The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (film)

1970 Italian film

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Italian theatrical release poster

Italian| Il giardino dei Finzi Contini
Directed by| Vittorio De Sica
Screenplay by| Vittorio Bonicelli [it]
Ugo Pirro
Based on| The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
by Giorgio Bassani
Produced by| Arthur Cohn
Gianni Hecht Lucari
Artur Brauner
Starring| Lino Capolicchio
Dominique Sanda
Helmut Berger
Fabio Testi
Romolo Valli
Cinematography| Ennio Guarnieri
Edited by| Adriana Novelli [it]
Music by| Manuel De Sica

Production
companies

Documento Film
CCC-Filmkunst

Distributed by| Titanus (Italy)
CCC-Filmkunst (West Germany)

Release date

* 4 December 1970 (1970-12-04)

Running time

| 94 minutes
Countries| Italy
West Germany
Language| Italian
Box office| $1,590,000[1]

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Italian: Il giardino dei Finzi Contini) is a 1970 historical war drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. The screenplay by Ugo Pirro and Vittorio Bonicelli adapts Italian Jewish author Giorgio Bassani's 1962 semi-autobiographical novel, about the lives of an upper-class Jewish family in Ferrara during the Fascist era. The film stars Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda, Helmut Berger, Romolo Valli, and Fabio Testi in his breakthrough role.

An Italian and West German co-production,[2] The Garden of the Finzi-Continis was entered into the 21st Berlin International Film Festival and won the Golden Bear. The film won the 1972 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and earned a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

## Plot

[edit]

In 1938 in Ferrara, the Finzi Contini are a rich Jewish family living in a mansion set in a park. When Jews are banned from the city's tennis club, the family allow the friends of their two children, Micòl and the sickly Alberto, to use their private tennis court. Among them are Giorgio, son of a Jewish businessman, and Giampiero, a communist and a gentile. Giorgio has been in love with Micòl since early adolescence, but she is ambivalent.

As war approaches, Giorgio's brother moves to France to pursue his studies while Giorgio, close to graduation, decides to stay in Ferrara and, when Jews are banned from the university library, the Finzi-Contini allow him to use their private library. Micòl leaves to stay in Venice and on her return to Ferrara she definitively rejects Giorgio.

In 1940, when Italy enters the war, Giampiero is conscripted while Giorgio as a Jew is exempt. On his last night in Ferrara, Giampiero meets up with Giorgio and, when they part at midnight, Giorgio has an urge to see Micòl one more time. Climbing the wall of the Finzi Contini family park, he notices a light in the garden hut and, looking in, sees a naked Micòl beside Giampiero.

In 1943, amid rumours of further measures against the Jews, Giorgio goes underground and the police arrest the whole Finzi Contini family, holding them with the other Jews of the city in a school. Micòl finds herself herded with her frail grandmother into the same classroom she attended as a child. There she sees Giorgio's father, who informs her that Giorgio has escaped. The two embrace, their future as unclear as the fog hanging over the city. Giampiero has died in the Soviet Union.

## Cast

[edit]

Dominique Sanda as Micòl Lino Capolicchio as Giorgio

* Lino Capolicchio as Giorgio
* Alessandro D'Alatri as young Giorgio
* Dominique Sanda as Micòl Finzi-Contini
* Cinzia Bruno [it] as young Micòl
* Helmut Berger as Alberto Finzi-Contini
* Fabio Testi as Giampiero Malnate
* Romolo Valli as Beniamino, Giorgio's father
* Camillo Cesarei as Ermanno Finzi-Contini
* Katina Morisani as Olga Finzi-Contini
* Inna Alexeievna as Regina Finzi-Contini
* Barbara Pilavin [it] as Giorgio's mother
* Ettore Geri [it] as Perotti, the majordomo
* Raffaele Curi [it] as Ernesto
* Giampaolo Duregon as Bruno
* Marcella Gentile as Fanny
* Franco Nebbia as Professor De Marchis

### Casting notes

[edit]

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis marked the debut or near-debut for some of its stars, notably the actors who played the two adult Finzi-Contini children, Micòl and Alberto. For Dominique Sanda (Micòl), it was her first Italian feature film (followed by such films as The Conformist and 1900). For Helmut Berger (Alberto), it was his third feature film.

