ASH WEDNESDAY

Lovely Liz

ASH WEDNESDAY (1973). Produced by Dominick Dunne. Directed by Larry Peerce. 

Sixtyish Barbara Sawyer (Elizabeth Taylor) fearing that her husband, Mark (Henry Fonda), will leave her for a younger playmate, goes to Switzerland and has cosmetic surgery (graphically depicted) to make her look like -- gorgeous, 41-year-old Liz Taylor! After the bandages come off, Barbara goes to the resort of Cortina, Italy, staying in a fabulous hotel and wearing expensive fashions. She also turns the head of a playboy named Erich (Helmut Berger, again miscast as a heterosexual). Should Barbara succumb to her romantic feelings for Erich, and what will Mark think of her new look when he finally arrives in Cortina. She may learn that her marriage had more problems than her aged appearance ... 

Helmut Berger

With its superficial and one-dimensional characters, one really has to wonder why anyone thought making this movie was a good idea. Sure, lots of people might have loved looking at glamorous Liz (although probably not at distasteful surgery), but an actual  story might have helped. Half of the movie is taken up by scenes at the clinic, and the surgery sequence seems to last as long as the actual operation. When Barbara/Liz puts on her sweeping ultra-chic winter coat/robe that looks like it must have cost a thousand dollars, the film just suddenly seems to turn into a comical parody. Taylor's performance is generally on target, although it's not one of her best. Helmut Berger is Helmut Berger and doesn't really have to act just look enigmatic. Fonda is actually good in this -- his assorted reactions are perfect -- and Margaret Blye [The Entity] is fine as their daughter, Katie. Keith Baxter adds some zest as David, a (possibly gay?) fashion photographer who is also getting work done and befriends Barbara at the clinic and elsewhere. Monique van Vooren [What Makes Sammy Run?] plays a German celebrity who briefly chats with David at the clinic. 

Verdict: Another entry in the "Oh, how the rich suffer!" sweepstakes! **1/4. 

CONVERSATION PIECE

Burt Lancaster

CONVERSATION PIECE (aka Gruppo di famiglia in un interno/1974). Director: Luchino Visconti. 

In an absolutely gorgeous old house in Rome, there lives a professor (Burt Lancaster), a widower, who only wants to be left alone with his books, his art, and his housekeeper. An aggressive and vulgar woman, the Marchesa Brumonti (Silvana Mangano), importunes him to rent her the upstairs apartment for her daughter, Lietta (Claudia Marsani), Lietta's boyfriend Stefano (Stefano Patrizi), and the marchesa's younger lover, the German Konrad (Helmut Berger of Ludwig), who is also sleeping with Lietta. To his horror the professor discovers that this "family" is making wholesale changes to the apartment's very structure. In spite of his annoyance over this and other matters, the lonely professor comes to see these people as a surrogate family and seems to develop unspecified feelings for Konrad, who may not be as frivolous as he seems, leading to a literally  explosive finale.

Aging gay prostitute? Helmet Berger as Konrad
 

Visconti's penultimate film, Conversation Piece, which was filmed in English and has an English soundtrack (a dubbed Italian version is also available), is a modestly interesting failure that never realizes its potential. Although Burt Lancaster should be given credit for trying something challenging as a character actor in his later years, he is still too young and robust to make a convincing fussy old professor. The next most important character is Konrad, played by Visconti's then-boyfriend, but although Konrad is apparently strictly a hetero gigolo, he comes off -- as Berger generally did -- as a kind of sleazy aging gay prostitute, making his characterization rather unconvincing. We can hear his real voice for a change, but his accent is often too thick to be understood, and his acting in this is only adequate. 

Patrizi, Marsani and Mangano on the professor's balcony

Silvano Mangano can perhaps be forgiven for going over the top at times because she's playing an imperious, overbearing wealthy woman who is constantly jealous of the young man she actually seems to despise. Claudia Marsani is a bit too perky for my taste, but Stefano Patrizi makes a creditable Stefano. At one point the young couple and Konrad engage in a strictly straight menage-a-trois which is not terribly sexy. The lack of homoerotic material, aside from the vague intimation that the professor might be attracted to Konrad, actually makes the film seem more dated than daring. I confess that because the characters, including the professor, are so underwritten and the film so half-baked, that when somebody dies I actually laughed out loud. Dominique Sanda and Claudia Cardinale have cameos as, respectively, the professor's mother and wife. 

