Reviews (15)

A BITTERSWEET AND TRAGIC COMING OF AGE FILM...
This film, which won an Academy Award for best Foreign Language Picture in 1971, is set in Ferrara, Italy. It begins in 1938 and focuses on the aristocratic jewish family, the Finzi-Continis, in particular, the progeny of that family, Micol (Dominique Sanda) and Alberto (Helmut Berger). These privileged two live in elegant splendor with their family, removed from the harshness of life outside the walls of their lushly beautiful estate, where the fascist regime of Il Duce is beginning its hellish collaboration with Hitler.

The Finzi-Continis family, secular jews at best, shut out the outside world, esconcing themselves amidst the trappings of wealth and privilege, cocooned in their idyllic estate, as if their wealth and position would hold the hostile world at bay. It is as if they believed that the hostility against Italian Jews would not directly touch them. Micol and Alberto even have Aryan good looks. So, what could go wrong?

Their childhood friend, Giorgio, however, is having a different experience. From a middle class, jewish family, he is more in touch with reality and is feeling the impact of virulent anti-semitism, as he finds himself ousted from the university and its library, on the brink of completing his university degree. His brother has left for Switzerland. His father is in denial, thinking that he should not worry about the small things, and that this is all a tempest in a teapot. He is hanging his hat on the premise that he is, after all, an Italian citizen.

As their world begins to crumble all around them, Giorgio tries to kindle a flame between himself and Micol, whom he has loved since childhood, but his love for her remains unrequited. She seems unable and unwilling to vest her emotions in a romance that is destined to be doomed, as the fates conspire to bring them to the same end that jews throughout Europe were meeting. It is this dance of love between them that anchors the movie, however, while the war plays itself out in the background. There comes a point, however, when even the Finzi-Continis are confronted with a reality far harsher than that which they had ever imagined.

The movie plays out the dichotomy of life found outside the walls of the gardens of the Finzi-Continis and that which is set within their beautiful and lush estate. Against a backdrop of Hitler worship and the fascist dictates of Mussolini, largely shown through newsreel footage, the film shows the positions that ordinary italian citizens took when confronted with the dictates of the racial laws that were imposed against the jews. Some went along willingly, carrying out its dictates, while others tried to help where and when they could. The war against the jews is finally brought right to the doorstep of the home of the Finzi-Continis, until it, too, crosses the threshhold and cruelly invades its idyllic environs.

This film is not an action movie but a slow, occassionally ponderous, film, providing much food for thought. Replete with symbolism, it is merely a peek into the lives of a small group of people. It is about how they dealt with living their lives in the shadow of the final solution, as the world that they knew radically changed, destroying their dreams. It is a harsh coming of age movie and not a film that everyone will enjoy. I found myself curiously twixt and tween in terms of how I felt about this somber film, accounting for the three star rating that I accorded it.

The DVD offers next to nothing by way of special features. It contains a brief filmography of some of the actors and not much else. This Italian language film has been remastered, and the subtitles are yellow, which provides more clarity and, consequently, makes for easier reading.

Bittersweet....
In "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" (1970)--based on the autobiographical novel by Giorgio Bassani--legendary Neorealist filmmaker, Vittorio de Sica, dramatizes the human cost of the "racial laws" gradually implemented against the Jews in Fascist Italy during the years 1938-43. The more Bassani's young middle-class Jewish protagonist feels the brunt of Mussolini's anti-Semitic edicts encroaching upon him, the more he feels drawn to the aristocratic Jewish Finzi-Continis' estate--their Edenic "garden"--and to Micòl, the family's beautiful young daughter. Psychologically, this compulsion seems to stem from a deep emotional attachment to a perpetually innocent, untroubled state of childhood, which both Micòl and her garden seem to represent. Throughout the film, there is a marked conflict between childhood and adulthood, between the distant past and the immediate present, between the act of retreating into a world of comfortable illusions and confronting a world of harsh and bitter realities.

I found this particular aspect of the story very fascinating, although too tantalizingly obscure and open-ended--and thus, not quite as illuminating or fulfilling as it might have been were it more clearly explained. (This could the reason why some people find the film--and its heavily symbolic, impressionistic style--a little confusing and underwhelming.)

For Giorgio--both the naive hero and wisened author of the story--Micòl embodies the mystery and allure of the Finzi-Continis, as well as their insularity and their apparent passivity in the face of the escalating Fascist crackdown. She always appears distant and unattainable, with no obvious reasons for her actions, and never really provides a direct, comprehensible explanation for her insistent rejection of Giorgio or for what appears to be a subtle streak of cruelty towards him. Her conversation with him always seems deliberately vague, and her refusal to make any further connection with him has a curious, almost perverse kind of fatalism about it.