## Production

[edit]

The director seriously considered entrusting the lead role to singer Patty Pravo, who had to refuse due to too many work commitments.

### Screenplay

[edit]

In Bassani's novel, the narrator is assumed to be the author himself. In the film, De Sica tells the story entirely through dialogue, with the narrator being the protagonist, Giorgio. The film ends with the Finzi-Contini family's deportation, whereas in the novel, Giorgio, who fled abroad in time to avoid this, recalls the story of his youth and his first impossible love, after 14 years.

### De Sica and Bassani

[edit]

Initially Giorgio Bassani cooperated in the drafting of the dialogues and the screenplay of the film but after some disagreements and misunderstandings, the writer and the director entered into open conflict (also due to the fact that in the film the relationship between Micòl and Giampiero is made explicit, which is not present in the novel). Bassani asked that his name be removed from the credits of the film. His name was duly removed as one of its script-writers and the opening credits just state that it was ‘freely derived from the novel by Giorgio Bassani'.

### Locations

[edit]

Villa Ada near Rome was used for the garden, while the Finzi Contini villa is the Litta Bolognini villa in Vedano al Lambro, a municipality in the Brianza area, adjacent to the Monza Park. The entrance to the garden in the film is really in Ferrara, in Corso Ercole I d'Este [it], near where Bassani had imagined it. The other exteriors were shot in Ferrara; noteworthy are the Estense castle and the city walls, the Palazzo dei Diamanti, the Cathedral of San Giorgio and also some famous streets.

## Reception

[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2025)

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### Critical response

[edit]

The film was a great success with audiences, but critics were more mixed. Morando Morandini criticized the film for its "rather corny" portrayal,[3] while Tullio Kezich considered it one of the director's best works in many years, calling it "a masterpiece of 20th-century cinema."[4]

It received acclaim from international critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 16 reviews, with an average score of 7.9/10.[5]

Roger Ebert gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, writing that the film depicted pre-war Italy "as a perpetual wait for something no one admitted would come: war and the persecution of the Jews." Ebert suggested that the titular garden was used as a metaphor for the waiting period in anticipation of war, praising the visual presentation of the garden as creating ambiguity and uneasiness in order to reflect the uncertainty of what would happen to the Finzi Contini family. Ebert concluded his review by stating that "De Sica's film creates a feeling of nostalgia for a lost time and place, but it isn’t the nostalgia of looking back. It’s the nostalgia of the time itself, when people still inhabiting their world could sense it slipping away, and already missed what they had not yet lost."[6]

American producer and film critic Steven Schneider included the film in his list of "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die."[7]

### Awards and nominations

[edit]

In 1972, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.[8] It won the Golden Bear at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival in 1971.[9] It was De Sica's penultimate film.

## Restoration

[edit]

The restored digital version, curated by the Istituto Luce Cinecittà[10] and performed at the "Studio Cine" in Rome and "The rediscovered image" in Bologna, was presented in the spring of 2015.[11]

## See also

[edit]

* List of Holocaust films
* List of submissions to the 44th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
* List of Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 296\. ISBN 978-0-8357-1776-2. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
2. ^ "Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1970)". BFI. Archived from the original on May 8, 2017. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
3. ^ "De Sica e l'Oscar del 1972 - Cinema". Rai Cultura (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-08-17.
4. ^ "Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini tra le tracce di maturità 2018: il film di De Sica dal romanzo di Giorgio Bassani".
5. ^ "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis". Rotten Tomatoes. 1971-12-16. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
6. ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Garden (1970) movie review". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
7. ^ Schneider, Steven Jay (2013). 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Barron's Educational Series. p. 517\. ISBN 978-0-7641-6613-6.
8. ^ "The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
9. ^ "Berlinale 1971: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
10. ^ "Il giardino dei Finzi Contini restaurato". Luce Cinecittà. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2025-08-17.
11. ^ "Restaurato Il giardino dei Finzi Contini". Cinematografo. 16 March 2015.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film (2nd ed. 2005) pp 148–149.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (film).

