Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa
Encyclopedia
Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa is a 1965 Italian film directed by Luchino Visconti
. It was released as Sandra Of A Thousand Delights in the USA and as Of These Thousand Pleasures in the UK.
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 American 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. Something like a Verdi opera without the music, the result may not quite achieve tragedy, but it looks marvellous.
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:
English translation:
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...
. It was released as Sandra Of A Thousand Delights in the USA and as Of These Thousand Pleasures in the UK.
Plot
Visconti's retelling of the ElectraElectra
In Greek mythology, Electra was an Argive princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus for the murder of their father Agamemnon...
story starts with Sandra/Electra (Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale is an Italian actress, and has appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. The majority of Cardinale's films have been either Italian or French...
) returning to her ancestral home in Italy - and reviving an intimate involvement with her brother (Sorel) which troubles her naive American husband (Michael Craig
Michael Craig (actor)
Michael Craig is a British actor, known for his work in film and television in both the United Kingdom and Australia. Craig was born in Poona, Maharashtra, British India, the son of Donald Gregson, a captain in the 3rd Indian Cavalry. He came to England with his family when aged three, and went to...
) - 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. Something like a Verdi opera without the music, the result may not quite achieve tragedy, but it looks marvellous.
The title, culled from the poem "Le ricordanze" by Giacomo Leopardi
Giacomo Leopardi
Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi was an Italian poet, essayist, philosopher, and philologist...
, could be translated as 'Glimmering stars of the Great Bear
Ursa Major
Ursa Major , also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. It can best be seen in April...
', 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
- Claudia CardinaleClaudia CardinaleClaudia Cardinale is an Italian actress, and has appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. The majority of Cardinale's films have been either Italian or French...
... Sandra Dawson - Jean SorelJean SorelJean Sorel is a French actor.He also worked in Italian cinema, and Spanish cinema with directors such as Luis Buñuel or Luchino Visconti. However since 1980 he has worked mostly in television...
... Gianni Wald-Luzzati - Michael CraigMichael Craig (actor)Michael Craig is a British actor, known for his work in film and television in both the United Kingdom and Australia. Craig was born in Poona, Maharashtra, British India, the son of Donald Gregson, a captain in the 3rd Indian Cavalry. He came to England with his family when aged three, and went to...
... Andrew Dawson - Renzo Ricci... Antonio Gilardini
- Fred WilliamsFred WilliamsFrederick Ronald Williams OBE was an Australian painter and printmaker. He was one of Australia’s most important artists, and one of the twentieth century’s major painters of the landscape...
... Pietro Formari - Amalia Troiani... Fosca - maid
- Marie BellMarie BellMarie Bell , born Marie-Jeanne Bellon, was a French tragedian, comic actor and stage director. She was the director of the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris from 1962 onwards, and this theatre now bears her name....
... Sandra's mother - Vittorio Manfrino
- Renato Moretti
- Giovanni Rovini
- Paola Piscini
- Isacco Politi
- Ferdinando ScarfiottiFerdinando ScarfiottiFerdinando Scarfiotti was an Italian art director. He won an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film The Last Emperor.-Selected filmography:* Death in Venice...