The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) Francesco, giullare di Dio (original title)

Director:

Roberto Rossellini

Writers:

Federico Fellini (screenplay)
Antonio Lisandrini (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

6 October 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | History

Tagline:

A Movie for Today...And All Time

Plot:

The film dramatizes about a dozen vignettes from the life of St. Francis and his early followers - starting...

Plot Keywords:

Rain | Fire | Christian | Religion | Pig

Cast

Aldo Fabrizi	...	Nicolaio, il tiranno di Viterbo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gianfranco Bellini	...	Narrator (voice)
Peparuolo	...	Giovanni il Sempliciotto
Severino Pisacane	...	Fra' Ginapro (as Fra' Severino Pisacane)
Roberto Sorrentino
Nazario Gerardi	...	San Francesco (uncredited)
Arabella Lemaitre	...	Santa Chiara (uncredited)

Directed by
Roberto Rossellini

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Federico Fellini		screenplay
Antonio Lisandrini		screenplay (as Father Antonio Lisandrini)
Félix Morlión		screenplay (as Father Félix Morlión)
Brunello Rondi		uncredited
Roberto Rossellini		screenplay & story

Produced by
Giuseppe Amato	....	associate producer
Angelo Rizzoli	....	producer

Original Music by
Renzo Rossellini

Cinematography by
Otello Martelli

Film Editing by
Jolanda Benvenuti

Production Design by
Virgilio Marchi

Set Decoration by
Giuseppe Rissone

Costume Design by
Marina Arcangeli

Production Management
Mario Gabrielli	....	unit manager
Luigi Giacosi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Marcella Laurino	....	assistant director
Brunello Rondi	....	assistant director (as Brunello Gay)

Sound Department
Raffaele Del Monte	....	sound recordist
Eraldo Giordani	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Enrico Betti Berutto	....	second assistant camera (as Enrico Betti)
Osvaldo Civirani	....	still photographer
Roberto Gerardi	....	assistant camera (as Roberto Girardi)
Luciano Trasatti	....	camera operator

Other crew
Gianfranco Parolini	....	script supervisor
Emimmo Salvi	....	production secretary
Herman G. Weinberg	....	subtitler: USA
Pino Locchi	....	voice dubbing: Nazario Gerardi (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Cineriz
• Rizzoli Film

Distributors

• Cineriz (1950) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Cineteca Griffith (????) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Cineteca Nazionale C.S.C (????) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Filmsonor (1951) (France) (theatrical)
• Franciscan University Film Society (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• Indipendenti Regionali (2000) (Italy) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• DomoVideo (????) (Italy) (video)
• Joseph Burstyn (1952) (USA) (subtitled)
• Les Films de ma Vie (????) (France) (DVD)
• Medusa Home Entertainment (2004) (Italy) (DVD)
• Mondadori Video (????) (Italy) (video)
• Opening Distribution (2005) (France) (DVD)
• Suevia Films (2005) (Spain) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (DVD)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Ditta Maggi  wigs
• Ditta Peruzzi  costumes

Also Known As:

"Francesco, giullare di Dio" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

75 min | Canada:83 min | West Germany:85 min (TV)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric)

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG (video rating) (2005) | UK:U (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Manziana, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cineriz

Trivia:

The filmmakers wanted to donate something to the monks who acted in the film since they refused payment. According to Rossellini's daughter, he expected them to ask that the donation be something charitable - setting up a soup kitchen or the like. Instead, the monks surprised everyone by asking for fireworks. Rossellini saw to it that the town had an enormous, elaborate fireworks display that was the talk of the region for years.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Notes on My Father: An Interview with Isabella Rossellini (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Te deum laudamus

Promotes compassion for the poor

The Criterion DVD release of Rossellini's Flowers of St. Francis offers a fully restored version in high contrast black and white of the long unavailable 1950 film, considered one of Rossellini's finest. It is interesting that two of the finest films about religion, The Gospel According to St, Matthew and Flowers of St. Francis, were directed by avowed atheists, (Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini), both capturing, through non-professional acting and neo-realist technique, a sense of purity and poetry missing in the heavy-handed message of newer religious films. Unlike Pasolini, however, Rossellini's film does not contain peak dramatic moments or even a linear narrative.

It is a series of vignettes that does not attempt a history of the period or a biography of St. Francis of Assisi as did the woeful Brother Sun, Sister Moon by Zefferelli. Rather it shows Francis, a 13th century monk who founded the order known as the Franciscan Friars and his followers (particularly brother Ginepro) in easy going and often light-hearted fashion going about their daily life with devotion and humility before God. While I do not subscribe to the idea that allegiance to God requires extreme self-denial, the film is persuasive in showing the simple compassion of the Friars and how it changed the lives of the people around them, although the line between simple and simple-minded as depicted by Rossellini is often tenuous.

Flowers does not attempt to bludgeon us with a point of view, but suggests by example that there is an alternative way to live our lives that does not involve ego and greed. The episodes illustrate different aspects of Franciscan life, all introduced by intertitles. In the first, the brothers seek to find shelter in a pouring rain in a little hut they have built in the woods near Assisi. When they arrive, they discover that a farmer has appropriated the hut with his donkey and refuses to let the brothers in. Francis responds by telling his followers, "Have we not now reason to rejoice? Providence has made us useful to others." In another episodes, Ginepro cuts off a pig's foot for a meal requested by a hungry ailing brother. Unfortunately, no one questions what brother pig thinks about his leg being sacrificed and the episode left me feeling queasy.

In other sequences, the Friars prepare a rebuilt chapel to receive Sister Chiara, Francis meets a leper during his walk and embraces him in a childlike, loving manner, and Ginepro is provided lessons on how actions rather than words win souls for God. In one of the later sequences played mostly for laughs but with a potent message, Ginepro is in danger of losing his life to a group of bandits led by the corpulent Nicolaio until the power of faith rules the day. Flowers of St. Francis presents an idealized version of a "pure" form of Christianity and promotes love, humility, and compassion for the poor. While the film is a welcome antidote to the cynicism and despair common in films these days, ultimately it leaves the viewer to decide whether or not excessive missionary zeal practiced by those who are convinced they alone have the true faith has been a positive or negative force throughout history.