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

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

lasttimeisaw Another 70s Oscar BEST FOREIGN PICTURE victor, from the versatile Italian actor/director Vittorio De Sica, in fact this is only my second De Sica's film (after MARRIAGE Italian STYLE 1964, 8/10 and disregarding the medley BOCCACCIO '70 1962, 6/10), thus admittedly a major motivating force to watch this one is the star appeal, namely Sanda and Berger. Sanda, whom I recently discovered from Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST (1970, 9/10), plays Micòl, the young daughter of the aristocratic Jewish Finzi-Contini family in Ferrara in the late 1930s, is the love interest of Giorgio (Capolicchio), from another Jewish but lower-class family, although they have been childhood sweethearts, Giorgio's courtship has yet come off. Meanwhile Micòl's effeminately indisposed brother Alberto (Berger) brings his burly friend Bruno (Testi) to the family and initially Micòl antagonizes him with her affected pomposity, but the ensuing happenings will dish Giorgio's hope and Micòl eventually turns out to be a token victim of the tumult and a failed attempt to dare the purity of Jewish ethnicity. As a war drama of ordinary people being shoved haphazardly by the humanity-defying heinous torrent of rabidness, the movie (maybe also Bassani's source material) obviously don't want to lay bare the ugly truth with pulverizing segments which one can generally assume would happen during the persecution of those Jews (cautiously the film finishes right before that), everything meanders with tepid temperature and sensuous palette, from jovial time on bicycle to the final illusory tennis court flashbacks (the difference between De Sica and Antonioni is immediate), but at any rate, it is wanting a bang to emanate the revelation which is always up in the air, not even the reveal of Micòl's lover with Sanda's bare-chest audacity and soul-searching stare. Like Visconti, De Sica evinces ethereal and superior beauty from his young cast, say no more to knockouts like Sanda and Berger (who is purely existed for his godsend delicacy and impeccable face), even an ordinary-looking Capolicchio and the future action star Testi, have been sculpted meticulously with soft light and fond close-ups. Valli, on the other hand, is prominent as Giorgio's father, illustrates lucidly as a spokesman for an elder generation frustrated by their fate and also impotent to save their children. As a double winner for an Oscar and a Golden Berlin Bear, it doesn't live up to my expectation, maybe it is a common attribute for Italian melodrama, its across-the-board appeal dwindles as time passes by, Visconti's SENSO (1954, 7/10) is too saccharine for my palate and this one is somewhat rather undemanding under the reigns of a maestro like De Sica.

kosmasp There is a really good review of this movie by another user (his summary is "imperfect but unforgettable"), so if you can check that out please. If you read it, you will also understand that there is a lot of (background) knowledge/info in this comment. Which begs the question: Do you have to know all of this (like the poem that utilizes the same location?) to fully understand and enjoy this movie? Or is it possible to watch it without prior knowledge? It's a difficult question to answer. But as it is, I can only answer that this indeed is unforgettable. It's story core is really heavy and while there are some sub-stories interwoven into this, you always have this feeling of uncertainty running through it. Still the characters are not far from blandness and never fully engage you. The story seems confusing (though it is simple enough, it seems to be more complicated), which takes you a bit off it. (or that could be the case, depending on your concentration on it) There is space for improvement on this, though it does not take anything away from the ending ...

JLRMovieReviews The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is simply an experience not to be missed for any serious foreign film lover. It has a beautiful innocence to it in this tale of the early days of the Finzi-Continis family before WWII. It shows their personal lives and their dreams for love and success, never guessing their future. Then it shows the tragedy and sadness in time lost and how really horrible and wrong war is.It is beautiful, yet somehow a very haunting film with a wistful score, that seems to be longing for things unattainable. It makes you feel like you're watching an era or time gone by that can never be again. And maybe it's not good to be so naive. Because war comes and life never really recovers from it. But we can remember love...This is a masterpiece to watch and remember.

jeanserge21 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!