Black Angel (2002) User Reviews

BLACK ANGEL (Tinto Brass, 2002) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 6 May 2008]

This is my fifth excursion in Tinto Brass territory but only the third from his (mostly) softcore entries for which he became notorious. Having seen the man in the flesh at the midnight screening of his rare pop-art thriller DEADLY SWEET (1967) during the 61st Venice Film Festival in 2004, he seemed more like a reasonably literate and genuinely larger-than-life character perennially chomping on his cigar than a dirty old man who occasionally realizes his erotic fantasies on film.

Although the majority of his later films were modest exploitation stuff at best, sometimes he did seek to be taken more seriously by breaking into the mainstream and even art-house circles. The Nazisploitation epic SALON KITTY (1975) was the first of such attempts, the misconceived debacle CALIGULA (1979) was the most infamous with THE KEY (1983) being perhaps the most successful of the lot. Unfortunately, Blue Underground's 2-Disc Set of SALON KITTY has been out-of-print for some time but I do have THE KEY on VHS recorded off Italian TV.

BLACK ANGEL, then, is Tinto Brass' latest bid for respectability. Based on the same source novel from which Luchino Visconti made an acclaimed movie in 1954, Brass transposes the action to the last days of WWII and, true to his nature, has the promiscuous characters indulge wholeheartedly (and explicitly, including some hardcore footage) in every sin of the flesh he can point his camera at for two hours. The major set-piece of the film is a marathon 10-minute orgy sequence which includes most of the offending footage but also quaint, risible stuff like a group of revelers marching in tow through the rooms of a château led by a naked woman proudly holding onto a huge, gold-plated phallus!

For what it's worth, the plot deals with a young, blond, womanizing Nazi officer (Gabriel Garko) who sets his sights on a much older Italian aristocrat (Anna Galiena) who is only to keen to satisfy his every whim. Naturally, he is reluctant to cut down on his vices (which also include gambling) and far from happy with her overly jealous demeanor; after surprising him in bed with a much younger girl, the Italian woman eventually takes belated revenge by betraying him to his commanding officers regarding his plans for desertion.

While the film as a whole is not too badly done in itself and features an Ennio Morricone score to boot, nothing especially memorable happens in it and one is hard pressed to feel sympathy for these lewd, unlikable and opportunistic characters and, consequently, the viewer's interest in the proceedings rises and sags accordingly.

What Else Could I Expect From Tinto Brass?

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 6 March 2005]

In 1945, while traveling with her lawyer Ugo Oggiano (Franco Branciaroli), who is in love with her, the wealthy forty-one years old Livia Mazzoni (Anna Galiena) recalls her affair with her lover, the German officer Helmut Schultz (Gabriel Garko). Livia is married with the producer Carlo (Antonio Salines), who is twenty-eight years older than she. The sex in their marriage is totally unsatisfactory to Livia. When Livia meets the Helmut, who is also a smuggler addicted in gambling, she feels passion, desire and lust for him, becoming his sex slave, and financially supporting him in the gamble. Later, when she meets him in Venice, dirty secrets about their relationship are disclosed. "Senso '45" has a good story, the cast has a great performance, the photography is beautiful, but I did not like this film. There are too much exposures of the naked actors and actresses, many ridiculous situations, like for example, the party in the brothel, and every situation is a motive for a sex scene. What else could I expect from Tinto Brass? This sick director, who became famous with Caligola, makes this type of soft porn movie only, and I was aware of that. "Senso '45" is only recommended for fans of this director. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Luxúria" ("Lust")

Brass' story of lust in Venice

[maatmouse-1 · 6/10 · 27 May 2006]

To start with, I am not a big fan of the Tinto Brass style of films. Many often contain rather stagey sex scenes and there is often a lack of warmth about that. Black Angel or Senso '45 is different. It is the story of a wealthy wife in her older years who is attracted to and falls in lust (can't really call it love) with an SS Officer, pays for his vices of gambling, drinking, smoking and keeping a private room and is then rejected after returning from exile to find him in bed with another lover or girlfriend. Livia takes revenge against Schultz for his rejection by informing on him and his plans to desert.

Anna Galiena is a likable and ideal choice for this movie. She is not young but she is beautiful and she gives a very believable portrayal of a rich woman who finds her husband a bit of a bore but wouldn't leave him in a million years.

