Visconti's lavish portrait of Ludwig II, the 'Mad King' of Bavaria. From his glittering coronation to his mysterious suicide, Ludwig II (Helmut Berger) epitomised the doomed nineteenth-century Romantic hero. A loner by nature, he was tormented by his unrequited love for his cousin, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Romy Schneider), who sensed his true sexual nature and fragile grip on reality. But as war raged around him, Ludwig's sole obsession remained...

Resistance thrives in Nazi-occupied Rome; Italians attempt to live their everyday lives and communicate with their American liberators at the end of World War II; twelve-year-old Edmund struggles to survive with his family in an almost completely destroyed Berlin.

An operatic portrait of Ludwig II, the 19th century mad king of Bavaria. Tormented by his unrequited love for his cousin, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, coupled with his obsession for the music of Wagner, Ludwig retreats into a fantasy world. He builds fairytale castles and ultimately loses his already-fragile grip on his sanity.