La finestra di fronte (2003)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Ferzan Ozpetek

Writers:

Ferzan Ozpetek (writer)
Gianni Romoli (writer)

Release Date:

18 June 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Desire knows no bounds.

Plot:

Overburdened and stuck in a greying marriage, Giovanna takes to caring for the Jewish Holocaust survivor her husband brings home. As she begins to reflect on her life, she turns to the man who lives across from her ...

Plot Keywords:

Memory | Old Man | Love | Holocaust Survivor | Marriage

Awards:

19 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Giovanna Mezzogiorno	...	Giovanna
Massimo Girotti	...	Simone / Davide Veroli
Raoul Bova	...	Lorenzo
Filippo Nigro	...	Filippo
Serra Yilmaz	...	Eminè
Maria Grazia Bon	...	Sara
Massimo Poggio	...	Young Davide
Ivan Bacchi	...	Simone
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chiara Andreis
Veronica Bruni	...	2ª Tintora
Olimpia Carlisi	...	Donna negozio
Ohame-Brancy Chibuzo	...	Alessio
Carlo Daniele	...	Marco
Rosaria De Cicco	...	Barista
Luciana De Falco	...	Marilena
Barbara Folchitto
Francesca Gamba
Benedetta Gargari	...	Martina
Enrico Grassi	...	Vittorio
Serena Habtom Mehari	...	Microbo
Flavio Insinna	...	Uomo forno
Elisabeth Kaza	...	Padrona negozio
Patrizia Loreti	...	1ª Tintora
Francesco Martino
Caterina Quaranta
Maurizio Romoli	...	La spia
Giorgio Sgobbi	...	Barman
Thierno Thiam
Billo Thiernothian	...	Giambo
Claudia Verdat
Giovanni Verdesca

Also Known As:

Facing Window (Australia) (International: English title)
Facing Windows (USA)
Karsi pencere (Turkey: Turkish title)
The Window Opposite (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

106 min | USA:102 min

Country:

Italy | Turkey | Portugal | UK

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Spain:13 | Chile:Y7 | South Korea:15 | Italy:T | Australia:M | Finland:K-11 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:M18 | USA:R | Argentina:13 | Brazil:14 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Ponte Sisto, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

R&C Produzioni

Trivia:

Massimo Girotti died on 6 January 2003 and the movie is dedicated to his memory. Before he was cast, Ferzan Ozpetek had considered also Jean Rochefort and Serge Reggiani for his role.

Soundtrack:

La Finestra di fronte epilogo

What a surprise!

I very much appreciated Ozpetek's previous film, "Le fate ignoranti", which has earned him a lot of respect on the part of both audiences and critics, in Italy and beyond. I was reluctant to go see this film because of the casting of Raoul Bova (a second-rate actor who doesn't have much substance behind his good looks and began his career as a teenage heartthrob - what a pity it didn't end there) and because of the reference to the Nazi deportation of Roman Jews, which took place on October 16th, 1943 - I just felt that to use this as a pretext for a gay love story was kind of cheap. But nearly everyone I knew who had gone see the film kept me telling that it was good, so I became so curious that I decided to go. Well, my friends were absolutely right.

Ozpetek's strength is his ability to portray characters that are realistic without being obvious, so everyone can relate to them without identifying with them. He showed that already good ability in "Le fate ignoranti" as well, but this time he seems to have developed it even further. His approach is always personal, and this enables him to make films that are deeply introspective. It is the kind of films that the French are usually good at making, but Ozpetek in not an imitator. What makes his films so DIFFERENT is that there seems an emotional involvement that is very difficult to find elsewhere; at the same time, this never translates into trite sentimentalism or dull rhetoric.

This is an outstanding film, and this is so also thanks to the performances given by most of the actors. Massimo Girotti, in his last appearance before his death, shows that, at about 80 years of age, he was still able to be a first-class actor (and this explains why he featured in so many films by Visconti); after this film, which is dedicated to him, we will all miss him even more than we already did. Giovanna Mezzogiorno, the daughter of a late actor herself, also gives an outstanding performance as the woman who finds herself at the crossroads and is torn between passion and the responsibilities of everyday life, between reality and desire, just like so many of us often are. Filippo Nigro, who also featured in a minor role in "Le fate ignoranti", is given a more important role in this film, and deservedly so. The only exception is Raoul Bova, and I wonder why Ozpetek seems to have a compelling need to cast "actors" who are more sort of toy boys, mostly in secondary roles (Bova in this case, Gabriel Garko in "Le fate ignoranti"), who usually have very limited acting abilities and who almost inevitably end up faring very poorly and suffering from the comparison that is inevitably drawn between their performances and those of the other actors who feature in the films; which is even more striking if we take into account the fact that Ozpetek seems to have the ability to rejuvenate actors and to make them play characters that are very different from their clichés (as an example, consider not only Massimo Girotti in this case, but also Margherita Buy in "le fate ignoranti").

Just one word for the soundtrack, which made the film even more touching and has spawned a major Italian chart hit.

The only criticism that can be made? How come that Italian directors seem to have lost the ability to say something about the society in which they live? In the past, they were able to be sardonic about it, and to intertwine the two levels, social and personal. Now the only films they seem able to make are personal-only stories, and that's a pity.

Altogether, a deeply recommended film.