The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (film)
| The Garden of the Finzi-Continis | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Vittorio de Sica |
| Produced by |
Arthur Cohn Gianni Hecht Lucari Artur Brauner |
| Screenplay by | Vittorio Bonicelli, Ugo Pirro |
| Based on | The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani |
| Starring |
Lino Capolicchio Dominique Sanda Helmut Berger Fabio Testi Romolo Valli |
| Music by | Manuel De Sica |
| Cinematography | Ennio Guarnieri |
| Edited by | Adriana Novelli |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Italian: Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini) is a 1970 Italian film, directed by Vittorio de Sica. It stars Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda and Helmut Berger. The film is based upon Giorgio Bassani's novel of the same name.
In the late 1930s, in Ferrara, a group of young friends get together for afternoons of tennis and happy times. Some of them are Jewish and a rising tide of Fascism has imposed increasingly anti-Semitic restrictions in their lives. Barred from regular tennis clubs, they go to play at the grand, walled estate owned by the Finzi-Contini, a wealthy, intellectual and sophisticated Jewish family. The two young Finzi-Contini, Alberto and his sister Micòl, have organized a tennis tournament. Oblivious to the threats around them, life still seems to be sunny at the large Finzi-Contini estate, keeping the rest of the world at bay.
Among the visitors there is a man vying for the beautiful, tall and blonde, Micòl Finzi-Contini. Giorgio, her middle class Jewish childhood friend, feels entitled to her heart. A series of flashbacks show how Giorgio used to wait outside the walls of the estate, hoping for a glimpse of Micòl. As teenagers they became fast friends. Now as adults, they enjoy their mutual company and Micòl gives Giorgio special attention. Escaping a sudden downpour in a gazebo, Giorgio tries to touch her, but she rejects him. Alberto, whose health is fragile, enjoys a close friendship with Bruno Malnate, a darkly handsome gentile with socialist sympathies. Giorgio's father considers the Finzi-Contini so different that they don’t even seem to be Jewish. Wealth, privilege and generations of intellectual and social position have bred them into a family as proud as it is vulnerable. The other Jews in the town react to Mussolini's edicts in various ways: Giorgio is enraged; his father is philosophical. But the Finzi-Continis hardly seem to know, or care, what is happening.
Giorgio, who is about to graduate, becomes a frequent visitor to the Finzi-Contini's villa where he is allowed to use their extensive library. He is in love with Micòl, and she seems to return his feeling, but she unexpectedly leaves to stay in Venice with her uncles. On her return Micòl changes, coldly rejecting any show of affection from Giorgio. Instead she carries on an affair with Bruno, a man she claims to despise as too vulgar, crude, and leftist for her tastes. Peeking through a window Giorgio discovers Bruno and Micòl naked together. Heartbroken Giorgio is comforted by his father.
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