This week sees the release in the USA of Letters to Juliet, a romance set in Verona and starring Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave, Chris Egan and Gael Garcia Bernal. When Sophie [Amanda Seyfried] travels to Verona, she joins the “Secretaries to Juliet”, a group who reply to letters sent to Juliet asking for advice on love. She replies to a letter dated 1951 and inspires its writer, Claire [Vanessa Redgrave] to search Italy for her lost love. The film is directed by Gary Winick and is expected to be a blockbuster. Its UK release date is 9th June.
Meanwhile, in Italy Marco Bellocchio’s film Vincere won eight awards at the David di Donatello Awards Ceremony on Friday. These are the country’s most prestigious film industry awards. “Vincere” tells the story of Mussolini’s mistress or first wife, Ida Dalser, who bore him a son, Benito Albino, in 1915. Although Dalser gave Mussolini all her money to help him found the newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia, he treated her cruelly and eventually had her committed to an asylum, where she died in 1937. Mussolini denied that he had married her and no documentation to prove a marriage has ever been found. The film stars Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida and Filippo Timi as both the young Mussolini and Benito Albino.
However, the “David” for best film went to L’uomo che verrà [The Man who Will Come] directed by Giorgio Diritti. This is a film about the Nazi massacre in the village of Marzabotto [Bologna, Emilia-Romagna] during World War II.
In a fourth film story to emerge over the weekend, Italian Culture Minister Sandro Bondi has announced his refusal to attend the 2010 Cannes Film Festival because it will screen Sabina Guzzanti’s Draquila, a documentary which satirises Mr Berlusconi’s response to the L’Aquila earthquake in 2009. Mr Bondi said that the film is “propaganda which offends the truth and the entire Italian population”.
Would you write a letter to Juliet?
Which of the four films would you like to see?
Related stories
L'Aquila - One year exactly.
Basilicata coast to coast.
You can't beat made in Italy.
La Mussolini - an extraordinary combination.
