SYNOPSIS

From Luchino Visconti — the master director of such classics as La terra trema, Bellissima, and The Leopard — comes this epic study of family, sex, and betrayal. Alongside Fellini’s La dolce vita and Antonioni’s L’avventura, Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers [Rocco e i suoi fratelli] ushered Italian cinema into a new era, one unafraid to confront head-on the hypocrisies of the ruling class, the squalor in urban living, and the collision between generations.

When a tight-knit family moves from Italy’s rural south to metropolitan Milan, the new possibilities – and threats – present in their fresh surroundings have alarming, unforeseen consequences. Operatically weaving the five brothers’ stories across a vast canvas, with an extraordinary cast including Alain Delon, Annie Girardot and Claudia Cardinale, Rocco and His Brothers stands as one of the most majestic and influential works of its era.

An acknowledged influence on Coppola’s The Godfather series (Nino Rota’s exquisite Rocco score for Visconti led to working on The Godfather), Scorsese’s Raging Bull, and many others, Rocco and His Brothers is a cinematic shock that erupts on the fault-line of emotion. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present one of Visconti’s most revered films — winner of the FIPRESCI Prize and the Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1960 — restored to its original Italian-language three-hour form — for the first time in the world on Blu-ray.

Reviews

“one of cinema’s greatest achievements ★★★★★” – Mail on Sunday

 “Its absorbing viewing and Visconti navigates the sprawling narrative and heightened drama with consummate aplomb. The handling of the incredible climax is superb and harrowing, juxtaposing apparent victory with the terrible cost to the individual ★★★★” – Cine-Vue