Springtime for Tinto

[clivey6 · 21 May 2008]

A film by Tinto Brass, the purveyer of 70s-style soft porn, all stockings and suspenders, swaying boobs, bent over as$es. It belongs to another era, before video and DVD, before the freeze frame and the chapter selection. You'd have to sit and watch the titillation unfold, unable to speed things up or cut to the action.

That said, the women are far removed from the hard, anonymous, blonde Croydon-facelifts of hardcore, they have a bit of va-va-vooom! Some of the couplings did put me in mind of the school librarian being chatted up by the hopeful deputy head, it's that sort of world.

This film is set in Venice in the dying months of the Second World War. It has an enjoyable European sensibility that is refreshing and some of the photography of wartime Venice is lovely, especially the dawn shots, which are often used to great effect in war films, the only respite from human cruelty and betrayal, a vivid stripping back to essentials.

The story is about an aristocratic woman (Anna Galiena, very good) falling for a young blond brute of a Nazi, cheating on her husband. It's all very straightforward. Generally you'd think you couldn't go wrong with a classy sex orgy featuring Nazi uniforms, cocaine and blow jobs, but thanks to the composer - Ennio Morricone no less - using oboes and trumpets to fashion a comical, inquisitive little tune better suited to the playout credits of Miss Marple Investigates on Sunday afternoon, they manage to...

I can't officially recommend it - it's kind of rubbish really - but it has something going for it, you can see where Paul Verhoven got his inspiration for Black Books, and it's all a bit Allo Allo without the laughs (which some may prefer, of course).

Solemnly silly remake of Visconti classic. Galiena wasted

[manuel-pestalozzi · 3/10 · 1 June 2006]

Brass pictures (movies is not a fitting word for them) really are somewhat brassy. Their alluring visual qualities are reminiscent of expensive high class TV commercials. But unfortunately Brass pictures are feature films with the pretense of wanting to entertain viewers for over two hours! In this they fail miserably, their undeniable, but rather soft and flabby than steamy, erotic qualities non withstanding.

Senso '45 is a remake of a film by Luchino Visconti with the same title and Alida Valli and Farley Granger in the lead. The original tells a story of senseless love and lust in and around Venice during the Italian wars of independence. Brass moved the action from the 19th into the 20th century, 1945 to be exact, so there are Mussolini murals, men in black shirts, German uniforms or the tattered garb of the partisans. But it is just window dressing, the historic context is completely negligible.

Anna Galiena plays the attractive aristocratic woman who falls for the amoral SS guy who always puts on too much lipstick. She is an attractive, versatile, well trained Italian actress and clearly above the material. Her wide range of facial expressions (signalling boredom, loathing, delight, fear, hate ... and ecstasy) are the best reason to watch this picture and worth two stars. She endures this basically trashy stuff with an astonishing amount of dignity. I wish some really good parts come along for her. She really deserves it.

not Good as tinto's 80s or 90s movies.

[afterdarkpak · 5/10 · 28 August 2020]

That Fallo ( private 2003) is really good tinto movie, but most movies of him in 90s are better. those are more focused on sex, nudity and then story .. But here in this movie , its almost focused on Story, very less on sex n nudity.

And also i was expecting some better ending, but it kinda suks.

Discontinuous

[borgolarici · 5/10 · 12 February 2022]

The main problem with this movie imho is the casting: there's literally zero chemistry between Galiena and Garko, and their acting differs too much so there's not balance or harmony either.

Hair and makeup is atrocious too, which is somewhat unusual for historical settings by Tinto Brass. Garko's blonde hair look incredibly bad and poor Galiena isn't valorised at all by that ugly red lipstick and rigid outfits.

Happy ending

[Dave_douell · 7/10 · 2 December 2018]

Very good movie, well worth watching. Not like the other Timto Brass movies I've seen. Even though Livia was no angel and certainly did wrong, the Lt got what he deserved. I was afraid it wasn't gonna go that way and backfire on Livia. She was very foolish! Whether it was love or lust or both, she was blinded. I thought the guy looked like a snake from the beginning but it all became clear when they went to the orgy. He was a snake!

I was looking for Rudolph Valentino but

[theInfamousPeppapy · 5/10 · 12 June 2022]

I found the beautiful Gabriel Garko in Nazi uniform, the story is nice and original, but it doesn't worth the 2 hours of attention unless you are interested in soft porn.

I also disliked Gabriel Garko's bleach blonde hair, he should have gone to a hair salon.

