Facing Windows (2003)
"La finestra di fronte" (original title)

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 ...

Director:

Ferzan Ozpetek

Writers:

Ferzan Ozpetek, Gianni Romoli

Stars:

Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Massimo Girotti, Raoul Bova

21 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Credited 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 (as Ohame Brancy Chibuzo)
Carlo Daniele	...	Marco
Rosaria De Cicco	...	Barista
Luciana De Falco	...	Marilena (as Lucianna De Falco)

Storyline

Giovanna is a bookkeeper in a company which packs chickens. She is married to a man who has a precarious job. First she starts being curious about a young man who lives in the block opposite hers, and then she falls in love with him. The relationship between the two becomes much stronger when she starts to find out more about him from an old man who bursts into their lives. The old man, obsessed with the memories of some things that happened n the long past autumn of 1943, has lost his memory and finds refuge in Giovanna.

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Plot Keywords:

memory | old man | lost | marriage | love | 

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Taglines:

Desire knows no bounds.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures Classics [United States] Zootrope Films [France]

Country:

Italy Turkey Portugal UK

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

18 June 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Facing Windows

Filming Locations:

Ponte Sisto, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$36,061 (USA) (18 June 2004)

Gross:

$541,682 (USA) (8 October 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

R&C Produzioni, AFS Film, Clap Filmes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Soundtracks

"Le Torte e i Ricordi"
Written by Andrea Guerra

User Reviews

Sometimes it takes a total stranger to prompt us to step back and rethink who we are, what we really want in life

"Facing Windows" 2003 is a very thoughtful, gentle Italian film telling us how frustrating human conditions of the heart can be transformed by one another.

Giovanna Mezzogiorno (also in "Don't Tell" aka Beast of the Heart) plays Giovanna the central 'heroine' - a young woman with plenty of mixed emotions, who is discontented with her (chicken factory accountant) job, mother to two children, wife to a husband who's night shift job schedule frustrates her, and most of time she shouts at him and wouldn't want to listen - yes, she's quite bitchy about herself, though finds brief solace when doing bit of occasional baking. Through the course of meeting the unexpected stranger that Massimo Girotti portrayed - Simone/Davide the old man at a lost, who seems to have amnesiac problem and was temporarily taken in by Giovanna's husband into their home against her wishes, yet her whole world starts to change. Writer-director Ferzan Ozpetek has a way of telling his stories, always full of humanity, foibles and virtues mixed together, turning out a thoughtful film never short of gentleness and the sharing of human kindness.

There are side events, of course: the young man whom she now and then noticed across her kitchen window in the next building, the flashbacks and 'Déjà Vu' storyline that the old man Simone experiences, the delightful turn of events - those attractive delicious-looking display of cakes and cakes - what a baker's dream!

Filmmaker Ozpetek, who was born in Turkey and lived in Italy, includes poetry in his films: he introduced Turkish poet Nâz1m Hikmet through his characters in "His Secret Life." Here, we get to hear Giovanna thinking aloud, talking to Davide: " I feel your gestures in mine, and I recognize you when you speak. Does everyone who leaves you - always leave part of themselves with you? Is this the secret of having memories?"

The cast is just wonderful, of course, Mezzogiorno and Girotti were fascinating to watch. The music by Andrea Guerra complemented the cinematography by Gianfilippo Corticelli. If you'd like more of Ozpetek's work, try "Hamam: A Turkish Bath" 1998 (my first IMDb review posted on 10 January 1999) and "His Secret Life" aka The Ignorant Fairies, 2001.