The Garden Of The Finzi Continis
by Vittorio De Sica
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DVD details
Actor: Dominique Sanda, Fabio Testi, Helmut Berger, Lino Capolicchio, Romolo ValliDirector: Vittorio De Sica
Brand: SANDRA,DOMINIQUE
Writer: Alain Katz
Writer: Cesare Zavattini
Writer: Franco Brusati
Writer: Giorgio Bassani
Writer: Tullio Pinelli
Writer: Ugo Pirro
Writer: Valerio Zurlini
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: Italian (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 94 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-06-19
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Reviews of The Garden Of The Finzi Continis
DVD Review: For patient viewers
Summary: 4 Stars
The Bottom Line:
There's no getting around the fact that The Garden of the Finzi-Continis often moves at a glacial pace, but if you stick with it until the ending it might be able to move you too; a different style of Holocaust story than I'm accustomed to and one told with intelligence, it's a movie I'm glad I watched even though I never want to watch it again.
3/4
DVD Review: Poignant and beautiful historical drama about an Italian Jewish family
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" is an Italian movie that is based on the autobiographical novel by Giorgio Bassino and tells the story of the narrator [Giorgio's] relationship with the Finzi-Continis in the northern Italian city of Ferrara. The film won a couple of awards, most notably, the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1971.
The story for the most part stays quite faithful to the novel and focuses on the relationship between Giorgio [Lino Capolicchio] and the Finzi-Continis, especially the two Finzi-Contini children, siblings Alberto [ Helmut Berger] and Micol [Dominique Sanda]. Giorgio is infatuated with Micol and believes himself genuinely in love with her. Micol on the other hand has this mysterious aura about her and seems almost melancholic for much of the movie [perhaps indicating a foreshadowing of her own future?] and rebuffs Giorgio's advances leaving him much frustrated but undaunted.
Amidst the personal drama, there is also the rising threat of Fascism, and from the beginning of the movie we know that the Jews already have strict impositions on their lives, not being able to play tennis in places designated for Aryans etc. The gardens that surround the Finzi-Continis' large estate provide a place for the youngsters to gather, but as the movie progresses, we come to realise that even the great wall that surrounds the estate does not provide refuge for its' occupants, especially after Mussolini allies himself with the Nazis and enters WW II.
The movie is very well-filmed, seeming almost surrealistic at times and ethereal in its beauty. Giorgio is caught between his innocent past [childhood] and the stark realities of his present. Micol seems to float through life, seeming detached and cold, almost as if she senses the tragedy that is about to befall her and her family.
All in all, this is a poignant period drama that chronicles the lives of Italian Jews under the menace of Fascism and Nazism and the eventual tragedy of the Holocaust.
DVD Review: Loved it!
Summary: 5 Stars
Are you only a fan of escapist fiction? If so, this movie is DEFINITELY NOT for you. That is a fact. I like escapist fiction, butvI also like films and literature filled with lush poetry, subtle verve, dreamy nostalgia, and serene visuals. This movie qualifies. No action. No slam, bang, pow. This movie instead focuses on the quiet aching that comes with unrequited love, haughty isolationism, passive acceptance and submission. The war, facism, the holocaust, all are covered to a degree without immersing themselves too deeply for the viewer to feel trapped. *sigh*
All in all, this movie is very quiet. I have watched this movie dozens of times, and I have fallen asleep during this movie almost as many times as I watched it. In fact, this is a great cure for insomnia. Now that is not my way of saying it is boring and dead. It is my way of saying this movie is so quiet it will send you dreamily to sleep. *sigh*
DVD Review: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Summary: 5 Stars
Vittorio de Sica's gorgeous, elegiac film is a solemn meditation on loss of innocence set during one of the most turbulent eras in world history. The Finzi-Continis believe their privilege will protect them from fascist oppression, but their willed isolation and passivity only makes their eventual downfall that much more tragic. Certain images--Giorgio and Micol's ill-fated romantic tryst in a buggy, the slow-motion halcyon portraits of each family member that closes the film--stick with you. A poetic, lyrical masterwork by the great Neorealist director.DVD Review: brilliant historical drama on youth and italian fascism
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a deep and lyrical film on the Italian brand of fascism, which many have argued was a "lighter" and more acceptable version than the Hitlerian variety. Well, in this film, what that translates into is that the noose tightens more slowly. In this, you witness gifted and lucky youth, as they attempt to cope with and then shut out what is happening outside the confines of the walls of their property. There are the aristocratic and beautiful Finzi-Continis and their poorer Jewish confreres. Of course, there is also a wonderfully sensitive story of young love, with all the seemingly endless pain that can entail, which sets a backdrop to the dangers that they all face. The fascists are still brutes, but in Italy they know how to smile before slashing when the time is right for them.
The film also takes place in Ferrara, which for me was fascinating personally. I lived quite near that city, and often went there to stroll with my family. I knew the area well, and this film provides a snapshot of what it was like for many who lived 70 years ago. It was the end of a world, vividly portrayed as lost potential.
This was, I believe, Dominique Sanda's first film. She is less well known in the US because she chose not to come to Hollywood, though she was wooed for years with stardom. Instead, she chose to act in high quality serious films in Europe, which are always a treat to come across. Sanda is a genuine artist. In this film, her acting is flawless and subtle - she is arrogant, sensitive, caring, and spoilt all at the same time and totally believable. The other actors shine less brightly, perhaps, but are still excellent.
Warmly recommended.
Description of The Garden Of The Finzi Continis
The story of a wealthy Jewish family living in fascist Italy in 1938. A portrayal of how the Jews were stripped of possessions, dignity and freedom.Genre: Foreign Film - Italian
Rating: R
Release Date: 19-JUN-2001
Media Type: DVD
Set in northern Italy's Ferrara community at the outbreak of World War II, this classic film by Vittorio De Sica concerns an old, aristocratic Jewish family, the Finzi-Continis, who maintain their isolated, idyllic ways within the stone walls of their lush estate while Mussolini imprisons Jews outside. The story's central figure, young Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio), is a middle-class Jew who has always found perfect sanctuary within the Finzi-Continis' walls and who is in love with his childhood friend from that family, Micol (Dominique Sanda). Micol, however, is sexually restless and fit to burst for want of experiences impossible under government oppression. As Giorgio suffers his estrangement from her, De Sica traces the disintegration of a lost and beautiful way of life, slowly turning his focus from the privileged refuge of tennis courts and private libraries to police barriers and rooms where Jews await transport to concentration camps. This powerful work of memory tragically captures a loss of innocence on both the most personal and historical stages. --Tom Keogh
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