A Brief Vacation
Encyclopedia
A Brief Vacation is a 1973 Italian melodrama
directed by Vittorio de Sica
. The script, written by Cesare Zavattini
, was inspired by an Apollinaire
adage ("Sickness is the vacation of the poor").
who falls ill on the job and is prescribed a stay at a mountain retreat. She goes despite her husband's wishes, leaving behind her thankless work shift and her frustrating in-laws, but also her three children. The film addresses issues such as the health care system
, labor conditions, spousal satisfaction, and class struggle
.
… Clara
Renato Salvatori
… Franco Mataro
Daniel Quenaud … Luigi
Adriana Asti
… Scanziani
Hugo Blanco … Brother-in-law
Christian De Sica
… Mariani
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
directed by Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
. The script, written by Cesare Zavattini
Cesare Zavattini
Cesare Zavattini was an Italian screenwriter and one of the first theorists and proponents of the Neorealist movement in Italian cinema.-Brief biography:...
, was inspired by an Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire
Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....
adage ("Sickness is the vacation of the poor").
Synopsis
The film concerns a female factory worker from CalabriaCalabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
who falls ill on the job and is prescribed a stay at a mountain retreat. She goes despite her husband's wishes, leaving behind her thankless work shift and her frustrating in-laws, but also her three children. The film addresses issues such as the health care system
Health care system
A health care system is the organization of people, institutions, and resources to deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations....
, labor conditions, spousal satisfaction, and class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
.
Selected cast
Florinda BolkanFlorinda Bolkan
Florinda Bolkan is a Brazilian actress, born Florinda Bulcão.-Biography:Daughter of a congressman and a granddaughter of a priest on her mother's side, Florinda lived in Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará state, and in Rio de Janeiro until she became a world citizen...
… Clara
Renato Salvatori
Renato Salvatori
Renato Salvatori was an Italian multi-purpose character actor.-Biography:Salvatori was born in Seravezza, Province of Lucca....
… Franco Mataro
Daniel Quenaud … Luigi
Adriana Asti
Adriana Asti
Adriana Asti is an Italian actress.She was married to Bernardo Bertolucci.-Selected filmography:*Città di notte, by Leopoldo Trieste *Arrangiatevi!, by Mauro Bolognini...
… Scanziani
Hugo Blanco … Brother-in-law
Christian De Sica
Christian De Sica
Christian De Sica is an Italian actor, director and scriptwriter.- Life :De Sica was born in Rome, Italy, the second son of Italian director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader. After attending liceo classico in Rome, he worked in a hotel in Venezuela, where he began his career as...
… Mariani