* The Garden of the Finzi-Continis at IMDb
* The Garden of the Finzi-Continis at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Vittorio De Sica

* Bibliography
* Filmography

* Red Roses (1940)
* Maddalena, Zero for Conduct (1940)
* Teresa Venerdì (1941)
* A Garibaldian in the Convent (1942)
* The Children Are Watching Us (1944)
* The Gates of Heaven (1945)
* Shoeshine (1946)
* Heart and Soul (1948)
* Bicycle Thieves (1948)
* Miracle in Milan (1951)
* Umberto D. (1952)
* Terminal Station (1953)
* The Gold of Naples (1954)
* The Roof (1956)
* Anna of Brooklyn (1958)
* Two Women (1960)
* The Last Judgment (1961)
* Boccaccio '70 (1962)
* The Condemned of Altona (1962)
* Il Boom (1963)
* Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)
* Marriage Italian Style (1964)
* Un monde nouveau (1966)
* After the Fox (1966)
* Woman Times Seven (1967)
* The Witches (1967)
* A Place for Lovers (1968)
* Sunflower (1970)
* The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)
* The Couples (1970)
* Lo chiameremo Andrea (1972)
* A Brief Vacation (1973)
* The Voyage (1974)

Awards for The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

* v
* t
* e

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

1947–1955
(Honorary)|

* 1947: Shoeshine – Vittorio De Sica
* 1948: Monsieur Vincent – Maurice Cloche
* 1949: Bicycle Thieves – Vittorio De Sica
* 1950: The Walls of Malapaga – René Clément
* 1951: Rashomon – Akira Kurosawa
* 1952: Forbidden Games – René Clément
* 1953: No Award
* 1954: Gate of Hell – Teinosuke Kinugasa
* 1955: Samurai, The Legend of Musashi – Hiroshi Inagaki

1956–1975|

* 1956: La Strada – Federico Fellini
* 1957: Nights of Cabiria – Federico Fellini
* 1958: My Uncle – Jacques Tati
* 1959: Black Orpheus – Marcel Camus
* 1960: The Virgin Spring – Ingmar Bergman
* 1961: Through a Glass Darkly – Ingmar Bergman
* 1962: Sundays and Cybèle – Serge Bourguignon
* 1963: 8½ – Federico Fellini
* 1964: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Vittorio De Sica
* 1965: The Shop on Main Street – Ján Kadár & Elmar Klos
* 1966: A Man and a Woman – Claude Lelouch
* 1967: Closely Watched Trains – Jiří Menzel
* 1968: War and Peace – Sergei Bondarchuk
* 1969: Z – Costa-Gavras
* 1970: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion – Elio Petri
* 1971: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Vittorio De Sica
* 1972: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie – Luis Buñuel
* 1973: Day for Night – François Truffaut
* 1974: Amarcord – Federico Fellini
* 1975: Dersu Uzala – Akira Kurosawa

1976–present|

* 1976: Black and White in Color – Jean-Jacques Annaud
* 1977: Madame Rosa – Moshé Mizrahi
* 1978: Get Out Your Handkerchiefs – Bertrand Blier
* 1979: The Tin Drum – Volker Schlöndorff
* 1980: Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears – Vladimir Menshov
* 1981: Mephisto – István Szabó
* 1982: Volver a Empezar ('To Begin Again') – José Luis Garci
* 1983: Fanny and Alexander – Ingmar Bergman
* 1984: Dangerous Moves – Richard Dembo
* 1985: The Official Story – Luis Puenzo
* 1986: The Assault – Fons Rademakers
* 1987: Babette's Feast – Gabriel Axel
* 1988: Pelle the Conqueror – Bille August
* 1989: Cinema Paradiso – Giuseppe Tornatore
* 1990: Journey of Hope – Xavier Koller
* 1991: Mediterraneo – Gabriele Salvatores
* 1992: Indochine – Régis Wargnier
* 1993: Belle Époque – Fernando Trueba
* 1994: Burnt by the Sun – Nikita Mikhalkov
* 1995: Antonia's Line – Marleen Gorris
* 1996: Kolya – Jan Svěrák
* 1997: Character – Mike van Diem
* 1998: Life Is Beautiful – Roberto Benigni
* 1999: All About My Mother – Pedro Almodóvar
* 2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Ang Lee
* 2001: No Man's Land – Danis Tanović
* 2002: Nowhere in Africa – Caroline Link
* 2003: The Barbarian Invasions – Denys Arcand
* 2004: The Sea Inside – Alejandro Amenábar
* 2005: Tsotsi – Gavin Hood
* 2006: The Lives of Others – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
* 2007: The Counterfeiters – Stefan Ruzowitzky
* 2008: Departures – Yōjirō Takita
* 2009: The Secret in Their Eyes – Juan José Campanella
* 2010: In a Better World – Susanne Bier
* 2011: A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
* 2012: Amour – Michael Haneke
* 2013: The Great Beauty – Paolo Sorrentino
* 2014: Ida – Paweł Pawlikowski
* 2015: Son of Saul – László Nemes
* 2016: The Salesman – Asghar Farhadi
* 2017: A Fantastic Woman – Sebastián Lelio
* 2018: Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
* 2019: Parasite – Bong Joon-ho
* 2020: Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg
* 2021: Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi
* 2022: All Quiet on the Western Front – Edward Berger
* 2023: The Zone of Interest – Jonathan Glazer
* 2024: I'm Still Here – Walter Salles

