylized melodrama to portray Fascism’s total corruption of the soul. In the wake of Adolf H's ascent to power, the wealthy industrialist von Essenbeck family and their associates including the scheming social climber Friedrich (Dirk Bogarde), the matriarch Sophie (Ingrid Thulin), and the perversely cruel heir Martin (Helmut Berger), memorably donning Dietrich-like drag in his breakthrough role) descend into a self-destructive spiral of decadence, greed, perversion, and all consuming hatred as they vie for power, over the family business and over one another. The heightened performances and Visconti’s luridly expressionistic use of Technicolor conjure a garish world of decaying opulence in which one family’s downfall comes to stand for the moral rot of a nation. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Dirk Bogarde
UK
Best movies:
The Password is Courage (1962)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
The Damned (1969)
Ingrid Thulin
Sweden
Best movies:
Wild Strawberries (1957)
The Communicants (1963)
The Silence (1963)
Helmut Griem
German Empire
Best movies:
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) (series)
Cabaret (1972)
Anna's Meetings (1978)
Helmut Berger
German Empire
Best movies:
The Godfather: Part III (1990)
Conversation Piece (1974)
The Damned (1969)
Umberto Orsini
Italy
Best movies:
La dolce vita (1960)
The Verdict (1974)
The Damned (1969)
Reinhard Kolldehoff
German Empire
Best movies:
Don't Look Now: We're Being Shot At (1966)
The Damned (1969)
The Violent People (1970)
Florinda Bolkan
Brazil
Best movies:
Dem Mörder verfallen - Eine Frau in Gefahr (1999) (TV movie)
Una breve vacanza (1973)
The Last Valley (1971)
Nora Ricci
Italy
Best movies:
The Damned (1969)
Ludwig: The Mad King of Bavaria (1973)
Beautiful (1951)
Charlotte Rampling
UK
Best movies:
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Dune (2021)
The Damned (1969)
Jessica Dublin
USA
Best movies:
The Damned (1969)
All the Way Trinity (1972)
Manhunt (1972)
Karl-Otto Alberty
German Empire
Best movies:
The Great Escape (1963)
Battle of Britain (1969)
The Damned (1969)
Irina Wanka
West Germany
Best movies:
The Damned (1969)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Klimt (2006)
Renaud Verley
France
Best movies:
The Damned (1969)
Une robe noire pour un tueur (1981)
Bell from Hell (1973)
Ester Carloni
Italy
Best movies:
History (1986) (TV movie)
Il Generale Della Rovere (1959)
The Damned (1969)
Albrecht Schoenhals
German Empire
Best movies:
The Damned (1969)
Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard (1963)
Piero Morgia
Italy
Best movies:
The Damned (1969)
Accattone (1961)
Mamma Roma (1962)
Klaus Höhne
German Empire
Best movies:
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) (series)
Treasure Island (1966) (series)
The Damned (1969)
Antonietta Fiorito
Best movies:
The Damned (1969)
Ace High (1968)
God Forgives, I Don't (1967)
John Frederick
USA
Best movies:
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Cleopatra (1963)
The Damned (1969)
Bill Vanders
Best movies:
The Damned (1969)
One on Top of the Other (1969)
The Count of Monte-Cristo (1975) (TV movie)