Fabrizio Bentivoglio
In 1968, engineer Giorgio Rosa established the independent state called "The Isle of Roses" off the coast of Rimini, built on a platform outside the territorial waters, with Esperanto as the official language. The Italian authorities did not take it well because the micronation was seen as an expedient to not pay taxes on the revenues obtained thanks to the arrival of numerous tourists and curious people.
Although Pippo Genuardi seems to have cleared his mind by marrying Taninè Schilirò, daughter of the richest man in Vigàta, he is in fact someone who is not satisfied with his life…
Northern Italy, 1327. The Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young apprentice Adso of Melk reach an isolated Benedictine abbey on the Alps to aid in a dispute between the Franciscan Order and the Avignon papacy. Upon arrival at the abbey, the two find themselves involved in a chain of mysterious deaths.
Two families meet for a marriage that neither want, and things take a turn when the respective patriarchs fall in love.
Internationally released Director's Cut of "Loro 1" and "Loro 2", which were released separately as two movies in Italy. The film talks about the group of businessmen and politicians – the Loro (Them) from the title – who live and act near to media tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi in the years between 2006 and 2009.
"Loro", in two parts, is a period movie that chronicles, as a fiction story, events likely happened in Italy (or even made up) between 2006 and 2010. "Loro" wants to suggest in portraits and glimps, through a composite constellation of characters, a moment in history, now definitively ended, which can be described in a very summary picture of the events as amoral, decadent but extraordinarily alive. Additionally, "Loro" wishes to tell the story of some Italians, fresh and ancient people at the same time: souls from a modern imaginary Purgatory who, moved by heterogeneous intents like ambition, admiration, affection, curiosity, personal interests, establish to try and orbit around the walking Paradise that is the man named Silvio Berlusconi.
"Loro", in two parts, is a period movie that chronicles, as a fiction story, events likely happened in Italy (or even made up) between 2006 and 2010. "Loro" wants to suggest in portraits and glimps, through a composite constellation of characters, a moment in history, now definitively ended, which can be described in a very summary picture of the events as amoral, decadent but extraordinarily alive. Additionally, "Loro" wishes to tell the story of some Italians, fresh and ancient people at the same time: souls from a modern imaginary Purgatory who, moved by heterogeneous intents like ambition, admiration, affection, curiosity, personal interests, establish to try and orbit around the walking Paradise that is the man named Silvio Berlusconi.
A businessman must explain to his lawyers how he came to be found in a locked hotel room with his dead partner, whose body was covered in money.
Vanni and Linda live in a penthouse apartment for rent in the center of Rome. Vanni writes novels, Linda 'cooperates' to his novels. Between a vernissage and an exhibition of Basquiat, thay hang out Alfredo and Constanza, a couple on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Alfredo is a surgeon with the habit of waking up early and has a lover, Constanza is a dermatologist with the same habits. With the intent to vent their frustrations in their friends' living room, Alfredo and Constanza take hostage the couple and recriminate loudly about the past and the present. In an impossible attempt to contain them, Vanni and Linda eventually take the field and also thrash each other. Someone will end up getting hurt by the end of the night.
The drama about a woman that gets fired because of his pregnancy and deals with a difficult financial and familiar situation.
The destinies of two families are irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep in the night before Christmas Eve.
Michele is thirteen year old, shy, unpopular at school, and in love with Stella. After wearing a costume for a Halloween party, he finds out that he's invisible.
Dino craft practice tattoos, Bruna is a beautician; their studies are facing each other. They learn of a mysterious treasure hidden in a chair that belonged to a woman now dead.
Two family owned restaurants of conflicting styles open up shop across the street from one another.
Cetto and its city council were arrested, but in prison the conspiratorial former mayor makes no earning name as the gratitude of the powerful secretary. These decide to replace some MPs mysteriously killed precisely with Cetto and two other characters: Rodolfo Favaretto and Frengo Stop
A blocked screenwriter, Ezio (Fabio De Luigi), is trying to finish a story about two off-kilter families thrown together when their teenage children announce they’re getting married. So Ezio writes himself into the story with a romantic part—a development his characters welcome, as they’ve got some ideas of their own for bigger and better roles.
Lino Settembre and his wife Chicca lead a tranquil married life without any serious problems. They are satisfied with their careers. He's the sports editor at the Messenger and she's a professor of medieval languages at the Universita' Gregoriana. The only true disappointment in their 25 years of marriage has been the lack of children. They used the situation to strengthen their marriage instead of letting it become real problem. But now, in a totally unexpected way, they're presented with a big worry: Lino is having some really serious memory problems that little by little get worse and start to interrupt the routine of their daily lives and activities both at home and at work. At first both Lino and Chicca decide to laugh it off but the problem manifests itself more and more until, after careful attention and in-depth medical exams, they receive the diagnosis of degenerative brain disease that's destroying his brain.
John Baldassi is a small business owner who lives a peaceful and prosperous existence , alongside the housewife Lucia and two children . The larger of the two sons , the teenager Matteo , however, seems to hide many secrets . Indeed one day the boy disappears into thin air , and after the first suspicions that this is a kidnapping or an escape , makes its way a disturbing hypothesis , dictated by some gruesome discoveries of John in his garage .
