The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)
(Il giardino dei Finzi Contini)
Country: IT/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor 94m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda, Fabio Testi, Helmut Berger, Romolo Valli
Synopsis:
The dwindling fortunes of a wealthy Ferrara family of Jews between 1938 and 1943, and of a middle class hanger-on who is in love with their daughter. Their enormous garden is both a cocoon of illusory security and the focus of privileged status, romantic yearning and tennis.
Review:
From a notable novel, a sort of Italian Brideshead Revisited, De Sica's film bears comparison with Losey's The Go-Between, from that period in the seventies when producers of literary heritage pieces seemed to lose their nerve and adopt all the irritating (to our eyes) tics and mannerisms of the contemporary espionage drama: meandering pans and zooms, over-abundant and perfunctorily delivered dialogue, and blurry transitions. In short, this arthouse favourite of the 80s has not worn well, though some of Sanda's scenes serve to remind us of how she appeared to us as Italy's answer to Deneuve!
(Il giardino dei Finzi Contini)
Country: IT/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor 94m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda, Fabio Testi, Helmut Berger, Romolo Valli
Synopsis:
The dwindling fortunes of a wealthy Ferrara family of Jews between 1938 and 1943, and of a middle class hanger-on who is in love with their daughter. Their enormous garden is both a cocoon of illusory security and the focus of privileged status, romantic yearning and tennis.
Review:
From a notable novel, a sort of Italian Brideshead Revisited, De Sica's film bears comparison with Losey's The Go-Between, from that period in the seventies when producers of literary heritage pieces seemed to lose their nerve and adopt all the irritating (to our eyes) tics and mannerisms of the contemporary espionage drama: meandering pans and zooms, over-abundant and perfunctorily delivered dialogue, and blurry transitions. In short, this arthouse favourite of the 80s has not worn well, though some of Sanda's scenes serve to remind us of how she appeared to us as Italy's answer to Deneuve!
(Il giardino dei Finzi Contini)
Country: IT/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor 94m
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda, Fabio Testi, Helmut Berger, Romolo Valli
Synopsis:
The dwindling fortunes of a wealthy Ferrara family of Jews between 1938 and 1943, and of a middle class hanger-on who is in love with their daughter. Their enormous garden is both a cocoon of illusory security and the focus of privileged status, romantic yearning and tennis.
Review:
From a notable novel, a sort of Italian Brideshead Revisited, De Sica's film bears comparison with Losey's The Go-Between, from that period in the seventies when producers of literary heritage pieces seemed to lose their nerve and adopt all the irritating (to our eyes) tics and mannerisms of the contemporary espionage drama: meandering pans and zooms, over-abundant and perfunctorily delivered dialogue, and blurry transitions. In short, this arthouse favourite of the 80s has not worn well, though some of Sanda's scenes serve to remind us of how she appeared to us as Italy's answer to Deneuve!