Sandra (film)
7.4 /10 1 Votes
Director Luchino Visconti Duration Music director Cesar Franck Country Italy | 7.2/10 IMDb Genre Drama, Mystery, War Running time 1h 45m Language Italian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Writer Suso Cecchi dAmico , Enrico Medioli Release date 16 September 1965 (Italy)
16 January 1966 (U.S.) Initial release September 16, 1965 (Italy) Screenplay Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi dAmico, Enrico Medioli Cast Claudia Cardinale (Sandra Dawson), Michael Craig (Andrew Dawson), Jean Sorel (Gianni Wald-Luzzati), Marie Bell (Mrs. Gilardini, Sandra's Mother), Renzo Ricci (Antonio Gilardini), Fred Williams (Pietro Formari)Similar movies Life Is Beautiful , The Pianist , Student Services , Jack Reacher , The Lover , Au Revoir Les Enfants Tagline SANDRA is EXCITEMENT! What SANDRA does is ASTONISHING! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa is a 1965 Italian film directed by Luchino Visconti. It was released as Sandra (Of a Thousand Delights) in the United States and as Of These Thousand Pleasures in the UK.
Contents
Plot
Visconti's retelling of the Electra story starts with Sandra/Electra (Claudia Cardinale) returning to her ancestral home in Italy - and reviving an intimate involvement with her brother (Sorel) which troubles her naive husband (Michael Craig) - on the eve of an official ceremony commemorating the death of her Jewish father in a Nazi concentration camp. As ever with Visconti, he is ambivalently drawn to the decadent society he is ostensibly criticising; and Armando Nannuzzi's camera lovingly caresses the creaking old mansion, set in a landscape of crumbling ruins, where the incestuous siblings determine to wreak revenge on the mother (Bell) and stepfather (Ricci) who supposedly denounced their father.
The title, culled from the poem "Le ricordanze" by Giacomo Leopardi, could be translated as 'Glimmering stars of the Great Bear', and has a strong resonance with the movie's plot:
Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa, io non credea Tornare ancor per uso a contemplarvi Sul paterno giardino scintillanti, E ragionar con voi dalle finestre Di questo albergo ove abitai fanciullo, E delle gioie mie vidi la fine.(...)English translation:
Glimmering stars of the Great Bear, I never thought I'd be back to see you Shining down on my father's garden, Nor talk to you ever again from the windows Of this house where I spent my childhood And saw the last of my happiness vanish.(...)Cast
Awards
The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
References
Sandra (film) WikipediaSandra (film) IMDb Sandra (film) themoviedb.org