Conversation Piece

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Conversation Piece

R,

1977,

2h 2m,

Drama

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Watchlist

91%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

100%

100+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

100%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

A retired professor and art lover leads a solitary life in his abode in Rome. Countess Bianca Brumonti insists on renting a floor of his mansion. He agrees in exchange for a unique painting that he wants for his collection. The arrival of the countess' eccentric family turns his quiet life upside down. Silvana Mangano and Helmut Berger star alongside Burt Lancaster in the roles of Bianca and her young lover -- central characters in this family possessing rather unusual moral values. In the film, the professor succumbs to the charms of Konrad Huebel, despite his vulgar nature. A strange relationship -- based on desire and domination -- comes to exist between them. For some, this fictitious couple is a metaphor for the relationship that was formed between Luchino Visconti and Helmut Berger.

Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

Oct 11, 2023

Visconti is an eccentric master who has earned the right to his follies when he can make them as pleasurable as Conversation Piece.

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James Price

Sight & Sound

Jan 27, 2020

In spite of what seem to me to be major weaknesses, Conversation Piece is a haunting film, beautiful to look at and to listen to.

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Vincent Canby

New York Times

May 9, 2005

1/5

As in bad plays, everyone always means exactly what he says and never has to think a second before saying it. There is no feeling for the complexity of the mental processes, for the mysterious ways in which the mind works.

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Ricky Archuleta

Film Threat

Jan 30, 2026

10/10

With a succinct title derived from the late literary critic and art historian, Mario Praz, Conversation Piece is an awakening for those who feel life and its pleasures are exhausted.

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Diego Galán

El Pais (Spain)

Sep 23, 2019

Conversation Piece continues to be one of Visconti's most beautiful movies: a new reflection about the social role of the aristocracy. [Full Review in Spanish]

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Richard Knight

Knight at the Movies

Jul 15, 2012

Flawed and misshapen as the movie remains, it's also clearly the work of a master of the camera-albeit one in his autumn years.

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monica m

@rottenbear

Jan 30, 2026

just testing this review

Finn R

Mar 5, 2017

Burt Lancaster stars as a reclusive retired professor who is bullied into renting the unused top floor of his palazzo to a brash aristocrat (Silvana Mangano). She intends to use the apartment for her young, kept lover (Helmut Berger). Lancaster's life is continually disrupted by Berger and Mangano's daughter and her boyfriend. This makes it sound like an art film take on "Pacific Heights", but Visconti has different things on his mind. The crass, loud young folks reawaken Lancaster and connect him back to the world he has cast aside, but they also eventually reveal his hypocrisy and inability to act on his noble intentions.

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Ron L

Nov 19, 2015

Luchino Visconti directs Burt Lancaster again, years after their more famous collaboration "The Leopard" (1963). You have to be careful tracking down this film, because you don't want to see the Italian-dubbed version (ugh). This is sort of a chamber play with five dominant characters, and I don't recall one outdoor shot during the film. Lancaster plays a wealthy, reclusive professor with a gorgeously ornate home (or townhouse?). An impertinent, middle-aged aristocrat (Silvana Mangano) bullies Lancaster into renting her his unused upper floor, because she needs a nest for her androgynous lover (Helmet Berger), her daughter (sexy Claudia Marsani, who had just a brief acting career) and the daughter's boyfriend (Stefano Patrizi, who makes a weaker impression). Lancaster almost immediately regrets his consent, because the upstairs libertines are grossly disrespectful and destructive to their new surroundings. But an unlikely bond develops between the Lancaster, Berger and Marsani characters -- they awaken his lost spirit of adventure, while they view him with a mix of taboo attraction and child-like admiration. Most of the story focuses on the evolution of Berger's character, who has a dark side. This is almost a wonderful film, but the ending is a bit clunky.

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Luchino Visconti

Director

Burt Lancaster

Il Professore

Silvana Mangano

Marchesa Bianca Brumonti

Helmut Berger

Konrad Huebel

Claudia Marsani

Lietta Brumonti

Claudia Cardinale

Moglie del professore

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Synopsis

A retired professor and art lover leads a solitary life in his abode in Rome. Countess Bianca Brumonti insists on renting a floor of his mansion. He agrees in exchange for a unique painting that he wants for his collection. The arrival of the countess' eccentric family turns his quiet life upside down. Silvana Mangano and Helmut Berger star alongside Burt Lancaster in the roles of Bianca and her young lover -- central characters in this family possessing rather unusual moral values. In the film, the professor succumbs to the charms of Konrad Huebel, despite his vulgar nature. A strange relationship -- based on desire and domination -- comes to exist between them. For some, this fictitious couple is a metaphor for the relationship that was formed between Luchino Visconti and Helmut Berger.

Director: Luchino Visconti
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 23, 1977, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jan 23, 2026
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 11, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $18.9K
Runtime: 2h 2m
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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