Customer Reviews

Bread and Tulips [VHS]

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When an Italian housewife Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) suddenly finds herself stranded, she realizes that perhaps she is not as appreciated by her family as she would like to be. All she sees is the tour bus moving off into the distance and then realizes her son has changed his phone number so she is unable to stop the bus.

When they finally call to ask where she is, she can't believe they didn't even check to see if she was on the bus before they left. Feeling adventurous and a little resentful, she decides to hitch a ride home, but ends up in Venice. With little money to spare, she manages to survive for a few days with hopes of getting a job and finding a place to stay.

After finding a job in a florist shop and moving in with a waiter named Fernando (who is just about to kill himself it seems), she meets Grazia who bursts into her life asking her to help her with a plumbing disaster.

For some reason Rosalba is swept away in this new life and keeps telling her family she will be back soon, yet something strange power seems to overtake her and she decides she too needs a vacation, albeit a working vacation. She spends her time working in the florist shop, reading books in the evening and eating breakfast prepared by Fernando. He also leaves her a note each morning, which is quite romantic even though, technically, she is just his house guest.

Once Rosalba's husband starts to notice that things are not getting done around his house, he hires Costantino (Giuseppe Battiston) as his private detective. This is when it become more of a comedy of sorts as Costantino is really a plumber who is determined to find Rosalba and return her to her husband.

An enjoyable escape that really keeps
your full attention. Licia Maglietta is
pure magic.

~The Rebecca Review

I found this movie to be absolutely charming and left the theatre with a smile on my face. Licia Maglietta was marvelous as the 40-something lovely lady who decides to take the other fork in the road and starts a new life in Venice. Tired of being under-appreciated and verbally abused by her boorish husband and preoccupied sons, Rosalba (Licia) decides to live for herself for a change and then becomes the catalyst that magically causes others to change around her -- the suicidal landlord/restauranteer, the aging florest employer who is a former anarchist, the lady neighbor down and hall, and even the comical plumber/detective sent in pursuit by her husband.

This film is funny, poignant, heart-warming, and charming. The entire cast is truly memorable; the small vignettes of Rosalba's dreams are somewhat jarring in their presentation - but once you become acclimated to their random arrival they add a bit of mystery to the film that is somewhat resolved at the end.

This is a DVD that I will buy upon release for sure.

Forget flurrying pigeons, St. Mark's, Florian's tables, all the standard fare usually delivered by films set in Venice. Silvio Soldini's deftly masterful "Bread and Tulips" is instead an ethereal Venezia, a triptych of shadows, echoes and lights that evoke a city of workers, narrow stone studded streets, mini bridges and interlocking canals.

It is a place that Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) cannot resist. She is an under estimated, unappreciated middle-age housewife and mother of two teenage sons who is on a family vacation to the Adriatic coast. When Rosalba exits the ladies room during a rest stop she sees the back bumper of the tour bus as it trundles down the road without her.

Her husband is Mimmo (Antonio Catania), a self-centered boor who dallies with his mistress and oversees a plumbing business in Pescara. She immediately contacts him by cell phone and is lambasted for being left behind. She agrees to wait there, but evidently ready for a vacation of her own choosing she makes her way to Venice.

After her evening arrival she has dinner at a modest trattoria where she meets Fernando (Bruno Ganz), an Icelander, a despondent waiter who is prone to suicide attempts. (He keeps a noose handy). Ganz's artfully understated portrayal of Fernando is superb.

When Rosalba allows that she is short on funds Fernando invites her to share his lodgings, where she is greeted each morning with a note from him as well as breakfast on a tray. Eventually, she finds work with an elderly florist and becomes friends with her neighbor, Grazia (Marina Massironi), a wide-eyed, other worldly masseuse. The emergence of Rosalba as a confident woman is a joy to watch as her eyes dance and features soften with radiant allure.

When Mimmo's mistress refuses to iron his shirts, he hires Costantino (Giuseppe Battiston), an unemployed wanna be detective to track down his wife. Costantino's arrival in Venice provides some of the film's better comic moments as he searches for a hotel and Rosalba.

When Costantino is able to trace Rosalba to her room, he meets Grazia and falls under her spell. Love's rocky path has more twists and turns when Costantino confesses why he really came to Venice.

Apparently conscience stricken Rosalba returns to her nonchalant sons and indifferent husband. Fernando is left more mournful than ever with only a note and a bouquet of tulips. Or, is he?

"Bread and Tulips" is a charming romantic comedy that leaves one sighing contentedly, hoping for a trip to Venice and maybe even breakfast on a tray.

