Conversation Piece (film)

Conversation Piece (Italian: Gruppo di famiglia in un interno, lit. "Family Group in an Interior") is a 1974 Italian drama film directed by Luchino Visconti. The film stars Burt Lancaster as an elderly, retired American professor living a solitary life in a luxurious palazzo in Rome. His quiet existence is disrupted by the arrival of an extroverted Italian marchesa (Silvana Mangano), who, along with her lover (Helmut Berger), daughter (Dominique Sanda), and the daughter's boyfriend (Stefano Patrizi), pressures him into renting out an apartment on the upper floor of his residence.

The film explores themes of generational conflict, cultural clashes, the disintegration of tradition, and the invasion of privacy. The professor, initially resistant to the newcomers' intrusion, gradually develops complex relationships with them, ultimately experiencing a profound sense of loss and disillusionment as his ordered world crumbles around him. Conversation Piece is noted for its visual opulence, characteristic of Visconti's work, and its insightful portrayal of social and political anxieties prevalent in 1970s Italy. The film is also considered to be a semi-autobiographical work, reflecting Visconti's own feelings of isolation and mortality.