I girasoli (1970)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Vittorio De Sica

Writers:

Tonino Guerra (writer)
Giorgi Mdivani (writer)

Release Date:

24 September 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Filmed in Russia from the Kremlin to the Ukraine.

Plot:

An Italian woman conducts a desperate search for her husband, a soldier considered missing in action in Russia - like fifty thousand others during WWII.

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Flashback Sequence | Sunflower Field | Omelet | Station

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sophia Loren	...	Giovanna
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Antonio
Lyudmila Savelyeva	...	Mascia
Galina Andreyeva	...	Valentina, Soviet official
Anna Carena	...	Antonio's Mother
Germano Longo	...	Ettore
Nadya Serednichenko	...	Woman in sunflower fields
Glauco Onorato	...	Returning soldier
Silvano Tranquilli	...	Italian worker in Russia
Marisa Traversi	...	Prostitute
Gunars Cilinskis	...	Russian Ministry Official
Carlo Ponti Jr.	...	Giovanna's Baby
Pippo Starnazza	...	Italian official
Dino Peretti
Giorgio Basso

Also Known As:

Les fleurs du soleil (France)
Sunflower (USA)

Runtime:

101 min | Portugal:98 min (cut version)

Country:

Italy | France | Soviet Union

Language:

Italian | English | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Company:

Compagnia Cinematografica Champion

Movie Connections:

Featured in El abrazo partido (2004)

powerful drama

Another Matroianni-Loren combination, if you liked "A Special Day", you'll like this one too. Unusual in many ways, it is a co-production Italy-USSR, and it was shot on location in both countries. Notable also the comparison between scenes of 1945 and 1960. An Italian soldier does not return from WWII and his wife eventually goes to Russia to find him many years after the war ended, only to dramatically find him in a living situation in a russian family. He too will travel to Italy, but to find her in a living situation, and he too will return alone. The title of the movie ("The Sunflowers") point to the main crop the fields of Russia that italian soldiers tried to retreat from in months of walking and walking. It's amazing that this reel is not available on video, maybe because it is slightly politicized in social portrayal (in the trip to Italy, the ex-soldier finds prostitutes, a clear sign of degradation of society of the West in the view of soviet propaganda).