Well, Tullio leaves Guiliana (just for some time) for Teresa and his wife remains alone. Not quite alone though because when Tullio left his brother Federico comes to visit and brings some of his friends with him. One night Giuliana feels herself so lonely that she intrudes into the room where Federico and his guests sit. They try to comfort her. Philippo D'Arborio specially wants to soothe her. To make a long story short Giuliana and Philippo fall in love with each other and have a romance that lasted but a very short time. (This is off the screen).
Soon Tullio returns and begins to notice some strangeness in his wife's behaviour. He suspects that Giuliana loves another man. And as soon as he realizes it his passionate love for Giuliana begins to burn - true, mad and sick passion. He leaves Teresa because of this love. His love increases even more when he learns that Giuliana is pregnant - he has already guesses by whom. And the remainder of the film he tries to do his best to get (figuratively) Giuliana back (to make her love him). The problem is more dificult because she says even though she doesn't want him to suffer, her actions make him feel almost ill. He tries to make her abort the baby but it's against Giuliana's religion (she is a Catholic).
In the end the baby is born. Giuliana's behaviour is strange: it seems she hates her baby.but she just wants to conceal from Tullio the fact that she really adores her little son. (I forgot to say that by this time Philippo D'Arborio is dead and they both know this). Well, Giuliana tells her husband that she hates the baby and would like to go somewhere with Tullio so the latter decides to kill the baby. And when all the people go to church Tullio (who was an atheist) puts the little creature on the sill and opens the window. Certainly when he heard them returning he restored the baby back and closed the window, but the baby died. Giuliana is shocked, she tells Tullio everything she thinks about him. And in the finish we again see Tullio with Teresa. They come to his house. Tullio tells her all this story and Teresa quickly understands that he still loves his wife madly. Tullio denies the fact. He proposes Teresa live with him but it happens that Teresa doesn't love him any more. So poor Tullio commits suicide and Teresa, frightened, leaves his house.
This is a story but it's difficult to determine what Visconti really meant by this film. I can't help feeling some irony in it, it is so absurd. Yet, it is visually beautiful, the narration is calm and rather slow. I like Visconti in general for its irony that is quite subtle, sometimes not always clear, yet persisiting, it's not like Fellini's or any other director if matters. In fact many people would probably take it quite seriously. The same irony one can find in The Leopard. The impression depends very much how you like this particular style of films.
