The Visit (1964 film)

Infobox_Film
name = The Visit


caption = Original film poster
director = Bernhard Wicki
producer = Darryl F. Zanuck
Julien Derode
Ingrid Bergman
Anthony Quinn
writer = Ben Barzman
Maurice Valency (adaptation)
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (play)
starring = Ingrid Bergman
Anthony Quinn
Irina Demick
Paolo Stoppa
music = Richard Arnell
Hans-Martin Majewski
cinematography = Armando Nannuzzi
editing = Samuel E. Beetley
Françoise Diot
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = 6 May 1964 (France)
4 October 1964 (US)
runtime = 100 minutes
language = English
French
budget =
amg_id = 1:115690
imdb_id = 0058724|

"The Visit" (1964) is a film co-production from France, Italy, Germany and the USA, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Bernhard Wicki and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Julien Derode with Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn as co-producers. The screenplay was by Ben Barzman, adapted by Maurice Valency from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1956 play "Der Besuch der alten Dame" (literally, "The Visit of the Old Lady").

The film stars Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn with Irina Demick, Paolo Stoppa, Hans Christian Blech, Romolo Valli, Valentina Cortese, Claude Dauphin, and Eduardo Ciannelli.

Plot

Karla Zachanassian (Bergman), a fabulously wealthy woman returns to the decaying village which she had been forced to leave years earlier in disgrace. She had had a child by Serge Miller (Quinn) who denied paternity. Her purpose in this "visit" is to make a deal with the inhabitants — in exchange for a vast sum of money, she wants Miller killed. At first reluctant, they eventually accept the arrangement and Miller is condemned to death. At the last moment, Karla stops the execution and tells the citizens that they will have to live with the guilt of what they might have done for the rest of their lives.

Main themes

Dürrenmatt stresses that "The Visit" is a comedy. However, it is a study of the darker elements of human nature. The themes of the film, as with the play, are greed, revenge and corruption and the fact that money can buy anything, even justice. Power that comes from money can lead to hate and even murder and to the collapse of ordinary morality.

Cast

* Ingrid Bergman — Karla Zachanassian
* Anthony Quinn — Serge Miller
* Irina Demick — Anya
* Claude Dauphin — Bardick
* Paolo Stoppa — Doctor
* Romolo Valli — Town Painter
* Valentina Cortese — Mathilda Miller
* Eduardo Ciannelli — Innkeeper
* Jacques Dufilho — Fisch
* Leonard Steckel — Priest
* Ernst Schroeder — Mayor
* Fausto Tozzi — Darvis
* Hans Christian Blech — Captain Dobrik
* Lelio Luttazzi — First Idler
* Marco Guglielmi — Chesco
* Renzo Palmer — Conductor
* Dante Maggio — Cadek
* Richard Münch — Teacher

Notes

* In the stage play, the character of Serge Miller (called Alfred Ill in the original text of the drama) is killed at the end. In the film, the execution is halted.
* Bergman and Quinn co-starred again six years later in the romantic melodrama "A Walk in the Spring Rain" (1970).

Nominations

* Bernhard Wicki was nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival
* The film received a nomination for Best Costume design at the Academy Awards

External links

*imdb title|id=58724|title=The Visit
*tcmdb title|id=94873|title=The Visit