The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Winner of a 1971 Academy Award for Best Foreign film, Vittorio De Sica's (The Bicycle Thief) last major critically acclaimed effort offers a study of an aristocratic, but politically naïve, Jewish-Italian family whose carefree, indolent young adult children invite their friends into their prelapsarian garden for tennis and cocktails as Mussolini's Fascist Italy gradually begins to adopt the anti-Semitic policies of its Axis ally. Seen primarily through the eyes of Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio), an upwardly mobile working class student who strives in vain to win over the beautiful but mysteriously aloof Micol Finzi-Contini (Dominque Sanda), De Sica's film is at its best when chronicling the tragically slow stripping of, first, privilege, then custom, and finally basic human rights amongst the Jewish-Italian population. Unfortunately, however, the love story disappoints (Sanda's numerous close-ups are no substitute for insight into character, sorely lacking here). I confess that I was swept up by the film's emotional power 30 years ago, but today, the weak characterizations, jarring conventions of the period (awkward looking quick zooms were all the rage), and rather lackluster DVD transfer, make this a less than stellar viewing experience. Optional. (R. Pitman)