Many Italian films talk about changes that subvert our way of seeing and living life.
10 captivating Italian films. Italy is a fascinating country for its natural beauty, history, cuisine and passionate way of living. And we all have a special film about Italy in our memory.
Maybe because there is a special aura that surrounds Italian lands, as if it were easier to discover who we really are.
Italy is the land of discovery. Many go there looking to find themselves. And when we find ourselves, when we let ourselves be flooded by self-love, it becomes much easier to let ourselves be enveloped by the beauty of life.
Os italian movies selected below speak, in general, of love and discoveries. Some are available on Netflix and others on the internet.
1 – Stolen Beauty
By: Bernardo Bertolucci
Italy, United Kingdom and France, 1996
The film Stolen Beauty, by director Bernardo Bertolucci, is a beautiful and captivating work, be it for its magnificent scenery, the Tuscany in Italy, which serves as an inspiration for anyone, as well as its striking characters. After her mother's suicide, a 19-year-old girl (Liv Tyler) travels to Italy with the apparent purpose of meeting some friends and having her portrait painted, but in reality she wants to see the young man she gave her first love to. kiss, four years earlier. At the same time, she intends to decipher a riddle found in her mother's diary. A film that speaks beautifully about the loss of virginity, as well as youth and their delicate way of seeing life.
2 – Bread and Tulips
By: Silvio Soldini
Italy and France, 2000
Rosalba, a housewife from Pescara in Italy, travels on a bus tour with her family. When she stops at a roadside restaurant, she is forgotten by her husband and children. A situation conducive for her to do what she always wanted: discover Venice, the city of your dreams. Promoting several reflections, the plot invites us to think about how we interact with the world, how we sometimes get complacent, in our forgotten dreams, in our ambiguous need to “fly safely”. The film speaks, in a delicate way, of that need for change that causes us fear. I would say that self-discovery is the film's strong point. In it, even Venice is portrayed very differently from what we see on postcards.
3 – Malena
By: Giuseppe Tornatore
Italy and USA, 2001
In 1941, in the middle of World War II, nothing happens in sleepy Castelcuto, a village on the Sicilian coast. There lives Renato (Giuseppe Sulfaro), a 13-year-old boy who suddenly has his life radically transformed by a discovery that will mark him forever: an overwhelming passion for Malena (Monica Bellucci). Having just arrived there and without her husband, supposedly killed in the war, her every walk turns into a spectacle in itself. An unforgettable film that features war as the background for a first love. Film available on Netflix.
4 – Under the Tuscan Sun
By: Audrey Wells
USA and Italy, 2004
Frances Mayes, played by Diane Lane, is a writer who lives in San Francisco until she gets divorced. She receives a tourist package to Italy as a gift from friends. During the tour, Frances passes through Tuscany and in a magical moment decides to buy a house that is over 300 years old. As she takes care of her new home, she ends up meeting many people, learning to live the Italian way and falling in love with life. The film was inspired by the book “Under the Tuscan Sun – At home in Italy” written by Frances.
5 – Encounter with love
By: Brad Mirman
France, United Kingdom and Italy, 2005
An aspiring writer decides to follow a path in search of his idol and inspiration. To do so, Jeremy (Joshua Jackson) ends up in Italy, in a rural refuge where the writer Weldon Parish (Harvey Keitel) and his daughters live. There, the young man begins to see that not everything the writer does is in accordance with what he says, and begins to get to know another side of his idol. On top of that, Jeremy falls in love with Isabella (Claire Forlani), his master's daughter. A delicate film, with a lot of romance and beautiful landscapes, especially in the small town of Chiusi, in the province of Siena, in Italian Tuscany.
6 – The Tourist
By: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Italy, USA and France, 2010
With two big names in the cast (Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp), this film's second part is shot completely in Venice, presenting angles that, in addition to enhancing the city's colors, transport the viewer into it. In the plot, Jolie plays a criminal pursued by the French police who ends up using a university professor, played by Deep, as a disguise for her escape until Veneza. Film available on Netflix.
7 – Eat, Pray, Love
By: Ryan Murphy
Italy and USA, 2010
Julia Roberts is spectacular in this film, playing the American writer Elisabeth Gilbert who decides to divorce and leave everything behind, traveling to Italy, India, and Bali. On her last stop, she meets a Brazilian man who makes her heart beat faster. The film is a charming biography of the writer and, among other locations, shows Italy in a loving way, like a mother welcoming everyone with spontaneity and good food. It is in Rome that Elisabeth learns the “dolce far niente”, or “the pleasure of doing nothing”. This film was inspired by the book of the same title written by Elizabeth. Available at Netflix, Eat, Pray, Love is one of the Italian films on the main tip lists.
8 – Letters to Juliet
By: Gary Winick
USA and Italy, 2010
Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is an aspiring writer who travels to Italy with her fiancé, Victor, (Gael García Bernal), who dreams of having his own restaurant. In Verona, where the story of Romeo and Juliet took place, Sophie discovers an old love letter and joins a group of volunteers who answer these love letters. A romantic comedy that also conquers with the beautiful landscapes of Province of Verona and the city of Siena. And, incredibly, there is a group in Italy that voluntarily responds to letters addressed to Juliet. Anyone who wants advice can write a letter or an email addressed to Juliet's helpers. Volunteers forward the response in the sender's native language. The book with the same title as the film, written by Lise Friedman and Ceil Friedman tells everything about the letters and is also worth it. Film available on Netflix.
9 – Faithful Copy
By: Abbas Kiarostami
Belgium, Italy and France, 2011
James Miller is an English philosopher who goes to a small town in Tuscany present your book on the value of copying in art. Arriving there, he meets Elle, a French woman who owns an art gallery. Among the romantic landscapes, private greenery and medieval citadels, actors William Shimell and Juliette Binoche, who form a very unusual couple, propose a rethinking of love, relationships and how we really want our lives to be (original or copies ). A film that we can watch several times, each time accumulating more questions than answers. Impeccable direction by Iranian Abbas Kiarostami.
10 – A Dream of Love
By: Luca Guadagnino
Italy, 2011
Emma Recchi (Tilda Swinton) left Russia to follow Tancredi (Pippo Delbono), who proposed to her. Over the years she becomes a mother of three children and gets used to a life full of luxury but little passion. One day, in the middle of a party, she meets Antônio, with whom she later starts a romance. A love dream it has current Italy as its setting, but the setting is that of a global village. The film deals with a universal theme, female liberation. It talks about a woman's sexuality and her control over her body and mind. It talks about the possibility of following paths that lead to happiness. Available on Netflix.
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