* v
* t
* e

Italian submissions for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

1947–1960|

* Shoeshine (1947)
* Bicycle Thieves (1949)
* The Walls of Malapaga (1950)
* La Strada (1956)
* Nights of Cabiria (1957)
* Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
* The Great War (1959)
* Kapo (1960)

1961–1980|

* La Notte (1961)
* The Four Days of Naples (1962)
* 8½ (1963)
* Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1964)
* Marriage Italian Style (1965)
* The Battle of Algiers (1966)
* China Is Near (1967)
* The Girl with the Pistol (1968)
* Fellini Satyricon (1969)
* Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
* The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971)
* Roma (1972)
* Amarcord (1974)
* Scent of a Woman (1975)
* Seven Beauties (1976)
* A Special Day (1977)
* I nuovi mostri (1978)
* To Forget Venice (1979)
* A Leap in the Dark (1980)

1981–2000|

* Three Brothers (1981)
* The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982)
* And the Ship Sails On (1983)
* Where's Picone? (1984)
* Macaroni (1985)

* Summer Night (1986)
* The Family (1987)
* The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988)
* Cinema Paradiso (1989)
* Open Doors (1990)
* Mediterraneo (1991)
* The Stolen Children (1992)
* The Great Pumpkin (1993)
* Lamerica (1994)
* The Star Maker (1995)
* My Generation (1996)
* The Best Man (1997)
* Life Is Beautiful (1998)
* Not of this World (1999)
* One Hundred Steps (2000)

2001–2020|

* The Son's Room (2001)
* Pinocchio (2002)
* I'm Not Scared (2003)
* The Keys to the House (2004)
* Don't Tell (2005)
* Golden Door (2006)
* The Unknown Woman (2007)
* Gomorrah (2008)
* Baarìa (2009)
* The First Beautiful Thing (2010)
* Terraferma (2011)
* Caesar Must Die (2012)
* The Great Beauty (2013)
* Human Capital (2014)
* Don't Be Bad (2015)
* Fire at Sea (2016)
* A Ciambra (2017)
* Dogman (2018)
* The Traitor (2019)
* Notturno (2020)

2021–present|

* The Hand of God (2021)
* Nostalgia (2022)
* Io capitano (2023)
* Vermiglio (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear

1951–1975|

* Cinderella (1951)
* Four in a Jeep (1951)
* In Beaver Valley (1951)
* Justice Is Done (1951)
* Without Leaving an Address (1951)
* One Summer of Happiness (1952)
* The Wages of Fear (1953)
* Hobson's Choice (1954)
* Die Ratten (1955)
* Invitation to the Dance (1956)
* 12 Angry Men (1957)
* Wild Strawberries (1958)
* Les Cousins (1959)
* El Lazarillo de Tormes (1960)
* La Notte (1961)
* A Kind of Loving (1962)
* Bushido, Samurai Saga (1963)
* To Bed or Not to Bed (1963)
* Dry Summer (1964)
* Alphaville (1965)
* Cul-de-sac (1966)
* The Departure (1967)
* Who Saw Him Die? (1968)
* Early Works (1969)
* The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971)
* The Canterbury Tales (1972)
* Distant Thunder (1973)
* The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)
* Adoption (1975)

