Cast: Claudio Bigagli, Galatea Ranzi, Michael Vartan, Lino Capolicchio, Constanze
Engelbrecht
Directors: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Producer: Grazia Volpi
Screenplay: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani and Sandro Petraglia
Cinematography: Giuseppe Lanci
Music: Nicola Pilvani
U.S. Distributor: Fine Line Features
In Italian with subtitles
The latest offering from the Taviani brothers (Padre Padrone, The Night of the Shooting Stars) is Fiorile, a series of four vignettes interconnected by the common theme of a curse that haunts a family through the centuries. Since the late 1790s, the Benedettis, called the Maledettis ("the cursed") by the peasants who accept the stories about them, have been victims of a series of strange and tragic events. If fate has a sense of irony, it's on display here, as the source of this family's riches lies at the root of their misery.
The story opens a few years before 1800, as Napoleon's army marches through Tuscany. A young French officer, Jean (Michael Vartan), falls in love with a local girl, Elisabetta (Galatea Ranzi), whom he calls "Fiorile" after the French Revolutionaries' name for the month of May. While the two dally in the woods, Elisabetta's brother, Corrado (Claudio Bigagli), steals a chest full of gold that had been placed in Jean's charge. This act leads to the officer's disgrace, and heartbreak for Elisabetta.
One-hundred years later, one of Elisabetta's descendents (also played by Galatea Ranzi, to emphasize the familial relationship) is given an opportunity to avenge her ancestor. The target of her wrath is her brother, a near-copy of Corrado (Claudio Bigagli again).
During the war years of the mid-forties, another member of the Benedetti family, Massimo (Michael Vartan's second role), must struggle with his belief in the family curse while fighting to help the anti-Mussolini rebels with whom he sympathizes. Captured, then inexplicably set free by the fascists, Massimo must live not only with the specter of the Benedetti history hanging over his life, but also the weight of guilt that he was spared when his comrades were killed.
The final episode of Fiorile takes place in modern times, and has Massimo's son and grandchildren visiting the old man at the Tuscany home where he has become a hermit. Their arrival opens old wounds and forces him to face truths he would prefer to hide from.
The 18th century segment of Fiorile is brilliantly-written and performed. Irony, tragedy, and romance blend together to form what is by far the best half-hour of the film. After that, however, the characters become progressively less-compelling, and the storyline gradually loses its appeal. The second vignette is largely static; the third manages something of a recovery; and the fourth goes nowhere, doing little to close the "curse" story in satisfying fashion.
The Tavianis have done some interesting things in this movie, such as casting the three main leads in multiple roles to emphasize the intertwining of the fates of the Benedettis across the decades. Unfortunately, the brothers are unable to sustain the sense of immediacy inherent in the first act. Fiorile starts strong but finishes weak.
The cost of greed is not a new theme, nor is the concept of the sins of the fathers being visited upon their children. Fiorile weds the two together, but makes the mistake of presenting the initial act far more impressively than the consequences, and that somehow seems in large part to defeat the point that the filmmakers are attempting to present.
© 1994 James Berardinelli