The arrival of an attractive young teacher in a small town in the Po valley disturbs the drowsy life of the place, leading eventually to a murder.
Geremia, an aging tailor/money lender, is a repulsive, mean, stingy man who lives alone in his shabby house with his scornful, bedridden mother. He has a morbid, obsessive relationship with money and he uses it to insinuate himself into other people's affairs, pretending to be the "family friend". One day he is asked by a man to lend him money for the wedding of Rosalba, his daughter. Geremia falls in love at first sight with the bewitching creature and and soon indulges in a "beauty and the beast" relationship...
The story of a normal Italian family in which come out the dreams of those who have lost their possibilities and of those who want to realize them. Carlo and Giulia are a married couple who have each given up their aspirations in order to live an average life. Their 19-year-old son, Paolo, is having trouble finding an identity, while their 18-year-old daughter, Valentina, has already figured out how to use sex to her advantage. The family goes through a crisis when Carlo begins having an affair, Giulia attempt to seduce the director of a local stage production she is in, and Valentina does what she does best to land an audition for a TV show
Guido, private guard in the transport of valuables, meets Antonella in a bar and falls in love with her. He leaves his wife and goes to live with her and her daughter Nina; they soon have money problems.
In this bizarre and darkly comic fantasy, Antonio (Sergio Rubini) is a man who was born with unusually large incisors; his freakishly huge teeth make him an outcast from his peers as a child, and he attempts more than once to break off the offending choppers. The emotionally fragile Antonio was further devastated at the age of 12 when his mother (Anouk Grinberg) died, and as a man, he's become obsessive and controlling in his relationships with women. Antonio is convinced that his girlfriend Mara (Anita Caprioli) has been unfaithful to him -- with her dentist (Tom Novembre), of course. After Antonio confronts Mara in a moment of anger, she responds with rage, and strikes him in the face with a large ashtray, breaking off one of his teeth. Antonio now must travel across the land, going from dentist to dentist in search of someone who can make a crown that will suit his extra-large smile. Denti was shown in competition at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Rome, early 20th century: a wealthy psychiatrist, who runs an asylum for women and lacks imagination in his practice, must find a wet nurse for his infant when his wife panics after childbirth. He brings a peasant, Annette, to Rome, forcing her to leave her own baby behind. To the consternation and increasing anger of the wife, the nanny immediately bonds with the couple's infant son - Annette's a natural. Against a backdrop of leftist demonstrations, Annette, who's lover is a teacher jailed for subversion, asks the doctor to teach her to read and write. Her nature and curiosity, the doctor's bland ideas, he and his wife's problems, and the two infants bring the story to a head.
When her child is missing an Australian mother calls for an priest from Italy she has not seen in years.
Alexander, a famous writer, is very ill and has only a few days to live. He meets a little boy on the street, who is an illegal immigrant from Albania. Alexander then takes the boy home.
A woman suffering from compulsive-type psychological problems falls for an older divorced neighbour. Will her love be returned? A slow story of confusion and loneliness.
A chemical analyst and a supermarket clerk strike up a friendship after they are brought together by the death of an elderly woman.
Based on an acclaimed, popular historical novel by Dacia Maraini, this 18th-century set costumer follows the adventures of a deaf-mute noblewoman who strives to escape her dark past and the social conventions that force her to remain married to a man she detests. The story begins when the already speechless title duchess is 12 years old. In hopes of shocking her back into speaking, her grandfather takes her to a hanging. The causes of Marianna's affliction are revealed slowly as the story progresses, but the whole truth is not revealed until the end. Though she is much loved by her family, they still force her to marry her ancient uncle when she is only 13. Her wedding night is horrific as is the birth of her first daughter. Her husband is desperate for an heir so she is forced to endure his unwanted attentions until she is finally able to bear him a son. Despite her oppressive life, Marianna is able to find freedom in subtle ways.
After an architect (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) is invited to the home of his associate, the harmony of the place comes undone with the visitor's attraction to someone.
Their plan was simple...Get the Cash. As Rupert, an ex-con, tries to go straight, his younger brother James pursues a life of delinquency. Days after being released from jail, James is gunned down and lies waiting in a hospital for a liver transplant. In a desperate attempt to save his brother's life, Rupert decides to execute a heist at a downtown club on New Year's Eve that will give him the money he needs. Rupert assembles an eclectic crew of ex-cons, including his best friend and his ex-girlfriend. Rupert and his gang converge on the nightclub for a climax that spins out of control. New Year's Eve has never been so explosive!
A young priest crusades against organized crime in his Naples neighbourhood but falls in love with a 13-year old boy. It's the chance the gangsters were waiting for to get rid of the thorn in their side. Will they be able to force the boy to accuse the priest of sexual harassment and have his reputation destroyed?
