Rina Morelli

Recounting the years of Italy's Risorgimento-when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a democratic Italy. Contains the original Italian version with optional subtitles, the English-language version and special features.

In Venice, during the spring of 1866, it is the last month of the Austrian occupation of the Veneto. The Italian government has forged a pact with Prussia, and another war of liberation in the ongoing Risorgimento is imminent. Countess Livia Serpieri, unloved by her collaborator-husband but sympathetic to the cause of freedom espoused by her patriotic cousin Roberto, meets Austrian officer Franz Mahler as she begs him to call off a duel with Roberto....

The story of a nineteenth century Italian countess who, amid the Austrian occupation of her country, puts her marriage and political principles on the line by engaging in a torrid affair with a dashing Austrian lieutenant. Gilded with fearless performances, ornate costumes and sets, and a rich classical soundtrack, Visconti's operatic melodrama is an extraordinary evocation of reckless emotions and deranged lust from one of the cinema's great sensualists....