This movie is sort of sitting between two chairs

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 18 July 2021]

Tinto Brass' return to "serious" filmmaking (after a string of sex comedies) is partly shot in black & white and is also partly successful. Brass' gamble to cast a 48-year-old actress in the main female role certainly paid off: Anna Galiena is very erotic, her body is astonishing, her performance uninhibited, she is the ultimate MILF. But the film is neither here nor there: the viewers interested in the WWII aspects probably won't care for the more explicit parts (the "orgy" sequence runs too long), while those watching this for the erotic parts will probably find the random WWII killings a bit of a mood-killer. I'm no expert on Tinto's filmography, but "Senso '45" is a lot tamer than "Caligula" in any case. Worth seeing for Galiena. **1/2 out of 4.

An erotic masterpiece...

[Falconeer · 9/10 · 21 August 2008]

I was quite amazed by this passionate, old-fashioned style tragic romance. The costumes, the cinematography, Ennio Morricone's sweeping score, all come together to create an absolute classic of it's genre. Anna Galiena and Gabriel Garko are beautiful together as doomed lovers that find each other in the desperate, waning days of the second World War. Helmut Schulz, played by the impossibly sensual Garko, is a sleazy and corrupt young SS officer, addicted to gambling, women, and to other of life's excesses. His decadent lifestyle does not come cheap, and when the beautiful but lonely Livia, (in an amazingly elegant performance by the wonderful Anna Galiena) offers to financially support Helmut, the amoral man does not refuse. Director Tinto Brass photographs the present day in glorious black and white, while we see, in blazing color the erotic love affair as it unfolded, in a series of flashbacks described by Livia, while en route to Venice. "Senso 45/Black Angel" is Tinto Brass' most serious work. It seems like he wanted to create something impressive here, and he did just that. A much more accomplished film than his "Salon Kitty." Effectively capturing the decadence of Fascist Italy, 1945 in a dizzying orgy scene, filled with graphic and strange sexuality and drug taking, a trademark of Tinto Brass, and unforgettable images of Anna and her SS lover in desperate embraces in shadowy back alleys or sparse rooms, with rays of sunlight filtering through lace curtains. It is hard to describe the beauty and elegance of this film. For fans of erotic romance, and films that possess this specifically European style of film making, this intoxicating art-house film is certain to impress. As of yet "Black Angel" has not had a DVD release for North America, but there is a wonderful edition from the UK that offers an uncensored, widescreen version, in original Italian with English subtitles.

Sex Drama in typical Brass Style

[SMK-4 · 8/10 · 25 December 2002]

The marketing for this film refers to Tinto Brass's much earlier works, The Key, and Salon Kitty. Although Brass made many films since, this referral is entirely appropriate, as the style of Senso '45 is very much inspired by (if not derived from) these pictures, especially The Key. For the uninitiated: this is soft pornography of the classy kind.

As in both of these films, Brass sets the story during WWII. As in The Key, we have as central character a woman well past her twenties (in this case even well past her thirties) who explores her sexuality. Her lover is a blond SS officer, whose mannerisms recall the character played by Helmut Berger in Salon Kitty. Slightly unusual for Brass is to move from comedic to dramatic territory, but this shift proved useful when it came to depicting the dark and obsessive side of the central relationship.

The casting of Anna Galiena was excellent, and not just regarding her acting abilities. On the one hand, there is no credibility-stretching age gap between her and her husband (as there was between Sandrelli and Finlay in The Key). On the other, she looks fantastic for her age, even in the nude, and thus the sexual chemistry between Livia and Helmut appears quite real, despite the 20 year age gap between Galiena and Garko. Still, Gabriel Garko's SS officer leaves something to be desired, most simply put: his hair colour does. Garko's hair had been dyed straw blond, but he does not look like a blond man at all. Perhaps Italians do not have an eye for this, or, more likely, it was too late to change casting and Brass insisted on a blond SS man for this leading part, so he went ahead regardless. This bit of sacrificed realism is certainly at odds with the drama.

Europa's Butt

[tedg · 4 January 2011]

Franco and Brass, even Argento matter to me. They have intuition that inspires. Yes, they make vulgar and sometimes nonsensical films. But that is just a matter of degree compared to Hollywood fare, right?

