Conversation Piece

Visconti’s 1974 ‘chamber drama’ sees Burt Lancaster in his second film role for the renowned Italian director, after his success in ‘The Leopard’. In Conversion Piece, Lancaster plays a retired American professor who lives in a grand old palazzo in Rome whose life is turned upside down with the arrival of prospective new tenants keen to rent the disused upper apartment…

In the film, Lancaster is simply referred to as the ‘Professor’, a retired scholar who now lives practically in solitude and merely surrounded by priceless artefacts, the ghosts of his past and his loyal housekeeper Erminia (Elvira Cortese). This tranquil (some may say boring) existence is interrupted by the sudden arrival of an eccentric and rather vulgar marquise by the name of Bianca Brumonti (Silvana Mangano). In her company is her almost grown-up daughter Lietta (Claudia Marsani) and Lietta’s boyfriend Stefano (Stefano Patrizi). La Brumonti has heard about a disused upper apartment in the Professor’s enormous villa and insist on renting it, no matter what! Initially, the Professor won’t have any of it. Neither his charm nor his more resolute side have any effect. The marquise, who is used to get her way, won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Eventually, the Professor and Bianca come to an arrangement, something he quickly seems to regret when the marquise’s considerably younger lover Konrad Hübel (Helmut Berger) arrives with the intend to build himself a nest in the villa as well. Initially, Konrad, a handsome looking German gigolo who is paid by Bianca for his ‘services’ (and treated by her like a priced possession) comes across as a loud-mouthed, foul-mouthed Marxist revolutionary student. Despite his currently more elegant demeanour the former description is not far off the mark: back in the Berlin of 1968, Konrad was indeed involved with the radical student movement – culminating in a lengthy criminal record.

Meanwhile, the pushy Bianca arranges plans for a new layout of the rented apartment and to the fury of the Professor, Konrad soon takes a sledgehammer and knocks down some of the upper walls. It’s the easy-going Lietta who tries to act as a ‘peacemaker’ for the constantly bickering adults, though of course she too has her own agend. The Professor seems particularly displeased with hothead Konrad, however, this changes when Konrad reveals his knowledge of the arts, in particular about the Professor’s favourite painting which hangs on his wall – an oil painting titled ‘Conversation Piece’. After the shift in dynamics between the two men, both Konrad and the Professor discover they have more in common than imagined. The Professor, who – in brief flashback sequences - occasionally remembers long gone family members (cue for cameos by Claudia Cardinale as his wife and for Dominique Sanda as his mother), begins to look upon Konrad as a long lost son. Meanwhile, the chaos in the upper apartment carries on – everyone holds a secret or so it would seem, and soon the ‘stage’ is set for the grand finale in which young clashes with old, aristocracy with Marxist values, and yesteryear’s values clash with modernism. During a dinner party, carefully constructed facades begin to crumble and give way to some uncomfortable truths…

Conversation Piece could well have been a stage play due to the action taking place in a singular building. Subtle yet interspersed with explosions of raw emotion, the undisputed stars here are Burt Lancaster and Helmut Berger (a former partner of Visconti) and both actors give this dialogue-heavy tale about loss and new discoveries the necessary balance.

The Special Features include booklet, interviews and additional info material.