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on the dusty road, while the priest arrives and kneels beside her. In Besieged the sequence
presents the same composition, framings and camera movements, except that Shandurai is not
killed, but falls on her knees and buries her face in her hands. Where Rossellini heightens the
emotional torment of the scene via soundtrack music Bertolucci opts for a different - though
equally disconcerting - effect by removing the scene's diegetic sound. Because this is a
prologue and not a denouement, an African seer - who replaces the priest in approaching the
woman - does not stop and attend to her, but a few steps away he resumes his litany to
indicate the story's continuation. For many viewers, both Italian and also those with
knowledge of world cinema, the scene indirectly draws on the affective power of one of the
most traumatic scenes in the history of Italian cinema, and therefore a link between Besieged
and its cinematic heritage is set up.
Plot summary
The film's main narrative starts with Shandurai already in Italy. She is portrayed as the object
of unsolicited attention from Kinsky, an English pianist, for whom she works as a housemaid
in an elegant Rome apartment that he has inherited. Shandurai's contacts with the outside
world are limited to the university where she is studying medicine, and where she has only
one friend, Agostino. Kinsky too leads a lonely life, only seeing a few youngsters to whom he
teaches piano. In love with Shandurai, Kinsky besieges her with unsolicited attention. As a
consequence of a confrontation in which Kinsky declares that he would do anything for her -
Shandurai consequently challenging him to get her husband out of jail - Kinsky sells his most
precious belongings to provide the money necessary to liberate the man. This act proves to be
a more insidious, psychological siege on Shandurai's state of mind, and she eventually sleeps
with Kinsky the night before her husband's arrival.
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