In a grammar school in the outskirts of Rome, it's the last day of school before the summer holidays. Professor Vivaldi, Italian literature teacher, before the end bitterly remembers what happened in that year and he wonders what will happen to those young students that he cared for as children from their first day of school. But they've paid him off in a somewhat offensive way, given that, as the professor has noted, today's youth are in most cases changed, drifters and without a sense of civic duty.
An intriguing look at a sinister web of power,linking politics and the mafia in modern day Italy.
A successful Italian man living in Paris returns to Italy to exact financial revenge upon his cruel half-brothers in this Italian-French drama. Gabriele now runs a successful antique appraisal company in Paris. He lives in a fine, automated apartment which his lover Claire compares to an impenetrable box. Gabriele is haunted by his troubled youth, which is presented through flashbacks. He and his baby brother Martino were bastards. Their father was the wealthy Giancarlo Giannini who already had a family. After Gabriele's feisty and independent mother died, he and his brother were taken into their father's home. Though living in luxury's lap, the now adolescent Gabriele was mistreated by his two hateful half-brothers. He eventually ran away from that house. This is the motive behind his revenge. But to get it he must return home and therefore, must face his past.
A young lawyer returns home and discovers that a man has committed suicide jumping through a window of his house. His wife, Maria, says that she let the unknown man enter because he said the lawyer was the only one who could help him. Bernardo start to investigate about the man and about the reasons of his suicide.
Many tribal people, including the Gypsies, have a form of marriage ceremony where the bride is ritually kidnapped from her home. Pietro De Leo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), a store security guard, spends his days catching shoplifters, his weekends visiting his children who are in the custody of his ex-wife, and his evenings thinking about how to flirt some more with the store's makeup consultant. One day, he sees a young Gypsy girl (Maria Bako) lift something from his store, but is so taken with her that he lets it slide. He even testifies on her behalf when she comes to court for a hearing on another matter. Indeed, he is so taken with her that he wants to marry her, gypsy-style. He has a great deal of difficulty bringing off the kidnapping, but finally accomplishes this and the subsequent wedding. He moves to the south of Italy and starts a new life with her as a truck driver while she gets legit jobs as a hotel maid and at a factory.
Set in Milan in the summer of 1989 against the background of the fall of communism, the film examines the lives of four frustrated individuals whose lives intertwine: The title is intended to be ironic: despite the triumph of the West and of capitalism in 1989, life in the affluent West is not automatically a bed of roses and happines can be as elusive as anywhere else
What is the shady affair in which the woman is involved, and what is her role? Is or isn't the man a marquis? Who is the young man played by Fabrizio Bentivoglio, and why does he own that car? Does Basque nationalism have to do anything with the story? Everybody has something to hide, everybody seems guilty.
The owner of a failing cinema and his mysterious boarder are caught up in the political intrigue of Argentina.
In una fredda sera di novembre, a casa di Marco arriva una ragazza spagnola, Teresa con un misterioso messaggio: il suo fidanzato Rudy, amico di vecchia data di Marco è in carcere in Marocco e per tirarlo fuori servono trenta milioni di lire. Allora Marco, nonostante siano passati tanti anni ricontatta gli altri amici del gruppo, Maurizio, Paolino e Cedro ed insieme a Teresa partono alla volta del Marocco per rivedere ed aiutare Rudy. Ma a Marrakech non c'è traccia di Rudy e Teresa sparisce con i trenta milioni...
Via Montenapoleone in Milan is the ritziest street in the city and here the destinies of several characters, playboys, models and gays cross and diverge.
John the Baptist, the prophet of Israel, is imprisoned by Herod, governor of Judea for protesting Herod's marriage to his brother's wife. Jealousies rage and Herod's step-daughter and niece Salome seduces Herod by means of a torrid dance to give her the head of the prophet - but then tries to save the life of the man she has thus condemned. Updated to a WWII setting
In a straightforward yet unexceptional rendering of the life and loves of Alberto (Ben Gazzara), a writer/director approaching the hill though not yet over it, director Alberto Bevilacqua has used his own experiences to fashion a conventional tale about a search for the "perfect woman." His mettlesome neighbor Luisa (Lina Sastri) just will not leave him alone; she was the reason why he ended his marriage to Maura (Claudia Cardinale), but Alberto considers their affair dead and buried. Recently, an anonymous "dream woman" has been calling him for some seductive phone exchanges. As he searches out the identity of the mystery caller he is also distracted by Luisa who starts to insinuate herself back into his affections. Sooner or later, Alberto will just have to decide how to handle his love life, which in the end may only be mesmerizing to himself alone.
An eremit who has had contact to terrorists is planning to kill the pope by poisoning.
A young girl from the provinces, comes to Paris with one goal: to become a part of the rich bourgeoisie. To achieve this she will use her unique beauty and charm.
An office employee, pretending to be weak and crippled, reveals himself as a ruthless criminal.
Aurora Rumelin is happy because the noble writer Leopold Sacher-Masoch has asked for her hand. Little by little the marriage goes into crisis mainly because Leopold asks his wife to beat him before sexual relations and to treat him like a slave. Both spouses have lovers and, in the end, the marriage ends in divorce.
