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Encyclopedia
Sunflower is a 1970
Italian
drama film
directed by Vittorio De Sica
. It was the first occidental
film to be filmed in the USSR
.
Neapolitan lovers', Giovanna (Sophia Loren
) and Antonio (Marcello Mastroianni
), honeymoon is cut short by Antonio's deployment to the Russian Front during World War II. Antonio does not return when the war is over, and is listed as missing in action. Despite the odds, Giovanna is convinced her true love has survived the war and is still in Russia. Determined, she journeys to Russia to find him.
In Russia, Giovanna visits the sunflower fields, where there is supposedly one flower for each fallen Italian soldier, and where the Germans forced the Italians to dig their own mass graves. Eventually, Giovanna finds Antonio, but by now he has started a second family with a woman who saved his life, and they have one daughter. Herself childless, having been faithful to her newly-wed husband, Giovanna returns to Italy, heartbroken, but unwilling to disrupt her love's new life. Some more years later, Antonio returns to Giovanna, asking her to come back with him to Russia. Meanwhile, Giovanna has tried to move on with her own life, moving out of their first home together and into her own apartment. She has started dating again, has given birth to a baby boy, and is living as a single parent. He explains his new life, how war changes a man, how safe he felt with his new woman after years of death. Unwilling to ruin Antonio's daughter's or her own new son's life, Giovanna refuses to leave Italy, expressing an intense emotional maturity in her choice. As they part, Antonio gives her a fur scarf, something he promised to bring her back years ago. The lovers lock eyes as Antonio's train takes him away from Giovanna, and from Italy, forever.
1970 in film
The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....
Italian
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
. It was the first occidental
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
film to be filmed in the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Plot
"A woman born for love. A man born to love her. A timeless moment in a world gone mad."Neapolitan lovers', Giovanna (Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
) and Antonio (Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
), honeymoon is cut short by Antonio's deployment to the Russian Front during World War II. Antonio does not return when the war is over, and is listed as missing in action. Despite the odds, Giovanna is convinced her true love has survived the war and is still in Russia. Determined, she journeys to Russia to find him.
In Russia, Giovanna visits the sunflower fields, where there is supposedly one flower for each fallen Italian soldier, and where the Germans forced the Italians to dig their own mass graves. Eventually, Giovanna finds Antonio, but by now he has started a second family with a woman who saved his life, and they have one daughter. Herself childless, having been faithful to her newly-wed husband, Giovanna returns to Italy, heartbroken, but unwilling to disrupt her love's new life. Some more years later, Antonio returns to Giovanna, asking her to come back with him to Russia. Meanwhile, Giovanna has tried to move on with her own life, moving out of their first home together and into her own apartment. She has started dating again, has given birth to a baby boy, and is living as a single parent. He explains his new life, how war changes a man, how safe he felt with his new woman after years of death. Unwilling to ruin Antonio's daughter's or her own new son's life, Giovanna refuses to leave Italy, expressing an intense emotional maturity in her choice. As they part, Antonio gives her a fur scarf, something he promised to bring her back years ago. The lovers lock eyes as Antonio's train takes him away from Giovanna, and from Italy, forever.
Cast
- Sophia LorenSophia LorenSophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
– Giovanna - Marcello MastroianniMarcello MastroianniMarcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
– Antonio - Lyudmila Savelyeva – Masha (Maria)
- Galina Andreyeva – Valentina, Soviet official
- Anna Carena – Antonio's Mother
- Germano Longo – Ettore
- Nadya Serednichenko – Woman in sunflower fields
- Glauco OnoratoGlauco Onorato-Filmography:*Spavaldi e Innamorati , directed by Giuseppe Vari*I Baccanali di Tiberio , directed by Giorgio Simonelli*Black Sabbath , directed by Mario Bava and Salvatore Billitteri...
– Returning soldier - Silvano Tranquilli – Italian worker in Russia
- Marisa Traversi – Prostitute
- Gunars Cilinskis – Russian Ministry Official
- Carlo Ponti, Jr. – Giovanna's Baby
- Pippo Starnazza – Italian official
- Dino Peretti
- Giorgio Basso
Awards
- David di DonatelloDavid di DonatelloDavid di Donatello, named after Donatello's David, is a movie award assigned each year for cinematic performances and production by Ente David di Donatello, part of Accademia del Cinema Italiano. It is the Italian equivalent to the Academy Award. There are 24 categories as of 2006.- History :The...
: Best Actress (Sophia Loren) - Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Original ScoreAcademy Award for Best Original ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...