Again, this is another feature of the film that is certainly intriguing--and strangely seductive-- but, alas, never quite pays off enough to become fully understandable to either the protagonist or the audience.

When the Fascists finally do arrest the Finzi-Continis and confiscate their estate it comes as something of a surprise. The muted and deliberately spare representation of these characters and their feelings, as evidenced in their unusually restrained behavior, is meant to isolate and heighten the impact of a few devastating strokes of sudden realization and lucidity--pointed indications that the protective spell of the Finzi-Continis has been finally broken.

All in all, well-acted and gorgeously, languidly poetic in its imagery...yet, narrative-wise, the picture seems overly elliptical and ultimately opaque--and leaves just a few too many rough fragments and loose ends lingering at the end of the story (not quite Proustian irony, maybe?). In spite of this peculiar drawback, the film finishes very effectively, and by the final desolate shots, you are left with an unexpectedly intense feeling of loss and anguish.

"The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" is a very unusual and interesting (and thankfully, non-sentimental and non-self-important) addition to the ever-expanding canon of dramatic films about life in the shadow of the Holocaust.

Good show. I give this one four out of five stars.

The Politics of World War II Italy
This movie introduced to me a brand new character, the Jewish Italian hot blonde girl. Since she is also named Finzi Contini and the object of our hero's desire it couldn't have been a better idea. But it's not just an unrequited love film, but a movie set during World War II. An American film such as this would spend a great deal of time reminding you how horrible the Nazis were, but instead we get the nuance points of views like the anti-fascist handsome man that blonde Finzi Contini thinks is too Communist. We also get the fascist Hero of father that thinks that Italian fascism is superior to Nazism and will solve the world's problems. These kinds of perspectives are ignored in American film or marginalized, when we all know they existed during this time period.

I don't have to tell you what is going to happen in a film about Jewish Heroes when the Nazis are coming, you already know. Our hero loses his girl to the communist and then eventually to the holocaust. It would certainly register as one of the biggest coming of age bummers, and yet it didn't ruin the film. It somehow gave these lives even more importance.

Classic Film, Great Director, Great Cast, Great Story
Thank you Independent Film Channel for sending this one along just when I most needed a palate cleanser after suffering through CENTRAL STATION. It served as the perfect antidote to that bit of system churning mess. If you want to see a director in action who can actually get performers to "put out," and actually act their ###es off, try queueing this one up in your DVD player some evening.

Dominique Sanda earned her reputation off this film. She is the quintissentially complex heroine of the piece. Is she frigid, incestous, frightened, unable to love, passive-aggressive, or something else? We'll never know, but we will always wonder, thanks to fine script-writing, acting and directing. This is old school De Sica surehandedness at play in the fields of the lord here. Rent or buy this. It will never grow old, as it is a true classic.

BEK

A Haunting Tale of Lost Love and Liberty
This movie is just so beautifully done. It is not a hard or complicated plot to grasp but it is filmed with such, emotion. The visual style, the long moments of nature mixed with youth and fear of the upcoming future. This is the time of Fascism and the rich Jewish families are the next on the list to be sent to concentration camps. The most wealthy family in the town of Ferrara, Italy isolates with their friends, staying inside their garden. No more clubs, tennis matches, or balls, if anything is done it is done on their property with the people they chose to associate with. The love story is between Michol and Giorgio, childhood friends who never got any further than long wishful gazes. Michol finds that Giorgio is someone she loves more as a friend than a lover, Giorgio loves Michol so much and wants her to be his wife. He has a difficult time accepting Michol's decision and this is all wrapped around the dark and dreary time of Fascism. The garden symbolizes the past and the way of life that had once been. The story is about loss, loss of the life that the people in Ferrara once had and the loss of childhood love and the innocence that went with it. The camera work is just breathtaking as well as thought provoking.

Lisa Nary ... Read more

Reviews (45)

An acutate depiction.
"Joseph" is one of the best movies in "The Bible Collection." It also gives an acurate detail of the story in the Bible.

It shows how God works through the slave/Egyptian govornor who loved and obeyed him.

keep your butchered movie
Not one minute of this film should be edited, yet the run time on this DVD edition suggests it has been cut for time.They need a warning in large type that this is NOT going to be the same film we loved.This is dishonest.

Run Time Error?
This is an incredible mini-series...but it might not be so great if the run time stated (145 minutes) is accurate for the DVD release.The length of this production (at least on the VHS version) was 185 minutes.I plan to verify that this was not severely edited before I purchase it.There is some hope insofar as Warners Home Video has a history of understating (or miscalculating)run times...The miniseries "North And South" had a run time misprint that amounted to 183 minutes--over 3 hours!!The material was not missing or edited...just the info on the box was in error.Hopefully, that's what's happened here.