Verdict: Hardly Visconti at his best. **. 

LUDWIG

Helmut Berger as King Ludwig II

LUDWIG (1973). Director: Luchino Visconti. Original four-hour Italian version.

"The greatest gift you can give to your people is to enrich their souls." -- King Ludwig II

King Ludwig II of Bavaria (Helmut Berger of The Bloodstained Butterfly) has much more interest in art, culture, and architecture than he does in matters of state. Supposedly in love with his cousin, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Romy Schneider), he gets engaged to Elisabeth's sister, Sophie (Sonia Petrovna). Elisabeth suspects where her cousin's true interests lie, but feels that Ludwig will grow out of these feelings with Sophie's help; the two never get married, however. Ludwig is Catholic and tells his priest that he will subdue any "unnatural" feelings he has, right after which he is playing footsie with his footman, Richard Horning (Marc Porel). Whether it's the King's erotic tendencies or the alleged "degeneration" of his mind that are the problem, the members of the Bavarian government are determined to get "Mad" King Ludwig out of his castle. This leads to two deaths that are still a mystery today.

The real King Ludwig

Ludwig is a fascinating look at a fascinating historical figure. Although quite Wagnerian in length, the film is never boring (something you can't say about every Visconti film), although cuts could have been made in the second half. Berger, dubbed by Giancarlo Giannini, plays the role with his customary intensity -- alas his hairstyle looks better on the real Ludwig than on Berger --  and there are also good performances from Romy Schneider (reprising her role from the Sissi films) and John Moulder-Brown (of The House That Screamed) as the ill-fated Prince Otto, Ludwig's younger brother. Also notable are Helmut Griem (who screwed both Liza Minelli and Michael York in Cabaret) as Count Durckheim and Trevor Howard as Richard Wagner. (Opera fans owe Ludwig a great debt as his financial assistance helped the great composer finish his Ring cycle.) Silvana Mangano is cast as Wagner's mistress and later wife, Cosima. 

There is no doubt that Ludwig was homosexual, but whether he was "tormented" or not, despite his Catholicism, is debatable. I believe his alleged romantic love for Elisabeth  -- which is like that of a child -- was invented for this film, as Visconti wanted his hero to be at least perceived as bisexual, be it true or not, for the director's own reasons. (As for Helmut Berger, he was married to both a man and a woman so you can come to your own conclusions. He was Visconti's companion for many years.) 

The king and squire at rest

Some might be disappointed that the homoerotic content in the film is rather limited. The gay love scene mentioned above is in the shadows and very brief, and there is an all-male party (left) which could hardly be called an orgy. 

Ludwig was filmed on location and the settings are simply magnificent. The movie doesn't always hit the mark emotionally, but it is literate, opulent, romantic, and generally tasteful. King Ludwig was criticized for building numerous beautiful castles, most of which he never lived in, but today they are great tourist attractions and have certainly enriched the Bavarian coffers. 

Verdict: My next vacation will be in Bavaria. ***1/4. 

THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY

Helmut Berger

THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY (aka Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate/1971). Director: Duccio Tessari.

A 17-year-old girl is found stabbed to death in a park. Newscaster Alessandro Marchi (Giancarlo Sbragia) is arrested for the crime and put on trial. Marchi has a reason for keeping silent about where he actually was that day, but he doesn't know that his lawyer, Giulio (Gunther Stoll) is having an affair with his wife, Maria (Ida Galli). Meanwhile, his daughter, Sarah (Wendy D'Olive), is fooling around with a moody pianist, Giorgio (Helmut Berger). While Marchi is on trial, there are more murders of young women ... This dubbed Italian thriller has a too leisurely pace and no real thrills, but it still manages to be absorbing for the most part and summon up some suspense, although the modestly surprising wind-up is a little too far-fetched. Although top-billed, Helmut Berger walks around looking strange and haunted, makes love on occasion, but hasn't really been given much of a character to play. The business with an associate of the police inspector always giving him coffee that is either too hot, cold or bitter quickly becomes tiresome. Tessari also directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Verdict: Passable mystery film with some twists. **1/2.