''The Garden of the Finzi-Continis'' ( it, Il giardino dei Finzi Contini, link=no) is a 1970

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film directed by

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Sciuscià'' and ''Bicycle Thieves'' (honorary) ...

. The screenplay by

Ugo Pirro Ugo Pirro (April 20, 1920 – January 18, 2008) was an Italian screenwriter and novelist. Biography Born Ugo Mattone in Battipaglia, near Salerno, he debuted as screenwriter for director Carlo Lizzani (''Achtung! Banditi!'', 1951, and '' Il ...

and Vittorio Bonicelli adapts

Italian Jewish Italian Jews ( it, Ebrei Italiani, he, יהודים איטלקים ''Yehudim Italkim'') or Roman Jews ( it, Ebrei Romani, he, יהודים רומים ''Yehudim Romim'') can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in or with roots in I ...

author

Giorgio Bassani Giorgio Bassani (4 March 1916 – 13 April 2000) was an Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual. Biography Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where he spent his childhood wit ...

's 1962 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, about the lives of an upper-class Jewish family in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

during the Fascist era. The film stars

Lino Capolicchio Lino Capolicchio (21 August 1943 – 3 May 2022) was an Italian actor, screenwriter, and director. He won a special David di Donatello acting award for his role in Vittorio de Sica's 1970 film, '' The Garden of the Finzi-Contini''. Capolicchio ...

Dominique Sanda Dominique Marie-Françoise Renée Varaigne (born 11 March 1951), professionally known as Dominique Sanda, is a French actress and former fashion model. Life and career Sanda was born in Paris, to Lucienne (née Pichon) and Gérard Varaigne. She ...

Helmut Berger Helmut Berger (; born Helmut Steinberger; 29 May 1944) is an Austrian actor, known for his portrayal of narcissistic and sexually-ambiguous characters. He was one of the stars of the European cinema in the late 1960s and 1970s, and is regarded a ...

Romolo Valli Romolo Valli (7 February 1925 – 1 February 1980) was an Italian actor. Valli was born in Reggio Emilia. He was one of the best known Italian actors from the 1950s to his death. He worked for both the stage and the silver screen. Among the ...

, and

Fabio Testi Fabio Testi (born 2 August 1941) is an Italian actor. After growing up witnessing film work done around Lake Garda, Testi entered the sets of the film and began work as a stuntman and a double on set, where he worked as a stuntman on ''The Good, ...

in his breakthrough role. An Italian production with West German financing, ''The Garden of the Finzi-Continis'' was entered into the 21st Berlin International Film Festival and won the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The winn ...

. It received positive acclaim from international critics, winning the 1972 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and earning a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film holds a 100% review score on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Plot

In 1938 in Ferrara, the Finzi Contini are a rich Jewish family living in a mansion set in a park. When Jews are banned from the city's tennis club, the family allow the friends of their two children, Micòl and the sickly Alberto, to use their private tennis court. Among them are Giorgio, son of a Jewish businessman, and Giampiero, a communist and a gentile. Giorgio has been in love with Micòl since early adolescence, but she is ambivalent. As war approaches, Giorgio's brother moves to France to pursue his studies while Giorgio, close to graduation, decides to stay in Ferrara and, when Jews are banned from the university library, the Finzi Contini allow him to use their private library. Micòl leaves to stay in Venice and on her return to Ferrara she definitively rejects Giorgio. In 1940, when Italy enters the war, Giampiero is conscripted while Giorgio as a Jew is exempt. On his last night in Ferrara, Giampiero meets up with Giorgio and, when they part at midnight. Giorgio has an urge to see Micòl one more time. Climbing the wall of the Finzi Contini park, he notices a light in the garden hut and, looking in, sees a naked Micòl beside Giampiero. In 1943, amid rumours of further measures against the Jews, Giorgio goes underground and the police arrest the whole Finzi Contini family, holding them with the other Jews of the city in a school. Micòl finds herself herded with her frail grandmother into the same classroom she attended as a child. There she sees Giorgio's father, who informs her that Giorgio has escaped and that Giampiero has died in Russia. The two embrace, their future as unclear as the fog hanging over the city.

Cast

Il giardino dei Finzi Contini - Lino Capolicchio

Casting notes

''The Garden of the Finzi-Continis'' marked the debut or near-debut for some of its stars, notably the actors who played the two adult Finzi-Contini children, Micòl and Alberto. For

(Micòl), it was her first Italian feature film (followed by such films as ''

The Conformist ''The Conformist'' (''Il conformista'') is a novel by Alberto Moravia published in 1951, which details the life and desire for normality of a government official during Italy's fascist period. It is also known for the 1970 film adaptation by B ...

'' and '' 1900''). For

(Alberto), it was his third feature film.

Production

The director seriously considered entrusting the lead role to singer

Patty Pravo Patty Pravo (born Nicoletta Strambelli on 9 April 1948) is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in popularity in the followin ...

, who had to refuse due to too many work commitments.

Screenplay

Contrary to Bassani's novel, the film directed by De Sica does not use the narrating ego technique, which for the novel is compared by the critics to the author himself. However, while following the director an entirely dialogative film narrative, the novelist's narrator coincides with the role of the protagonist Giorgio. Contrary to Bassani's novel, the film directed by De Sica ends with the episode of the deportation. In the novel, Giorgio, who fled abroad in time, will tell the story of his youth and his first impossible love, recalling the facts after 14 years.

De Sica and Bassani

Initially Giorgio Bassani cooperated in the drafting of the dialogues and the screenplay of the film but after some disagreements and misunderstandings, the writer and the director entered into open conflict (also due to the fact that in the film the relationship between Micòl and Malnate is made explicit, which is not present in the novel). Bassani asked that his name be removed from the credits of the film. His name was duly removed as one of its script-writers and the opening credits just state that it was ‘freely derived from the novel by Giorgio Bassani'.

Locations

Villa Ada Villa Ada is a park in Rome, Italy, with a surface of it is the second largest in the city after Villa Doria Pamphili. It is located in the northeastern part of the city. History The wooded expanse was owned by the Italian royal House of Savoy i ...

near Rome was used for the garden, while the Finzi Contini villa is the Litta Bolognini villa in Vedano al Lambro, a municipality in the Brianza area, adjacent to the Monza Park. The entrance to the garden in the film is really in Ferrara, in Corso Ercole I d'Este, near where Bassani had imagined it. The other exteriors were shot in Ferrara; noteworthy are the Estense castle and the city walls, the Palazzo dei Diamanti, the Cathedral of San Giorgio and also some famous streets.

Reception

In 1972, ''The Garden of the Finzi-Continis'' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. It won the

at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival in 1971. It was De Sica's penultimate film.

Restoration

The restored digital version, curated by the Istituto Luce Cinecittà and performed at the "Studio Cine" in Rome and "The rediscovered image" in Bologna, was presented in the spring of 2015.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garden Of The Finzi-Continis, The 1970 films 1970 drama films 1970s war drama films Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Films about Jews and Judaism Films about the upper class Films based on Italian novels Films directed by Vittorio De Sica Films scored by Manuel De Sica Films with screenplays by Ugo Pirro Films set in Ferrara Films set in Emilia-Romagna Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s German historical drama films German war drama films German World War II films Golden Bear winners Holocaust films 1970s Italian-language films Italian war drama films Italian World War II films Italian historical drama films West German films 1970s Italian films 1970s German films Films about Fascist Italy Films shot in Lazio Films set in 1938 Films set in 1940 Films set in 1943