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How sad is this?

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A neat historical thriller, fiorile is my first Taviani film, but it probably won't be my last. I hadn't really read much about the film, except to form the opinion that it was probably a routine quality children's fantasy film, so I let it pass me by for years. It is actually a historical thriller about several generations of a family, told as a tale to the children of the present day family, mingled with a caution about the legend's possible effect on the children. There are some rather predictable elements to the film, but the acting is excellent by all, and the sumptuous Italian settings give a feel of Shakespeare mixed with the modern day, and the ending has considerable style. Well worth adding to your collection.

There are a few brothers' teams working in movies today. They are, among others, the Dardennes from Belgium, the Coens from America and the Tavianis, based in Italy. Film making is a long and arduous process that can get in the nerves of most creators, and siblings are not exempt of the frustrations that must go on behind the camera at any given moment. Thus, the work of the three sets of directors mentioned, must be more than a work of love as their films keep on delighting audiences from all over the world.That said, we came recently to "Fiorile" a 1993 Italian film by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. Not having seen it when it first came out, we were surprised by this tale in which the Tavianis deal with several generations of a Tuscan family and their rise to prominence.Set in the Tuscany countryside, the story centers around the Benedettis, a family of peasant origins. The narrative is told from Luigi Benedetti's point of view. He is driving with his own family to see his father, Massimo, whom he has not seen for many years. As they travel through the area, he points out to his two children how the family went from being so poor into the prominent figures of that part of Italy. He also tells his children about the "curse of the gold", which the locals believe has something to do with the turbulent side of the Benedettis.In flashbacks one is taken to the time when Napoleon invaded Italy. The French were being fought by Tuscan patriots. The invaders brought a treasure in gold coins to support their war effort. The man in charge, Jean, sees the horse with the money disappear after a skirmish with the Italians. At the same time, he sees a young woman, Elisabetta, on the ground that has been wounded. He helps her and is taken by her beauty. Jean has to pay with his life for having lost the coins. Unknown to him, her brother Corrado seizes the opportunity to steal the gold. That gold, together with Elisabetta who is pregnant by Jean, play an important role in the Benedettis becoming landlords of much of the area.The second vignette involves Alessandro Benedetti, a descendant of the original clan. Now rich and famous, he finds a chance for getting into politics in Rome. His sister Elisa has been seeing a young man that is considered below them and Alessandro tells her to stop seeing the man. Unfortunately, on an outing, Elisa and her brothers come into a clearing where wild mushrooms abound. The siblings decide to eat some of the good ones, but Elisa has something else in mind.The third theme of the story has to do with Massimo, a young man in the Italy of the 1940s as the Fascists are in power. He is an earnest young man who sees the reigning power in his country for what they really are and with the help of his girlfriend, he prepares to do something to take care of someone that is an informer. Little does he know that the girl he loves has been taken prisoner and is being taken away in a truck that is following the man he is about to kill.The Tavianis have always been able to get excellent performances from their casts, which is also what they got from this group of Italian actors. Claudio Bigagli, Galatea Ranzi and Michael Vartan are seen in different roles. The directors love to have their players do several roles, as is the case here. The supporting performers do justice to the story being told.Giuseppe Lanci does wonders in getting the great landscapes with his camera. Tuscany is one of the most beautiful regions of Italy and it shows so here. The musical score by Nicola Piovani also serves the story. Ultimately, the credit for the overall achievement of the film has a name: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.

When you have several hundred films in your queue, sometimes you forget just why it is there. I am not familiar with the work of Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, and I don't recognize any of the stars. I haven't even seen Chiara Caselli before. She gives us a glimpse of her beauty late in the film, but I am told there are better films to see her.So, did I just make a mistake and now regret it? No, the film was a beautiful fantasy drama that told how money can come to be looked upon as a curse. Even knowing that, the curse lives on in the children. Once you touch gold, you cannot let go.It was a nice film, with brilliant cinematography, and not a waste of time.

I really enjoyed this movie, and am ever so happy I taped it at the time it ran on TV. The great thing about this movie is that it is so normal. A family driving to granny and telling the kids a story on the way. And then later how the kids are playing and weaving the story their parents told them in their play. I far prefer European films like this to the ones we get here from the states. Why, you wonder, well if this was made in Hollywood, an escaped gangster would have come along to steal the treasure and father would have taken revenge or something like that... No, the only thing that is a petty is that movies like this are not distributed main stream, but only in arty farty circles. So most movies like this will never reach main stream audience, or even will be distributed outside their originating country. I am pretty sure there are a lot of movies that are great, brilliant movies, but I will never get to see them, because of the distribution.Pieter