Il Postino: The Postman (1994)
"Il postino" (original title)

Simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet; he uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.

Director:

Michael Radford

Writers:

Antonio Skármeta (novel), Furio Scarpelli (story),

Stars:

Philippe Noiret, Massimo Troisi, Maria Grazia Cucinotta

Won 1 Oscar. Another 28 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Philippe Noiret	...	Pablo Neruda
Massimo Troisi	...	Mario Ruoppolo
Maria Grazia Cucinotta	...	Beatrice Russo
Renato Scarpa	...	Telegrapher
Linda Moretti	...	Donna Rosa
Sergio Solli
Carlo Di Maio
Nando Neri
Vincenzo Di Sauro
Orazio Stracuzzi
Alfredo Cozzolino
Mariano Rigillo	...	Di Cosimo
Anna Bonaiuto	...	Matilde

Storyline

Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean poet, is exiled to a small island for political reasons. On the island, the unemployed son of a poor fisherman is hired as an extra postman due to the huge increase in mail that this causes. Il Postino is to hand-deliver the celebrity's mail to him. Though poorly educated, the postman learns to love poetry and eventually befriends Neruda. Struggling to grow and express himself more fully, he suddenly falls in love and needs Neruda's help and guidance more than ever.

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Plot Keywords:

postman | poetry | island | poet | pablo neruda | 

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Taglines:

An irresistable treat about love, letters, and laughter!

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Italy France Belgium

Language:

Italian Spanish

Release Date:

14 June 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Il Postino: The Postman

Filming Locations:

Pollara, Salina Island, Aeolian Islands, Messina, Sicily, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$234,643 (USA) (20 September 1996)

Gross:

$20,681,301 (USA) (11 October 1996)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica, Penta Film, Esterno Mediterraneo Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was shot in 11 weeks, with only one break for the Easter holiday.

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Quotes

Pablo Neruda: Even the most sublime ideas sound ridiculous if heard too often.

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Connections

Referenced in Men Behaving Badly: Getting the Bugs Out (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Madreselva"
Written by Francisco Canaro (as F. Canaro) and Luis César Amadori (as L.C. Amadori)
Performed by Carlos Gardel
Courtesy of E. Musical Pirovano

User Reviews

magnificent masterpiece of Michael with two marvelous metaphors --the poet(Pablo) and the postman(Mario)

what a magnificent movie, legendary work by Michael Redford , everything about this movie is beautiful ,,winning Oscar does not come in easy way ,,be it budget,,cinematography covering island's natural beauty ,,specially sea settings ,humourous dialogs with utmost simplicity and realistic performances by actors ,everything is admirable.

sometimes you do not plan to make a great movie with highly perfection attitude but movie becomes and gets applauded ,,same happened with this movie,what i believe

what is metaphor Mario asks Pablo says-like sky is weeping what does it mean Mario says means to say sky is raining Mario's response it's complicated and Pablo's response that complication does not have to do anything with person's emotions

very meaningful and soulful dialogs ,that is the reason movie does not become boring end of the movie is very surprising ,it keeps you involve in the movie

movie was shot on the island near by Meditteranean sea and every time tides go and again come to touch coastal areas

that resembles one excellent scene goes with the hope to come with another lovely scene filled with emotional and heart touching dialogs to touch your heart

movie is pretty simple but can you predict what's gonna happen in next scene ,probably not ,it has certain surprising elements

this movie is not a movie this is everlasting experience to live with and cherish it