Bread and Tulips tells the story of a middle-aged Italian woman, Rosalba, beautifully played by Licia Maglietta, who is left stranded at a tourist stop by her husband and sons. Upset by their indifference to her, she decides to visit Venice before she goes home to a family that does not appreciate her.

Needing dinner after arriving at her pensione (bed and breakfast) she goes to a tratoria (family style restaurant) and meets Fernando, the waiter, played by the fine German actor, Bruno Ganz, whom some viewers may have seen in Wim Wenders wonderful films. Rosalba is short of cash and ends up staying with Fernando in his apartment.

Rosalba senses the loneliness and sadness in Fernando. He has a noose to hang himself hidden under his bed. She does her best to cheer him up by making his dingy apartment an attractive place to live.

Rosalba soon finds work with an eccentric florist and decides to stay with Fernando. She is a warm, attractive woman who makes life better for everyone she meets. She seems in no hurry to go home to her family.

Her husband decides to send a plumber, who has come looking for work, to Venice to find his wife. This subplot adds much humor to the story. Each of the characters has some unique quality which makes them memorable. Rosalba is so warm and friendly that everyone who meets her likes her and wants to help her. She may not be needed by her family, but she quickly becomes important to her small circle of friends in Venice.

What makes this film special is first the performances, which are first-rate. Licia Maglietta as Rosalba is wonderful. She is just the sort of person we would like to know. She is warm, friendly, genuinely interested in others, and talented. All the supporting players are drawn to her and are better for knowing her.

Bruno Ganz as Fernando is wearied by all the dashed hopes and disappointments of his life, which may have gotten the better of him had he not met Rosalba. He is the moon, dark and brooding, to Rosalba's sun.

The story is well directed and well told. Enough quirky and unusual characters come on the scene to keep our interest high. Clearly the director wants to show us Italians as they really are, not so much descendants of the Romans as a pompous tour guide suggests, but silly and flawed like the rest of us. Rosalba, a seemingly ordinary housewife, is the best of the Italians and the best is plenty good enough.

When Rosalba escapes her dreary life as the wife of the philandering and boorish Mimmo, she is transformed before our eyes from a frumpy, stretch-pants clad tourist to a sexy and beautiful object of admiration in romantic Venice. Wrapped in caring from Fernando, a waiter who invites her to share his apartment, and her neighbor Grazia, a masseuse who may be more than just that, Rosalba becomes a confident and self-assured woman. She makes a life for herself where she finally feels appreciated and loved, no longer taken for granted.

Most of the comedy is provided by Costantino, a bumbling wannabe detective hired by Mimmo to track Rosalba down and incidentally provides the viewer with a tour of Venice.

This film is an escape to unreality, a beautifully filmed feel-good movie with wonderful acting. I finished watching it with a smile on my face!

The plot of BREAD AND TULIPS is a familiar one. A forty-something housewife, dulled by her day-to-day domestic obligations, takes time out for herself away from husband and offspring, during which she rekindles a zest for life and unexpectedly discovers a new passion. The same theme runs through another film of a few years back, BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY.

In BREAD AND TULIPS, it's the end of the family vacation, and Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) finds herself mistakenly left marooned at a roadside food-petrol-souvenir tourist trap by the bus disappearing down the road with the hubby and teenage kids. Meaning to hitchhike back home, Rosalba chooses to be diverted to Venice, a city she's always dreamed of visiting. Once there, she extends her stay by finding lodging and a job, but her postcards home do not give specific details. Her husband, Mimmo (Antonio Catania), is incensed. However, his anger seems less fueled by his wife's absence per se than the fact that his mistress won't iron his shirts in the meantime. ("I'm your mistress, not your wife!")

This Italian production is filled with attractive and quirky characters. Rosalba herself is beautiful and sexy in a mature sort of way. (She might not appeal to the young bucks, but she looks pretty good to these 50+ year old eyes!). Then there's Fernando, the world weary, suicidal waiter who invites her to take over a vacant room in his apartment. Fermo the florist is the ancient anarchist who gives her a job in his flower shop. Grazia, Rosalba's new friend down the hall from Fernando's flat, is an unlucky-at-love "holistic beautician and masseuse". Best of all in a supporting role is Giuseppe Battiston as Costantino, the fat plumber hired by Mimmo to go to Venice and track down the errant spouse. Though Costantino's only qualification for the quest is the large number of detective stories he's read, he's certainly game, inspired probably by a desperate desire to get away from his over-protective mother.