What Christians are suppose to be
Joseph is the ideal role model for EVERY Christian/Jew. He is an example of what we should streve for. Waiting for a spouse to have sex. Sticking to your God no matter the outcome. This movie reflects all of that perfectly. The actors did a great job. When I first saw this years ago I was blown away by the quality!! That was back in the VHS days...cant wait to see it on DVD. So I cant speak for the transfer quality yet, sorry.

The Best of the Bible Collection FINALLY on DVD
Although I have enjoyed most of the movies in the Bible Collection Joseph has been my all time favorite.It is biblically accurate, events that are not recounted in the Bible are kept beleivalbe for the time period.The guy who plays Joseph does a wonderful job.In fact it was this movie that ruined the movie Moses, Ben Kingsley does a wonderful job as Potiphar in Joseph, but is just to old and not right for the part of Moses.

I am so glad that this movie will finally be out on DVD.They have been available overseas for a long time in DVD format.I am glad they are begining to release these on DVD, hopefully David will come out soon. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

a gorgeous, thoughtful film
The look of this film, with it's sumptuous use of color contrasts, is worth 5 stars. With rich shades of brown, it has the palette of a Rembrandt painting, and the beautiful soundtrack by Luis Maria Serra is a compliment to it.

The subject matter is captivating, not only for showing us some of the genius of Sor Juana Inés de la Cuz, but also for a view of the life in 17th century Mexico. Assumpta Serra is exquisite as Sor Juana, known as the "10th Muse" and one of the great poets of the Spanish golden era.

For anyone interested in the lives of women who have made their mark on this world, this is a must. I love the scene where she says : "Every theology is questionable, since it stems from reason and not from faith".

I must comment on the way this film has been packaged. It is asinine. Ignore it.

Maria Luisa Bemberg is another woman who is making a big mark on the world with her magnificent films. I also recommend her wonderful "Camila".

STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL FILM-MAKING
One of my best friends saw that I was reading a novel about Sor Juana, SOR JUANA'S SECOND DREAM, by Alicia Gaspar de Alba, and recommended this film to me -- with the admonishment to ignore the tawdry blurb on the cover: "Lesbian passions seething behind convent walls", indeed! How ridiculous -- it would be like describing FORREST GUMP as "partying with coeds in a dorm room after hours". It's a cheap attempt to draw the wrong conclusions about this moving story. Don't let it put you off.

This film about the amazing woman who has been called Mexico's 'Tenth muse' -- a reference to the title Plato bestowed on Sappho -- is a beautiful piece of film-making. Even considering the scenes that were meant to be outdoors, that were obviously shot on a sound stage, this is a lovely experience. The direction is superb, the acting amazingly sensitive -- I was enthralled, and I usually don't enjoy films with subtitles.

Sor Juana was an amazing woman -- intellectual, creative, always pushing her own boundaries, and brave. For a woman in her era (seventeenth century Mexico) to profess that women had just as much right to an education, to learning, as men, set her against some powerful forces -- mainly the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Her courage and determination in the face of such opposition is inspiring -- it's easy to see why she's seen as a hero by so many.

Tremendous Film - It's about time!
The "Tenth Muse" has finally been portrayed accurately. I've studyed the writings of Sor Juana for nearly a decade and continue to be impressed by her artistry. This film captures much of what I appreciate about her and her writing. It shows Sor Juana as a strong woman who is truly a master of her art and a master of herself. That may seem an odd thing to say, but being a master of oneself in the cloister of the 17th century convent is a feat worthy of mention.

For years there has been speculation that Sor Juana was, at the least, a sapphic poet, and probably a lesbian. Lets set the record straight. There is no direct evidence that Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was a lesbian. Did she write love poems to the Marquesa de Mancera? Yes. Does that make her a lesbian? No. She was simply writing poems to, and for, a friend in a commonly accepted style. Other contemporary male poets also wrote love poems to the Marquesa. Does that mean they were in love with her. Not at all. It was a common practice and was done as a sign of devotion, of friendship, and often as an attempt to earn a pension from the noble family. Having now said that, is it possible that she was a lesbian? Of course it's possible. Does it matter? No! Sor Juana is one of the finest scholars and poets of the Americas. That's what's important.

Excellent biography, Not a "Lesbian" Love Film
The video states that the film is about hot lesbian love inside the convent walls. Wrong! There are a few implied moments but nothing graphic.
This film gives the viewer an accurate depiction of the life of one of the best authors of any genre of literature. I first saw this film in a Latin American literature university classroom. It is so good that I would like to show it in my high school classroom.
Sor Juana was quite adept at placing a mirror in front of the faces of the male hierarchy and they didn't like it. She paid for it and we gained from her pain.
There is great historical value in this biographical film as well. It gives the viewer an idea of what life was like during the Spanish Inquisition in "New Spain" or Mexico.
I know the vendors believe that sex will sell this film. But, they are billing it all wrong. It is an intellectual foreign film. Why cheapen it by giving potential buyers a deceptive description of the content?

