Watch The Garden of the Finzi-Continis For Free

Good start, but then it gets ruined

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

A stunner. Vittorio De Sica's late career masterpiece exposes the hopeless plight a lot of Italian Jews faced as the lunatic Mussolini got further and further into bed with Hitler during WWII. The Finzi-Continis, a well-to-do family of intellectuals fail to realize the rising tide of anti-semitism around them as their vast estate becomes more and more a sanctuary for their equally blind friends. Unrequited love and missed chances at romance are dwarfed in importance as the Nazis move in. This is a very unsettling movie as you're well aware of what is going to happen to these people. De Sica (and five or six uncredited scriptwriters) creates a real sense of dread and the film is populated with an excellent cast. Lino Capolicchio is the standout, hopelessly in love with Finzi-Contini débutante Dominique Sanda. As Sanda's infirm brother, Helmut Berger personifies an entire race of people about to be systematically eliminated. Fabio Testi and Romolo Valli (excellent as Capolicchio's grotesquely optimistic father) are in it too.

This is a parable (& a wake-up call) to all those who feel sufficiently insulated from global pressures so that they feel immune to the effects to which most other people are subject. The Finzi-Continis are an aristocratic, wealthy, "connected" Jewish family in Italy in the 1930s-40s. Mussolini's Fascist party followed the lead of Germany's Hitler/Nazis' anti-Semitism and purging of Jews, at first slowly following suit (denying Jews library use was among the earlier, then denying university graduation for Jews, then forbidding marriage between Jews and non-Jews, then denying any possibility of non-Jews working for Jews), etc., etc. They increasingly tightened their anti-Semitic noose.The social position of the Finzi-Continis and their walled garden seemed (at first) to keep these gathering restrictions at bay and inconsequential. E.g., when (early on) Jews were prohibited from using public tennis courts, young Jews flocked to the estate garden of the aristocratic Finzi-Continis, which had tennis courts. At first, they have little concern with the gradually tightening restrictions, the increasing anti-Semitism, and no sense there's a growing tsunami.But restrictions kept tightening much further.I saw the movie at a retired university faculty film series presenting great films. There were a number of hankies daubing eyes at the conclusion.I had problems keeping some of the film's 20-ish male characters distinct from each other (maybe those fluent in Italian wouldn't have that problem) as well as in some of the flashbacks to earlier times. Also the English subtitles sometimes quit the screen before I'd completely read them.BUT, all in all, this is a VERY important, consequential film that I've wanted to see for years."No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..........." -- John Donne

"Nostalgia is self destruction." – Adrienne Rich "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" takes place in fascist Italy during the reign of Mussolini. World War 2 is on the horizon and already racial laws are being implemented. Italian Jews have been banned from public schools, marrying non Jews, phone records, libraries, obituaries, using servants and are subject to strict curfews. Gradually the rights of Jews are eradicated, even the wealthiest Jewish families reduced to third class citizens. Slowly a race is made invisible.Against this backdrop is told the story of two Jewish families, the affluent and aristocratic Finzi-Contini family and the middle class Bassani family. The Finzi-Continis live a cloistered existence within the confines of their palatial estate. Surrounded by tall walls and a vast garden, the family lives in a dream world, believing that fascism will leave their lavish lives untouched. Director Vittorio de Sica uses overexposed, bleached images and white clothing to suggest that these wealthy Jews live within an almost idyllic haven. When the family hosts tennis games for friends and family, de Sica shoots them like innocent forest nymphs, frolicking in Eden.Of course, outside the stone walls of the Finzi-Contini estate, trouble brews. The Bassani family adjusts to Mussolini's racist laws with success at first, their father stating that despite their new limitations they can still live a reasonably secure existence. Their daughter will simply have to be home schooled, their maid will have to be smuggled in and their son, Giorgio, will simply have to use the private libraries of friends. No big deal. They can adjust. Right?The widespread complacency is shocking. It's not just a question of non-Jews ignoring these racist laws, but of Jews accepting these laws outright for fear of rocking the boat. The Bassani's submit and the Finzi-Contini's ignore. And even if they wanted to challenge Mussolini's racist segregation policies, how would they go about doing so? During one scene, in which Giorgio is kicked out of a public library, de Sica makes it clear that when the world begins to collapse, it's never anyone's fault. Power is fragmented and everyone is fearfully following orders, obeying rules that somebody else devised. Everything is compartmentalised, sectioned off and objections are funnelled through never-ending mazes. To fight an organised system would take organised dissent on a vast array of fronts. And so Jews and Gentiles submit to the racist laws. The war will be over soon, they hope, and Italy and Germany will soon emerge victorious. Just abide and hope that things change. Right? Big mistake.The second half of the film focuses on the romance between Giorgio Bassani and Micol Finzi-Contini. Despite Micol's wealth and beauty, Giorgio loves her primarily for the sense of tranquillity she represents. He knew her during her childhood, and so begins to see her as an almost nostalgic symbol. She represents a snapshot in time, a personification of Europe before things went bad. Many have complained that Micol is a cipher in the film. That she prowls her estate like a zombie and that she never gives a reason for rejecting Giorgio's advances. But this is the film's very point. Micol is an idealised vision of the world, simultaneously deluding herself and representative of mass denial. She is a ghost, the past, and Giorgio cannot attain her because she has long turned her back to the living world. This romance thus abstracts many of the themes that take place in the film. Firstly, it illustrates the false belief held by both Gentiles and Jews that if they isolate themselves and mind their own business, they may be spared the horrors of this hostile political climate. Secondly, it shows that no amount of wealth, prestige and education can defend you against mindless, irrational bigotry. Finally, it highlights the dangers of Jewish ethnocentricity. To many, Judaism is a cultural fortresses that keeps outsiders out and insiders in (the degree to which Jewish communities are isolated from their host cultures is even reflected at the genetic level). Of course, one should not have to assimilate to avoid persecution, but this ethnocentricity is one reason why Jewish history is one of success and growth followed by persecution and slaughter. A cycle which plays out repeatedly from the Egyptian Exodus to the Holocaust. Beyond this, the the behaviour of all the film's characters echo that of German, Italian and International communities, who, during WW2, were likewise guilty of both dangerous conformity and violent disinterest.9/10 – Western Holocaust films have colonised our minds with a very "American view" of the Holocaust. They present us with false iconography, freak show myths which exploit visual touchstones. But the Holocaust was not a horror movie. It unfolded with the banality of everyday life, in bright colours, ordinary day to day activities rarely upset. There was nothing alien about the Holocaust. The world didn't break down or erupt into violence. Instead it stood back with a serene, far more chilling acceptance. Perhaps this is why, today, documentary footage of Hitler relaxing with his family in the Bavarian Alps is far more horrific than any of his loud mouthed speeches.See Lina Wertmüller's "Seven Beauties" and Lajos Koltai's "Fateless". Worth multiple viewings.

I first heard a radio adaptation from the Garden of the Finzi Contini and afer that read the book. I thought it would be difficult to make an adaptation to cinema. Indeed, the book is above all psychological (or romantic in the literary meaning of the 19th century)i.e the narrator describing his inner world and his sufferings...However, Vittorio de Sica succeeded in expressing this without using monologue, without making a too slow picture... The music is very good too... the images are wonderful...I must correct some commentaries Malnate, Micol's lover is not a fascist but a communist... There is also a difference with the book : in the book we do not know for sure that Micol and Malnate were lovers, it is an assumption whereas it is an evidence in the film...In spite of this differences, this picture deserves a 10 out of 10!