The Damned

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The Damned

R,

1969,

2h 33m,

Drama/

LGBTQ+

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Watchlist

82%

17 Reviews

Tomatometer

82%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

82%

Tomatometer

17 Reviews

82%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

A steel-magnate baroness (Ingrid Thulin), her lover (Dirk Bogarde) and her son (Helmut Berger) embody Nazi depravity.

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Jul 2, 2018

1/4

A magnificent failure, an example of a great director working at the peak of his ability and somehow creating almost nothing at all. Surely no one else could have made this film; surely no one at all should have.

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Feb 17, 2004

3/4

By the end of the opening sequence, the film has already indulged in pan-sexuality, corporate backstabbing, anti-reactionary suppression, pedophilia, and murder plots.

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Vincent Canby

New York Times

May 20, 2003

5/5

A spectacle of such greedy passion, such uncompromising sensation, and such obscene shock that it makes you realize how small and safe and ordinary most movies are.

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Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

Vogue

Jun 20, 2023

It is a curious film, intense and murky, and, to this reviewer, a failure.

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David Harris

Spectrum Culture

Aug 2, 2022

Tracing the downfall of the von Essenbecks, a family of steel magnates now manufacturing and selling weapons to the Nazis, director Luchino Visconti uses The Damned to document the profligacy and debauchery that set the stage for Hitler’s rise.

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Rob Aldam

Backseat Mafia

Oct 21, 2021

An angry and subversive work of cinema which dabbles in melodrama to deliver a vision of tainted corruption.

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Harry G

Feb 28, 2017

I'd forgotten just how sick and twisted a film The Dammed is. Probably the best account of the moral corruption of Nazism. Seen through a family tearing itself apart. Essential cinema.

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Ron R

Oct 11, 2010

The first half is fascinating, showing the depravity of the rising Nazism reflected on the decay of the Essenbeck family. After that, however, it feels like Visconti doesn't want to conclude his story, and so he goes on indefinitely in an endless soap opera of backstabbing and murder plots.

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Luchino Visconti

Director

Dirk Bogarde

Frederick Bruckmann

Ingrid Thulin

Sophie Von Essenbeck

Helmut Berger

Martin Von Essenbeck

Helmut Griem

Aschenbach

Charlotte Rampling

Elisabeth Thallman

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Synopsis

A steel-magnate baroness (Ingrid Thulin), her lover (Dirk Bogarde) and her son (Helmut Berger) embody Nazi depravity.

Director: Luchino Visconti
Producer: Ever Haggiag, Alfred Levy
Screenwriter: Nicola Badalucco, Enrico Medioli, Luchino Visconti
Distributor: Warner Bros., Warner Home Vídeo
Production Co: Eichberg-Film GmbH, Praesidens-Pegaso Italnoleggio
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 14, 1969, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 20, 2017
Runtime: 2h 33m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1)

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