Bread and Tulips (2000)

After being forgotten in a highway café during a bus trip, a housewife decides to start a new life by herself in Venice.

Director:

Silvio Soldini

Writers:

Silvio Soldini (story), Doriana Leondeff (story)

Stars:

Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz, Giuseppe Battiston

32 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Licia Maglietta	...	Rosalba Barletta
Bruno Ganz	...	Fernando Girasole
Giuseppe Battiston	...	Costantino Caponangeli
Antonio Catania	...	Mimmo Barletta
Marina Massironi	...	Grazia
Felice Andreasi	...	Fermo
Vitalba Andrea	...	Ketty
Tatiana Lepore	...	Adele
Daniela Piperno	...	Woman in Car
Tiziano Cucchiarelli	...	Nic
Matteo Febo	...	Salvo
Lina Bernardi	...	Nancy
Mauro Marino	...	Lello
Antonia Miccoli	...	Sami
Ludovico Paladin	...	Eliseo

Storyline

Life is often just "for sake of" and we need to know about it and want to benefit when we are presented with the occasion to. A bit for "sake of", a bit for choice, Rosalba, young and apart from anything a housewife of Pescara, during a bus trip after she found herself alone and...forgotten in a highway café, decides not to wait for her husband and sons to come back to pick her up but instead decides to find her own way home. She is a little offended that she has been forgotten by her family and has been told by her husband to stay put so, rebelling a little she finds herself hitch-hiking direct for Venice. Her adventure in Venice begins meeting strange but fascinating people. Fermo; an anarchistic florist, Grazia; a masseuse and Fernando; a waiter from Iceland that speaks his own language of Italian.

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | italy | amateur detective | bus | housewife | 

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Taglines:

A woman's fairy tale of hope.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief language, some sensuality and drug references

Did You Know?

Trivia

The poem that Fernando recites is "Orlando Furioso" by Ludovico Ariosto.

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Quotes

Rosalba Barletta: Is it true that you're on drugs?
Nic: Who told you that?
Rosalba Barletta: Aunt Ketty.
Nic: Mom, that's not true. Weed is not a drug.
Rosalba Barletta: No? Then what is it?
Nic: Weed.

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Connections

Features Out of the Past (1947)

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Soundtracks

Eclisse Twist
Written by Michelangelo Antonioni (as M. Antonioni) and Giovanni Fusco (as G. Fusco)
Performed by Tuscolano Brothers

User Reviews

I fell in love again with Italy and European mature-woman idolatry.

Recently Charlotte Rampling in `Under the Sand' and Tilda Swinton in `The Deep End' remind us that European cinema has long portrayed middle-age women as desirable in a way immature American men are unaccustomed, so conditioned are we to a youth culture that adores naughty teenage waifs and jaded 20-somethings.

Now the Italian `Bread and Tulips' introduces us to the attractive Licia Maglietta as the middle-aged housewife refugee finding love and friendship in Venice. Although the setup of this film left me fidgeting for action, when I saw her liberated from her family and slowly begin her renewal, I fell in love again with Italy and European mature-woman idolatry. I don't know if it's the ample breasts, knowing smiles, or willingness to sass that gets my attention, or maybe all of the above. I do know 2 hours of these savvy women are far more satisfying than any days with Julia Roberts or Kirsten Dunst.

Let me not ignore the true man in this tale: Bruno Ganz, the angel from `Wings of Desire,' plays brooding waiter Fernando, ready at any moment to hang himself until Rosealba renews his love of love and epic verse. Ganz is a marvel of understated acting, a perfect companion to the romantic Rosealba.

The inevitable comparison between director Silvio Soldini and Woody Allen, with their genial sense of city and women, is appropriate, especially considering the similarity between Soldini's romantic Venice and Allen's lyrical Paris in `Everyone Says I Love You.'

`Bread and Tulips' received several David Di Donatello Awards, the Italian version of the Oscars, for best picture, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, director, and three others. To see Rosealba go from frumpy mom to bohemian accordion and tulip player is worth wading through a boring Wayne Knight, wanabee plumber cum detective or over the top, philandering, bourgeois bathroom fixtures magnate husband. Some of this stuff is downright dull slapstick, a little like the sophomoric stumbling of `Life is Beautiful,' but when Rosealba smiles, it's very good.

Details

Official Sites:

Archivio del Cinema Italiano (ANICA) Cinema Italiano

Country:

Italy Switzerland

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

2 November 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bread and Tulips

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$32,933, 29 July 2001

Gross USA:

$5,318,679

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,719,848

Company Credits

Production Co:

Monogatari, Istituto Luce, Rai Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1