Yes, It Really Is About Lesbian Love
The movie is well made, although not much money seems to have been spent on sets! It sticks fairly closely to the basic historical data, but a quick read up on Sor Juana in the Encyclopedia Brittanica might help many viewers.

Now to the rating issue. There is no good reason why this movie should be restricted to those over 18. There is no overt nudity or genital sex. There is a fairly chaste kiss between women. I suppose the violent scenes of nuns whipping themsleves in a penitential exercise might be offensive to some, but self-flagellation was indeed a part of Catholic monastic life until well into the 20th century, and the scene is not presented in any prurient way. If this amounts to a need to ban the movie for young people, then the Bible also would need to be banned. It has far more sex, nudity, and violence.

Those writers who object to the "Lesbian passion" line on the box do have a point. Anyone buying this for erotic arousal would be profoundly mislead.

There is, however, a real lesbian aspect to this film. Sor Juana is clearly a "woman identified woman." She achieves her greatest triumphs while in the nurturing and all-female world of the Convent; her relationship with the Vicereine is the most heated in the film; and the destruction of her writing comes from the intrusion of the exclusively male world of the church hierarchy and the inquistion. Most importantly, her writing reflects an explicit feminist critique of women's oppression.

Just as one does not need to have genital sex in order to be a "heterosexual," neither does one need genital sex in order to be part of the lesbian continuum. Sor Juana is indeed part of the that continuum. ... Read more

Description

Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Agnès Varda's (Vagabond, One Hundred and One Nights) third tribute to her late husband, Jacques Demy, is a loving look at his brilliant vision and techniques.Included are clips from Demy's films featuring Lola, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Bay of Angels along with interviews of those who worked with him and knew him best including Catherine Deneuve, Anouk Aimée, Michel Piccoli, Harrison Ford, composer Michel Legrand, Demy's children and fans.The film also includes rare home video footage of the director with François Truffaut and Jim Morrison. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

For Jacques Demy devotees
If you love the films of Jacques Demy as I do, then this is a must-see film, one of three documentaries about him by his wife Agnes Varda. All of his work is touched upon in this docuementary. Interviews with the director, his relatives, and the stars of his films are all worthwhile, and there's even a bit with Harrison Ford who was originally supposed to star in Demy's Model Shop, his sequel to Lola. I haven't been able to see all of Demy's movies because they weren't shown in the US and this film provides clips from those films. After watching this, I can only hope that a restored print of Donkey Skin is shown in the US soon and that we get a DVD of that film released in the US. That film is pure enchantment. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

very good
Celentano's one of the best movie

The Con Artist
This is a great hilarous movie about 2 con artists how escape from jail. they both try to out smart one another but later on they join together to fool others. Anthony Quinn is the wiser con artist Adriano Celentano is like the student who learns fast. This is a very funny movie how the student out smarts the teacher. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Not Really A Movie In The Literal Sense
This is an experimental film from the late 80s by Israeli documentary filmmaker Amos Gitai. Practically unwatchable save maybe for those who understand the subject manner. Annie Lennox's brief, unspoken, and uncredited appearance is perhaps most interesting in light of the photography exhibited on her latest album, "Bare" (2003). ... Read more

Amazon.com

A true diamond in the rough. Pay no attention to the glossy romancecover for this film--inside is a great little movie. Based on an 1885 novel by Gaetano Carlo Chelli, it stars Dominique Sanda (who also appeared in The Conformist and The Garden of the Finzi-Continis).She plays a scheming gold-digger who has her eyes on the prize of the Fiormonti fortune. The money was made by Papa Fiormonti (played by Anthony Quinn), a lousy SOB who in the first scene disowns his three adult children.Sanda marries the most loutish child but is soon having an affair with the rakish one.It's a great, evil (and oddly sympathetic) performance, and for her role Sanda won the Best Actress award at Cannes in 1976.Even the DVD quality can't mask a poor transfer, however, as this film still has a grainy quality, but the luster of this Machiavellian tale still shines through. --Keith Simanton ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good Movie, Really Bad Transfer
Four stars for the movie, zero for the transfer. There is a good story in there, coupled with good performances. Overall a good movie. The DVD transfer is really, really bad. Pan and scan with a disturbingly ugly result. Grain, bad color. Watching it on a large screen is outright unpleasant. Did I say the sound is bad too (dubbed). Looks like Simitar Video copied a VHS tape to DVD. Simitar Video should not be in the DVD transfer business. Hope someone else brings this otherwise fine movie to DVD - properly! ... Read more