Facing Windows (2003)

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

27 wins & 23 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	...	Tintora
Olimpia Carlisi	...	Donna negozio stoffe
Ohame-Brancy Chibuzo	...	Alessio (as Ohame Brancy Chibuzo)
Carlo Daniele	...	Marco
Rosaria De Cicco	...	Barista
Lucianna De Falco	...	Marilena

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:

italy | old man | memory | marriage | lost | 

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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

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

Il Confronto vocal
Written by Andrea Guerra

User Reviews

Past and Present Sentimentally Intersects in Contemporary Italy

"Facing Windows (La Finestra di fronte)" is like a very European and more sophisticated take on "The Notebook," as it shifts between romantic and culinary past and present through the in-and-out consciousness of an elderly man.

The "Rear Window" eroticism is just one element that accidentally brings together tangled, stymied lives swirling around lovely, exhausted, frustrated chef, wife and mother Giovanna Mezzogiorno, where each child, man, woman, friend and neighbor has separate priorities and fantasies that annoying real life interferes with, from the practical to the political.

Each character and their ties are both delightfully and surprisingly complex and the actors are so comfortable bringing each to complete life that you think you too should be able to come out of the theater speaking Italian so naturally.

But this is a frank, gritty, contemporary, urban Italy we don't usually get to see, with multi-racial immigrants, underemployment and a Fascist past.

The sentimentalism of the live with no regrets lesson is leavened by the seriousness of the final revelations and the compromises that each character still makes.

The music selections nicely fit each character.

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 USA:

$36,061, 20 June 2004

Gross USA:

$543,354

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,535,312

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