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Overview
Director:Giuseppe
Tornatore
Writers:Vanna
Paoli (collaborating writer)
Giuseppe Tornatore (screenplay)
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Release Date:23 February 1990 (USA) more
Genre:Drama / Romance more
Tagline:A celebration of youth, friendship, and the everlasting
magic of the movies.
Plot Outline:A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell
in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed
a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist. more
Plot Synopsis:View full synopsis. (warning! may contain spoilers)
Plot Keywords:Sex Outside / Scooter / Male Female Relationship
/ Church / Cefal?? Italy more
Awards:Won Oscar. Another 18 wins & 12 nominations more
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| Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)
Antonella
Attili ... Maria Di Vita - Younger
Enzo Cannavale ... Spaccafico
Isa Danieli ... Anna
Leo Gullotta ... Usher
Marco
Leonardi ... Salvatore 'Toto' Di Vita - Teenager
Pupella Maggio ... Maria Di Vita - Older
Agnese Nano ... Elena Mendola
Leopoldo Trieste ... Father Adelfio
Salvatore Cascio ... Salvatore 'Toto' Di Vita - Child
Tano Cimarosa ... Blacksmith
Nicola Di Pinto ... Village Idiot
Roberta Lena ... Lia
Nino Terzo ... Peppino's Father
Jacques Perrin ... Salvatore 'Toto' Di Vita - Adult
Philippe Noiret ... Alfredo
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Synopsis
Beginning
at the end, the movie opens with Salvatore's mother trying
to inform him of the death of Alfredo. Salvatore, a filmmaker
who has not been home since his youth, leaves Rome immediately
to attend the funeral. Through flashbacks we watch Salvatore
in his youth, in a post WWII town in Southern Italy. As a
young boy he is called Toto and he has a strong affinity for
the cinema. Toto often sneaks into the movie theater when
he shouldn't and harasses the projectionist, Alfredo, in attempts
to get splices of film that are cut out by the church because
they contain scenes of kissing. Toto has a younger sister
and war widowed mother who often struggle due to the lost
of Toto's father. Toto is banned from the movie theater by
his mother when his film bits accidentally catch fire and
nearly kill his sister along with burning up the only picture
Toto has of his father along with other family photographs.
Eventually he sneaks his way back and forms a father-son bond
with Alfredo, despite Alfredo's reluctancy, Toto even learns
how to run the projector. Meanwhile one of the townspeople
wins the lotto and becomes a rich man. One day in the cinema,
after Toto leaves to watch the movie with his friends below,
the film catches fire in the projector and knocks Alfredo
out. Young Toto rescues Alfredo from death in the fire, unfortunately
the cinema burns down and Alfredo loses his sight. Lucky the
lotto-lucky-townsman pays to have a new cinema put up. Since
Toto already knows how to run the projector he works with
Alfredo in the projection room. Some years pass and Salvatore
is now a young man. A rich girl, Elena, comes to town and
Salvatore and his friends vie for her attention. Salvatore
films her and begins to fall in love. Alfredo advises him
to steer clear of love because it only causes pain. Despite
his warning, Salvatore confesses his love to Elena, who's
reply is that she does not, but she could. So he waits, every
night outside her house for her reply. One day he gives up
and trudges home depressed and upset only to soon discover
that Elena does love him in return. They begin a passionate
romance, like that of two newlyweds. Unfortunately, Elena's
father doesn't approve and so he takes Elena away. All summer
they try to meet, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. On
one particular day he tries to reach her and she him but their
paths don't cross. As we discover later, Alfredo catches Elena
and convinces her to leave Salvatore alone out of love. Salvatore
then wanders without purpose and eventually joins the military
due to the requirement by Italian law that all male youths
serve for a period of time in the army. When he returns to
his home town, all has changed and he cannot adjust. Alfredo
urges him to leave and tells him that if her were to ever
return, he would not see him. Obviously Salvatore goes on
the become a successful filmmaker. As he wanders the remains
of his town after the funeral he sees a vision of Elena just
as she was when they were young, he realizes it is Elena's
daughter and follows her to Elena's home where he sees that
she married one of Salvatore's childhood friends, a dunce
when Salvatore knew him. He confronts Elena and they meet.
They talk and she reveals to him that she didn't miss out
on their fatal reunion but rather that Alfredo convinced her
to leave. Salvatore realizes what a role Alfredo had in shaping
his life and that Alfredo knew that if he stayed with Elena
he would have no chance to pursue his love of film and so
by going to Rome to become a filmmaker he sacrificed his love
for Elena. Salvatore and Elena say farewell and go their separate
ways. Salvatore returns to Rome with a can of film left to
him by Alfredo. It contains all the splices of the kissing
scenes from Salvatore's youth.
(See
here)
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