Visconti is an eccentric master who has earned the right to his follies when he can make them as pleasurable as Conversation Piece.

In spite of what seem to me to be major weaknesses, Conversation Piece is a haunting film, beautiful to look at and to listen to.

As in bad plays, everyone always means exactly what he says and never has to think a second before saying it. There is no feeling for the complexity of the mental processes, for the mysterious ways in which the mind works.

With a succinct title derived from the late literary critic and art historian, Mario Praz, Conversation Piece is an awakening for those who feel life and its pleasures are exhausted.