The Innocent (L'Innocente)

CIFF is delighted to premiere the 4K restoration of Visconti's final masterpiece.

In the late 1890s, Tullio is a wealthy and atheistic Roman aristocrat. He demands the right to flaunt his mistress, Teresa, and to neglect his wife, Giuliana. Yet when Giuliana asserts her own autonomy and has an affair, his fragile emotional control shatters.

With its sumptuous period detail, intricate emotional tensions and finely drawn characters, The Innocent is a gripping portrait of desire, jealousy and wounded pride. Visconti builds an atmosphere of mounting unease as the certainties of an apparently privileged world begin to unravel. At the heart of the film is a superb ensemble of performances, led by Giancarlo Giannini’s volatile, self-absorbed Tullio and Laura Antonelli’s quietly affecting Giuliana.

A masterclass in psychological drama, The Innocent showcases Visconti’s extraordinary eye for beauty and his ability to uncover the turmoil beneath its surface.

This screening is supported by Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Dublino.