Ossessione (1943)

 Luchino Visconti's "Ossessione"

From what I've read, it seems film scholars are pretty split down the middle as to whether they consider Luchino Visconti's debut feature film, 1943's "Ossessione" to be the very first neorealist film is Italian cinema. There are certain elements that might disqualify it from being considered the ignition point of the movement. One of these disqualifiers is that it has two popular actors of Italian cinema, Massimo Girotti and Clara Calamai, as opposed to non-actors. However, when I watch the film, I see the stark realism that would come to trademark the film movement, along with the focus on gritty, street-level life and the affects economic disparity has on its inhabitants. 

The film centers on a drifter who becomes attracted to the wife of a gas station owner. The unhappy wife, Giovana, seduces our protagonist, Gino, and then convinces him to murder her husband. However, this decision doesn't make a happy ending for the couple, who a tormented by the responsibilities and moral fallout of their decision. To make matters worse, the police continue to monitor their activity, suspicious of their foul play.

The thing most people note about "Ossessione" is the gritty realness with which Luchino Visconti films his subjects. Their environment is just as much part of the story as their interpersonal relationships. In fact, their environment is the primary factor that affect their decision-making. Giovana is frustrated by the struggle of working in the dreary diner, a dark and unhappy place. Yet, she forces herself to stay with her unappealing husband, Giuseppe, out of economic necessity. This is the same reason why she can't simply run away with Gino, because she is too dependent on materiality and domestic living. On the flipside, Gino is called to this domesticity through Giovana. However, when he finally commits to this, he loses that freedom that drifting provided. That being said, when he gives up Giovana earlier in the film to pursue the open road, he is unhappy with this outcome as well. He lives his life as a street vendor selling sandwiches, determined to come back to the domesticity that Giovana provides. His desire to be free is inhibited by his economic inabilities, while his desire for domesticity comes at a morally corrupted price. 

To me, this thematic notion is precisely why I consider "Ossessione" to be the first neorealist Italian film. Despite it still being a film with major starts, Visconti still films his scenarios with gritty authenticity. This authenticity demonstrates the stark reality of his characters. This stark reality comes from the lack of economic prosperity the characters are facing. Because of this dilemma, they must compromise every decision they make, constantly obsessed with varying outcomes, never satisfied with whatever they choose. I believe that the reason some film scholars would not consider it the first neorealist piece of Italian cinema is that the film is still constructed with inherent limitations. However, these limitations only exist because Visconti made the film under the censorship of the Mussolini fascist government. Visconti could not make something so openly about economic disparity, as it would have caused the film to have not been made at all. So, he wrapped this theme around a narrative about romance to soften its blow. Despite this, the Italian government still recognized the blatant thematic criticisms of domestic Italian living structures. Because of this, the film only had a few screenings in Rome and northern Italy until its eventual ban. The fascists even tried to destroy the film. Luckily, Visconti kept a duplicate negative, which we are lucky enough to enjoy today. 

"Ossessione," by my humble viewpoint, is Italy's first neorealist piece of cinema that pioneered the genre. Without it, many of the genre and movement's ideas may not be so fully formed, as we know them to be today. The film was Viconti's debut feature film and would market him as a true artist of Italian cinema.