The movie was filmed largely in Venice. Refreshingly, the director chose as his stage many parts of the city far off the beaten tourist track, as well as more recognizable landmarks.

I liked BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY much more because the acting was better, the emotions rawer, and the dilemma faced by Meryl Streep more immediate. However, because BREAD AND TULIPS has a sunnier ending, perhaps it's a better choice for a light-hearted afternoon at the flicks. Bravissimo!

Silvio Soldini's "Bread and Tulips" shares many of the concerns of the English movie and play "Shirley Valentine." In both films an unappreciated housewife "flys the coop" and ventures out to find a new life for herself. In this case Rosalba Barletti (Licia Maglietta) is on tour with family and friends in Greece and is left stranded in a roadside gas station because no one notices that she is missing when the tour proceeds forward. And her husband and two teenage sons are on tour with her! Pretty sad stuff. But the mood of this film is not to dwell on the negative but on the positive of this situation and soon Rosalba is off to Venice to start a new life and to pursue those things she feels is missing from hers: adventure, romance and appreciation. On the home front her husband, Mimmo (Antonio Catania) rants and raves like he lost his wallet instead of his wife and his two sons merely shrug the whole situation off. At this point, because we have come to care about her (and this is the cinema magic of the screenwriter and director), we are rooting for Rosalba to go for it and she does. She finds a job in a flower shop (hence the tulips), finds lodging with a strange waiter named Fernando (Bruno Ganz) and makes friends with a neighbor, Grazia who does holistic massage (!). All of this is done in high style with little notice to rhyme or reason but this is acceptable in this type of film. (I think it is interesting to note that we here in the US get to see very few Italian movies of late with "Malena" being the exception. Why is that?) This film is resolved in fairy-tale style with everyone literally living "happily ever after." "Bread and Tulips" is fun and satisfying if you don't try to make too much of it. Go with a pal, sneak in some Asti-Spumanti,some prosciutto and bread and have a good time with Rosalba and company.

A thoroughly charming romantic comedy from Italy. Rosalba (Licia Maglietta), a housewife who has been taken for granted by her family, finds herself separated from them when they forget her at a rest stop. Not even realizing what she is doing at first, she takes the opportunity to hitchhike to Venice and enjoy a hiatus from her dissatisfying life. Before long, she has a job in a florist's shop and has encountered an endearingly quirky cast of characters-a melancholy waiter (Bruno Ganz), a goofy masseuse (Marina Massironi), and the amateur detective who has been sent by her husband to find her (Giuseppe Battiston).

This film could have easily become too cloying or self-consciously cute. It avoids these pitfalls by employing a marvelous cast. The script (Doriana Leondeff) and direction (Silvio Soldini) focus on the humanity of the characters rather than superficial eccentricities that are meant to emphasize the whimsical nature of the story.

This film is a journey of discovery and self-awareness, a story about life and love and finding the true happiness that comes from sharing it all "with" someone, rather than merely settling for sharing "in" someone else's. Mostly, though, "Bread and Tulips," directed by Silvio Soldini, is about finding the kind of love that enfolds you, lifts you up and boldly takes you with it, in place of the kind that simply allows you to catch hold and follow along. It's about possibilities; of realizing the fulfillment of the promise instead of forever existing in the shadow of the potential, of recognizing what can be and embracing it once it's found-- a consideration that love in the purest sense does exist, and often in the least likely of places. It's just a matter of opening the heart, and finding it.

Rosalba Barletta (Licia Maglietta) is content with her life, or so it would seem; she's a housewife with two sons-- aged sixteen and eighteen-- and a husband, Mimmo (Antonio Catania), who sells bathroom fixtures. Her contentment, though, is perhaps due to the fact that she's never considered the possibility of anything being otherwise. But that changes when, while on vacation with the family, she is inadvertently left behind at a stop. She watches the tour bus pull away and suddenly realizes that her husband and boys haven't even missed her.

She decides to hitchhike home, but on the way, she decides to take a vacation of her own first. One of her rides is headed to Venice, a city to which she has never been but always wanted to go, and so she makes that her destination. And her vacation soon becomes more than that; it becomes an experience that opens up a whole new perspective on life to her, an adventure that reawakens her senses and fills her with an appreciation of life and what love really is. There is bad with the good, however, as it also makes her a woman torn between her old life with the family she loves but who take her for granted, and a new life, in which real love and personal fulfillment is possible. Whatever she decides, one thing is certain: This is one vacation Rosalba is never going to forget.

