Vittorio De Sica

[Matt]

This new restoration looked fantastic. With it being a Film Foundation release, I wonder if we could expect a Criterion disc release.

It did look really good. Criterion seemed to have recent success with De Sica’s Miracle in Milan, so perhaps they would be encouraged to release this. Then again, it’s not exactly the airy confection that film is.

Though I haven’t seen many, this might be the only De Sica film I really like. So many of his more well-known films feel treacly or forced to me, whereas this one is genuinely sad.

[Aunt Peg]

I actually thought that Il giardino dei Finzi Contini / The Garden of the Finzi-Continis was released on Blu Ray years ago in the UK. I went searching for my copy just about a week ago only to find a DVD instead and my records of my physical media collection indicated an English DVD edition only. It didn't take long to realise that I was mistaken and the only Blu Ray release has been in Germany (no English subtitles).

[MichaelB]

If I remember rightly, the Arrow Academy edition was DVD only because available materials simply weren’t good enough for anything higher definition - and even the DVD was pretty ropey.

[Fred Holywell]

There's also a Blu-ray/DVD combo of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis released by M6 Video two years ago. A "4K Restored Version" with French subtitles. There's a review up on DVDClassik.

Spoiler

2021 Blu-ray
2008 DVD

[tolbs1010]

About Two Women from a recent post on another thread

Always seemed like an oddly overlooked film. DeSica directed, Loren is very effective and won an Oscar, Belmondo solid in a small role. Terrific film of what war evils are really like. Yet I almost never hear it mentioned. The title may appear simplistic, but it's a film about how the daughter becomes a woman.
Worth tracking down.

Your comment finally spurred me to watch this film, and I thank you. It had been in my queue for years, and I passed over it repeatedly in search of something more 'interesting'. As you point out, it rarely gets mentioned, even when De Sica is being discussed specifically.

It's a wonderful film. Every scene is bursting with the fulsomeness of life. It isn't burdened by the weighty piousness that many films rely on when depicting tragedy on screen. The tragic sequences are more effective and startling because of the passion, humor, unapologetic self-interest/survival, and genuine sense of life that De Sica caputres in every scene. There is a feeling and undestanding for what is lost rather than a steady slog through the drudgery. The most tragic scene is

Spoiler

perhaps the most economical and effective depiction of rape and its aftermath ever put on screen. It is more powerful in a handful of brief shots than the more graphic and prolonged horrors that filmmakers since have chosen to depict

.

Loren is magnificent in the lead role and personifies the wide-ranging humanity of the film. One of the great screen performances and one of the most correctly-awarded Oscars (Loren rightly winning over Audrey Hepburn for Breakfast At Tiffany's) . Belmondo seems kind of an odd choice for his role, but maybe that's my perception of his screen persona clouding the performance, which is fine in a fully-dubbed role. Eleonora Brown and Raf Vallone are outstanding in the other two main roles, and the entire cast gets little moments to shine. De Sica and the actors capture so many gestures, movements, glances, etc. that bring the characters to life in an original, specific way.

Seeing this has moved a few other never-seen De Sica titles up in my queue: The Garden Of The Finzi-Continis, Sunflower, and The Roof.

[Lowry_Sam]

I missed the 4k restoration of il Boom when it got (very) limited release in 2017 & assumed Criterion would be releasing it on disc, but almost a decade later it's still not available. Even Studio Canal hasn't released in Europe. The Garden Of The Fitz-Continis is excellent too, but really deserves a good English-friendly release, hopefully a new restoration/UHD comes soon. He does seem to be the most criminally underrated of the Italian masters, perhaps because he does have a number of misfires in his catalog. One of his last, A Brief Vacation is also well-reviewed and also unavailable. His entire oeuvre is perhaps too inconsistent for a full career box, but there's over a dozen of gems that would make an amazing greatest hits box.

[ellipsis7]

Il giardino dei Finzi Contini in the 2025 Italian Blu-Ray release by Mustang Entertainment is from the 4K digital restoration of Luce Cinecittà...

[Drucker]

About Two Women from a recent post on another thread

Always seemed like an oddly overlooked film. DeSica directed, Loren is very effective and won an Oscar, Belmondo solid in a small role. Terrific film of what war evils are really like. Yet I almost never hear it mentioned. The title may appear simplistic, but it's a film about how the daughter becomes a woman.
Worth tracking down.

Your comment finally spurred me to watch this film, and I thank you. It had been in my queue for years, and I passed over it repeatedly in search of something more 'interesting'. As you point out, it rarely gets mentioned, even when De Sica is being discussed specifically.

It's a wonderful film. Every scene is bursting with the fulsomeness of life. It isn't burdened by the weighty piousness that many films rely on when depicting tragedy on screen. The tragic sequences are more effective and startling because of the passion, humor, unapologetic self-interest/survival, and genuine sense of life that De Sica caputres in every scene. There is a feeling and undestanding for what is lost rather than a steady slog through the drudgery. The most tragic scene is

Spoiler

perhaps the most economical and effective depiction of rape and its aftermath ever put on screen. It is more powerful in a handful of brief shots than the more graphic and prolonged horrors that filmmakers since have chosen to depict

.

Loren is magnificent in the lead role and personifies the wide-ranging humanity of the film. One of the great screen performances and one of the most correctly-awarded Oscars (Loren rightly winning over Audrey Hepburn for Breakfast At Tiffany's) . Belmondo seems kind of an odd choice for his role, but maybe that's my perception of his screen persona clouding the performance, which is fine in a fully-dubbed role. Eleonora Brown and Raf Vallone are outstanding in the other two main roles, and the entire cast gets little moments to shine. De Sica and the actors capture so many gestures, movements, glances, etc. that bring the characters to life in an original, specific way.

Seeing this has moved a few other never-seen De Sica titles up in my queue: The Garden Of The Finzi-Continis, Sunflower, and The Roof.

Thanks for the post. This is playing shortly in an upcoming Italian history film retrospective at Lincoln Center and now I'll definitely be trying to attend.