Conversation Piece (1974)

The reclusive "Professor" (Burt Lancaster) is pretty quickly regretting his decision to rent the upstairs apartment in his villa to the Marchesa "Brumonti" (Silvana Mangano) when his housekeeper (Elvira Cortese) starts to see the ceiling cave in. Furious at the fairly wholesale damage to his own home, he goes to inspect the property and discovers "Konrad" (Helmut Berger), a rather aggressive young man who turns out to be her toy boy, and who thinks he has permission for the redevelopment! Multiple phone calls later and a semblance of peace breaks out, but not for long as we are now immersed in a series of family disputes, lovers tiffs, political debates and even some left-field surprises. It has a very theatrical style to it, this production, and at times I wondered if it might actually be better with the confines of the stage to hem it in, but that doesn't stop it being a potent look at the toxicity of relationships - past and present, as the old gent finds his previous peaceful existence little more than a faint or maybe even feint, memory. The dialogue is provocative and engaging, with plenty of references to capitalism, communism and fascism to keep the pot boiling over some pretty hot flames from time to time. Though I found Lancaster to be a little too understated, Berger and Mangano are on good form and the whole thing has an effective claustrophobia to it that I quite enjoyed. I didn't love the conclusion, but I'm not sure quite what would have satisfied me here as their manoeuvrings would have made Machiavelli, even Dante, blush.