1976–2000|

* Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)
* The Ascent (1977)
* Ascensor (1978)
* Las truchas (1978)
* What Max Said (1978)
* David (1979)
* Heartland (1980)
* Palermo or Wolfsburg (1980)
* Deprisa, Deprisa (1981)
* Veronika Voss (1982)
* Ascendancy (1983)
* La colmena (1983)
* Love Streams (1984)
* Wetherby (1985)
* The Woman and the Stranger (1985)
* Stammheim (1986)
* The Theme (1987)
* Red Sorghum (1988)
* Rain Man (1989)
* Larks on a String (1990)
* Music Box (1990)
* The House of Smiles (1991)
* Grand Canyon (1992)
* The Wedding Banquet (1993)
* Woman Sesame Oil Maker (1993)
* In the Name of the Father (1994)
* The Bait (1995)
* Sense and Sensibility (1996)
* The People vs. Larry Flynt (1997)
* Central Station (1998)
* The Thin Red Line (1999)
* Magnolia (2000)

2001–present|

* Intimacy (2001)
* Bloody Sunday (2002)
* Spirited Away (2002)
* In This World (2003)
* Head-On (2004)
* U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (2005)
* Grbavica (2006)
* Tuya's Marriage (2007)
* Elite Squad (2008)
* The Milk of Sorrow (2009)
* Honey (2010)
* A Separation (2011)
* Caesar Must Die (2012)
* Child's Pose (2013)
* Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014)
* Taxi (2015)
* Fire at Sea (2016)
* On Body and Soul (2017)
* Touch Me Not (2018)
* Synonyms (2019)
* There Is No Evil (2020)
* Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021)
* Alcarràs (2022)
* On the Adamant (2023)
* Dahomey (2024)
* Dreams (Sex Love) (2025)

* v
* t
* e

David di Donatello Award for Best Film

1970–2000|

* Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion / Metello (1970)
* The Conformist / The Garden of the Finzi-Continis / Waterloo (1971)
* This Kind of Love / The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1972)
* Alfredo, Alfredo / Ludwig (1973)
* Amarcord / Bread and Chocolate (1974)
* Conversation Piece / The Murri Affair (1975)
* Illustrious Corpses (1976)
* An Average Little Man / The Desert of the Tartars (1977)
* In the Name of the Pope King / I Am the Law (1978)
* Christ Stopped at Eboli / To Forget Venice / The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1979)
* I'm Starting from Three (1981)
* Talcum Powder (1982)
* The Night of the Shooting Stars (1983)
* And the Ship Sails On / Le Bal (1984)
* Carmen (1985)
* Let's Hope It's a Girl (1986)
* The Family (1987)
* The Last Emperor (1988)
* The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1989)
* Open Doors (1990)
* Mediterraneo / Towards Evening (1991)
* The Stolen Children (1992)
* The Great Pumpkin (1993)
* Caro diario (1994)
* La scuola (1995)
* August Vacation (1996)
* The Truce (1997)
* Life Is Beautiful (1998)
* Not of this World (1999)
* Bread and Tulips (2000)

2001–present|

* The Son's Room (2001)
* The Profession of Arms (2002)
* Facing Windows (2003)
* The Best of Youth (2004)
* The Consequences of Love (2005)
* The Caiman (2006)
* The Unknown Woman (2007)
* The Girl by the Lake (2008)
* Gomorrah (2009)
* The Man Who Will Come (2010)
* We Believed (2011)
* Caesar Must Die (2012)
* The Best Offer (2013)
* Human Capital (2014)
* Black Souls (2015)
* Perfect Strangers (2016)
* Like Crazy (2017)
* Love and Bullets (2018)
* Dogman (2019)
* The Traitor (2020)
* Hidden Away (2021)
* The Hand of God (2022)
* The Eight Mountains (2023)
* Io capitano (2024)
* Vermiglio (2025)

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