Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (1974) as a pendant to the film Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa (1965). A study of Visconti’s dramaturgy

From his film debut in 1943 (Ossessione), Visconti displayed a tendency as a director towards dramaturgy of a theatrical provenance: condensed and focussed on the relationships between the characters. The films Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa (1965) and Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (1974) – not normally associated with one another, as they are thematically and aesthetically different – not only adhere to that model, but also correspond to each other in dramaturgical terms to such an extent that they form a sort of duet of works. On one hand, that interdependency seems to be a result of the aspiration to perfecting technique that is natural to all great artists (in 1959 Visconti stated openly that his directorial method was evolving towards ever great simplicity). On the other hand, it may be understood as the effect of an intentional dialogue between the later and the earlier work. In the history of art, the term ‘pendant’ is used to define ‘two pictures of the same dimensions, with similar subject matter, colouring and composition, generally intended to be displayed together, usually symmetrically hung’, and that is precisely the perspective of a simultaneous overview and parallel evaluation of two works that opens up during the course of a comparative analysis of the films Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa and Gruppo di famiglia in un interno.