Meet the von Essenbecks, a German industrialist family in the 1930s whose internecine machinations would make the Ewings blush. Luchino Visconti’s controversial 1969 epic (presented here in the original X-rated version) opens in 1933 as clan members and Essenbeck Steelworks executives gather at the mansion of patriarch Joachim von Essenbeck (Albrecht Schoenhals) to celebrate the latter’s birthday.
During the film’s murky first half-hour, blood and matrimonial relationships are sketched while arguments abound over the rise of National Socialism and the movement’s mustachioed leader, Adolf Hitler. Nazi cousin Wolf von Aschenbach (Helmut Griem) is encouraging factory exec Friedrich Bruckmann (Dirk Bogarde) to seize any opportunity to climb higher up the corporate ladder—a strategy firmly seconded by Friedrich’s lover, Sophie von Essenbeck (Ingrid Thulin), widowed daughter-in-law to Joachim.
At the dinner table, recognizing that the times they are indeed a-changin', Joachim announces that he is promoting his National Socialist-leaning (but wary of Hitler) son Konstanin (René Koldehoff) over anti-Nazi company manager Herbert Thallman (Umberto Orsini)—sparking a round of finger-pointing and remonstrations. The wild card in this genealogical deck is Martin von Essenbeck (Helmut Berger), Sophie’s son, who during the evening’s entertainment appears in drag as Marlene Dietrich in “The Blue Angel,” pining for “a man, a real man.” Sitting in the audience, mother Sophie beams, while grandpa Joachim shakes his head in disgust.
Before the night is over, Joachim will be murdered and the Reichstag government building torched (a historical event that was key to consolidating Hitler’s power)—signaling the end of the old order, both for the family and the nation. In the ensuing jockeying for power at chez von Essenbeck, Friedrich, Konstantin, and Martin will scheme and lock horns, with the shadowy von Aschenbach working behind the scenes to ensure that the final outcome benefits the Nazi party.
The Damned reminds viewers that Nazism’s rise was enabled by the support of German private industry, as Macbeth-like couple Friedrich and Sophie become increasingly complicit, bowing to Nazi demands for weapons manufacturing (the von Essenbecks were inspired by Germany’s infamous arms makers, the Krupp family). But the film was banned, censored, and slapped with the box office poison “X” rating for a very different connection that is drawn: namely between Nazism and sexual perversion.
Martin, who will come to embody the model Nazi, engages in pedophilia, incest, and homosexuality, the last presented as a general trait during a sequence (historically based on the Night of the Long Knives purge) in which a large group of Nazi SA members (so-called brownshirts) engages in a gay orgy that is interrupted by gun-wielding SS executioners in a cinematic ballet of flesh and blood. The Damned would in fact initiate a whole subgenre of films in which Nazi costumes and regalia were paired with sex (most notably in Liliana Cavani’s 1974 film The Night Porter, starring Charlotte Rampling, who also appears in The Damned as Herbert’s wife).
The denigration of gay sex (the orgy depicted is quite historically inaccurate) is unfortunate, especially given that Visconti was a big admirer of beautiful young men and was involved in a sexual relationship with Berger at the time The Damned was filmed. Reportedly, Berger’s role was even enlarged at the expense of Bogarde’s (who was not happy), but Berger’s wingnut portrayal arguably stands out more than Bogarde’s comparatively restrained performance.
Visconti’s film split critics—Roger Ebert damned it with a single star rating—and it’s hard not to see it as a decidedly flawed effort. Some will give up during the relatively placid but narrative-dense first half-hour (and wonder what all the fuss was about), but those who stick around will witness a truly hellish descent of a family and a country (with themes that will later be more deeply explored in films such as István Szabó’s 1981 award-winner Mephisto).
Presented in a sparkling 2K restoration, extras include an alternate Italian-language soundtrack (which is not preferable to the English/German default setting), archival interviews (with Visconti, Berger, Thulin, and Rampling), the 1969 behind-the-scenes documentary “Visconti: Man of Two Worlds,” a new interview with scholar Stefano Albertini about the sexual politics of the film, and a booklet with an essay by scholar D. A. Miller. A strong optional purchase for film studies students learning about controversial films, and those with an interest in World War II and foreign cinema.