Tullio Hermil is a chauvinist aristocrat who flaunts his mistress to his wife, but when he believes she has been unfaithful, he becomes enamored of her again.

Luchino Visconti's last film, based on a novella by Gabrielle d'Annunzio, is a haunting account of aristocratic chauvinism and sexual double standards in turn-of-the-century Italy. Giannini is the psychotic husband whose lust cannot be satisfied; Antonelli is his sensitive, tormented wife; and O'Neil is his cunning, possessive mistress.—Alex Asp <[email protected]>