Gino, a handsome drifter, gets off his hitch near a rural inn. Almost at first sight, he and Giovanna, the innkeeper’s beautiful wife, fall in love. Giovanna convinces her husband to hire Gino, and their passion drives them to stage an accident and murder the husband. The murder completely shatters their love... Luchino Visconti’s first film is the second cinematic adaptation out of four of James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice—the most erotic and, according to many, the best. Cain’s extreme melodrama assumes a wholly different dimension when set within a socially charged context, influenced by the films of Jean Renoir and Marcel Carné, as well as the naturalist novels of Giovanni Verga. Everything here—whether actors or inanimate objects—is transformed by Visconti’s dynamic camera into a symbol of his personal lyricism. Ossessione is a pioneering film ahead of its time, notably for turning the male character into a sexual object.