What I like about Brass isn't about the women or situations, but how he chooses to frame and light the photographs. This is related to women's fashion magazines, where we know the models are insipid beings, and the clothes bordering on the ridiculous. They simply provide a narrative vocabulary for the artist to explore and exploit.

Brass does well sometimes, but he falls into a crevice when he relies on Nazi images in the context of sex. Here he reaches too far in trying to make something like "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" with the tone of "Europa." The film here clearly reaches to an analogy of Italy as a fading sexual beauty, confused in her passions and easily seduced by fascism. This could pay off, but the filmmaker himself is seduced into making a different film — one he instinctively knows.

There is a war between the film he can make and the film he wants to, but alas this war is not interesting. Nor is the woman or the Italy she represents.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

strange

[Kirpianuscus · 9 November 2016]

far to be original, adaptation of a classic Italian novel, Senso "45 is special. not surprising, not good, not touching. only strange. first, for the slices of memories about the universe of Luchino Visconti.or Pasolini. the second - for the great chemistry between the two lead characters. and, not the least, for the music of Ennio Moriccone. the darkness, the high sensuality, the decadence , the meets between the powerful woman and her vulnerable, vulgar lover are motifs for see a film who could be useful trip in the heart of different zones of cinema. the magnetism of irresistible Gabriel Garko, the science of Anna Galiena to do a complex work for explore each nuance of her role. one of films who reflects a state. in smart manner. and, in many scenes, courageous.

About Franco Branciaroli (here,in a supporting part)

[Cristi_Ciopron · 15 July 2008]

This man with lascivious ,nasty traits and libidinous habits (on screen, at least) is a cult—actor—and one of the luckiest, either—he was the man designated by Brass to hug, fondle, embrace, touch those marvelous Brass femmes fatals—in LA CHIAVE, MIRANDA, Senso '45—some of these are mythical movies ;he made a considerable gallery of men who are never no. 1, nor Des premiers, but who nonetheless manage to have a lot—by cunning, chance or by simply being there. His role in LA CHIAVE is perhaps the most sophisticated; in SENSO '45 he is a libidinous, sleazy oldster, in MIRANDA an avid redneck …. MIRANDA is a Goldonian spoof, a fabulous Goldonian parody, and Brass' intentions are obvious beginning with the place that Branciarolli's character gets in the script. Brass never pretended that his fetish hardcore (to a certain degree) actor is a handsome man, or the first choice of a woman—in LA CHIAVE, he is the much younger son—in-law and he becomes a caprice and sexual toy of his bored ,boiled by desires sexually authoritarian and emancipated mother—in—law; in SENSO '45 he is an oldie confident that craves for some sexual attentions …;in MIRANDA he is hillbilly that is accepted in Mme. Grandi's bed only after all the more interesting sexual adventures have been consummated almost under his envious ,jealous eyes. Branciarolii is,in Brass' movies, never the one who conquers or wins, but the one who is conquered or let, permitted to win ….

SENSO … is THE KEY turned upside down; the mature woman, humiliated, used for else than her body, despised. The pagan celebration of earthly love turned into a farce. It's very sentimental, because Brass intended to underline his compassion for Livia Mazzoni. Brass is a feminist director; his movies celebrate the women, usually the men are the women's victims and Brass takes delight in that. Brass ' movies are a celebration of the earthly, vigorous, egoist women. There might be about love in THE VOYEUR—only perhaps—and in SENSO …; I do not know if the notion of love ,of sentimental love is ever targeted by Brass.

And yes,it is a fairly fancy game imagining various women as actresses in Brass' movies.

Frozen time

[Vincentiu · 23 February 2007]

Important for definition of this movie is its special flavor. Memories of another films and the taste of a lost age. Symbols of a nostalgic ambiguity and the forms of chimeric images.

It is not a good film. It is not a bad or boring movie. Anatomy of a relation between a Bovaric lady and a gorgeous young officer, story of love and revenge, escape and cruel punishment, "Senso '45" is a delicate cinematographic puzzle .

At first view is a film of "70. Same atmosphere, same acting and gestures.

The androgynous Gabriel Garko is new Helmuth Berger and the drops of Visconti's art are omnipresent. A game, without any mystery but nice for the images of a splendid youth- that is the recipe of this film. Old ingredients and same cook. But the charm is not result of convention or reaction of politeness. To see this film is contemplation of frozen time. A not original film, monument of clichés, scene for all important influences of century, beautiful lie and shadow of a evening. A common sign of a lost hour.