Director Soldini has crafted and delivered an engaging and thoroughly involving and thoughtful film that grabs hold of the viewer and sweeps you along with it. It's funny, romantic and poignant, with a pure joy for life at it's heart; a romantic film in every sense of the word. Soldini tells Rosalba's story in a way that makes you more than a mere observer, but one who is sharing her life and all that she is feeling. Rosalba is someone you care about, and it's because Soldini has taken great care in attempting to establish that necessary connection between his character and the audience-- and he succeeds. He sets a perfect pace, in that Rosalba's growth and awareness is gradual, the product of subtle exploration rather than epiphany, which makes all that transpires entirely credible. And in the same way, it serves the credibility of the other characters, as well. It's a very grounded presentation that gives the sense of everything happening in real time; Soldini never allows the story to get ahead of itself, and that's part of the bond he's created that allows the audience to keep living it rather than just watching.

The insightful screenplay by Soldini and Doriana Leondeff makes for an engaging film to begin with, but without question, what really sells it is the wonderful performance by Licia Maglietta as Rosalba. Honest and earthy, her portrayal is entirely convincing and believable; she opens up her character and lets you in, where you discover an inner beauty that is vibrant and endearing. And you realize how much Rosalba has to give, and how much she wants to give-- and it's a touching experience; this is a woman who receives by giving, and it's gratifying to encounter that kind of charity of soul, and moreover, to see it rewarded in kind. Most importantly, Maglietta's performance inspires a greater understanding of the human condition; by experiencing the rewards of discovering who Rosalba really is, one may be inclined thereafter to look deeper into others, to reflect upon the nature of those perhaps taken for granted for too long. And the fact that such an impact can be made through a character in a film attests to the talent and ability of Maglietta, who-- something of a cross between Sophia Loren and Giulietta Masina-- has an absorbing screen presence, and plays Rosalba so beautifully.

Bruno Ganz also gives a memorable performance as Fernando Girasoli, the man who befriends Rosalba in Venice. His portrayal is so subtle and understated, and so giving, in that he allows the focus to remain on Rosalba at all times, that the full impact of his character kind of sneaks up on you. The initial meeting between Rosalba and Fernando is so indifferent that he at first appears to be nothing more than a peripheral character in the drama. And it demonstrates how wonderfully Soldini and his actors have integrated the characters with the story to make it play out in such real terms. It's an affecting performance by Ganz, who sparks an unlikely chemistry with Maglietta that works so well on the screen.

Also turning in performances worthy of mention are Marina Massironi, as Rosalba's friend, Grazia, the holistic beautician/masseuse; and Giuseppe Battiston, as Costantino, the hapless plumber/detective.

The supporting cast includes Felice Andreasi (Fermo), Tiziano Cucchiarelli (Nic), Matteo Febo (Salvo), Tatiana Lepore (Adele) and Vitalba Andrea (Ketty). Highly entertaining and thoroughly involving on a very personal level, "Bread and Tulips" is a film that provides an unforgettable emotional experience; one that promotes a deeper understanding of human nature by allowing you to get outside of yourself, which ultimately affords a fresh perspective on life and the way we live it.

Licia Maglietta as the middle-aged under-appreciated housewife Rosalba and Bruno Ganz as the suicidal poet and restauranteur Fernando are both charming in this tale of mature love in Venice. When she is accidentally left at a rest stop during a bus tour with her family, Rosalba decides to have an adventure and see Venice. As usual in this film genre, she meets quirky people and has small but magical things happen. These are films that depict characters undergoing growth and transformation, and while the details and ending depend on the director's temperament, the film's success depends on the actors' ability. In the case of Bread & Tulips, an optimistic outlook and a fine cast make this a fun and charming film, perfect for a date where you want to say "Love can be quite nice". (Unlike a first dinner/date I had where the guy brought over John Hurt in the bleak and violent "1984". Very short relationship.) The emphasis here is on growth rather than transformation, since Maglietta is so beautiful and joyful that she can't be 100% believable as the bored and boring frumpy housewife.

Perhaps you remember Bruno Ganz from Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire? This is a less divine role for the charismatic Ganz, but here he speaks beautiful Italian, recites poetry and eventually twinkles his eye at the lovely lady in distress. Though when they meet he has been contemplating suicide, this aspect of the film is neither overemphasized nor played for laughs.

There is a sizeable cast, and every one is very good. There are quite a few lovely exterior shots in Venice and the music is fine, though you will not be humming any tunes the next day.

Optional English subtitles, and trailers for Bread & Tulips, The Luzhin Defence and House of Mirth are the only added features on the disk.