Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)

This is a dramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare.

Director:

Franco Zeffirelli

Writers:

Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Kenneth Ross

Stars:

Graham Faulkner, Judi Bowker, Leigh Lawson

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Graham Faulkner	...	St. Francis of Assisi
Judi Bowker	...	Clare
Leigh Lawson	...	Bernardo
Kenneth Cranham	...	Paolo
Lee Montague	...	Pietro Di Bernardone
Valentina Cortese	...	Pica Di Bernardone
Alec Guinness	...	Pope Innocent III
Michael Feast	...	Silvestro
Nicholas Willatt	...	Giocondo
John Sharp	...	Bishop Guido
Adolfo Celi	...	Consul
Francesco Guerrieri	...	Deodato
Peter Firth
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robin Askwith	...	Minor Role (scenes deleted)
Rossano Attrotico

Storyline

This is a dramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare.

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Plot Keywords:

male objectification | naked in public | barefoot male | cmnm | cmnm scene | 

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Taglines:

A Motion Picture That Celebrates The Timeless Joy of Original Innocence

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 December 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Filming Locations:

Abbey of Sant' Antimo, Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Euro International Film (EIA), Vic Films Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso was also considered for the lead role.

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Goofs

Francis is shown part way down the roof line when he picks up the bird, but without walking any further, he is at the end of the roof when he lets it go.

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Quotes

St. Francis of Assisi: [to Giocondo] We are not a regiment of priests for whom the sacred vow of chastity is the discipline. We are just a band of men who simply love God, each according to his own capacity.

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Alternate Versions

The Italian version runs 14 minutes longer, has a different score (no Donovan) and is totally recut, almost to the extent of being a different film. The film is not a flashback, it begins as the boys travel to an attic where they've acquired suits of Armour, then into the credits, then an extended ride through the fields with totally different dialogue. Different scenes, shots and dialogue throughout.

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Connections

Referenced in The South Bank Show: Sir Alec Guinness (1985)

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Soundtracks

Fratello sole sorella luna
(Riz Ortolani-Benjamin)
Sung by Claudio Baglioni

User Reviews

Architectural Cloth

Three things of interest here.

The first is cinematic. I am engaged in a movie indexing project that will likely go open source. There are a few beginning qualities I've been working on. I think I will add architectural cloth, as this film reminds me. Its main cinematic device — other than the ordinary ones — is the use of cloth to denote notions of eye, story, vision. There are four specific episodes here as well as the general acting style where the actors have been directed to act into their clothes.

The second is largely historical and probably will only be appreciated by old farts like me. I can't quite explain the extent of the Beatles influence on the late sixties. There just hasn't been anything like it since then. They were more than admired and emulated, they were spiritual leaders. They were serious about this if not altogether willing, and that comment about being more "popular" than Jesus wasn't an offhand statement. In 1968, they were in Rishikesh, India seriously putting together something that they thought was attuned to cosmic structure. It was, in a sense. With them were a few Beach Boys and Donovan.

Around this time they were approached by Zeffirelli to take roles in his "Brother Moon" project. They would have; Paul was the fellow behind the movie projects (and most else) and he truly wanted to. But this was the time of the breakup. So what happened was Zefferelli make the film with ordinary actors and Donovan's music composed with The Beatles at Rishikesh. So at least, this is an echo of the profound influence they had, perhaps as profound as Francis, and perhaps as compromised by the surrounding institutions.

The third has to do with the church. How strange it is that the two most spiritually deep "Biblical" films (in my experience) were made by two gay Italians. These were men (Zeffirelli and Pasolini) not welcome in their chosen world, in fact persecuted for their being, persecuted by their own faith. And they would be even more today as the leadership has "gotten tough with queers."

Lots of lessons here. I first saw this by an aesthetic hippie in about 73 who was carrying a worn print around from town to town to show it in coffeehouses, small ashrams and any alley he could find a spot in.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.