Product Details

• Actors: Serena Grandi, Silvio Orlando, Francesca Neri, Ezio Greggio, Alba Rohrwacher
• Directors: Pupi Avati
• Producers: Giovanna's Father ( Il papà di Giovanna ), Giovanna's Father, Il papà di Giovanna
• Format: Import, PAL, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Medusa
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B0026QDMJ2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,151 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Italy released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Alternative Footage, Behind the scenes, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Bologna 1938. Michele Casali has a serious problem. His only daughter, Giovanna, has just killed her best friend in a bout of jealousy. The girl, who is still an adolescent, is declared to be non compus mentis and is committed to a psychiatric hospital. During the time she spends in almost total isolation, the only person who looks after her is her father. This further strengthens the already strong father-daughter relationship from which Delia, the girls mother, has always been excluded. Sergio, who is a police inspector and a close friend of Micheles, is witness to the terrible events. He is also secretly in love with Delia. In the winter of 1953, in a Bologna which is still recovering from the horrors of the war, Delia and Giovannas eyes lock in the darkness of a small cinema: Giovanna is by now much better and still in the company of her doting father. Her mother no longer has any doubts: this is the start of a new life, this time, together. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Venice Film Festival, ...Giovanna's Father ( Il papà di Giovanna )

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars (3.5 STARS) Father and Daughter: Flawed But Touching Drama, January 22, 2011

By 

Tsuyoshi (Kyoto, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Giovanna's Father ( Il papà di Giovanna ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Italy ] (DVD)

"Il papà di Giovanna" ("Giovanna's Father") chronicles the life of an Italian family living in Bologna (where co-writer and director Pupi Avati was born) just before and after WWII. The film stars Silvio Orlando as a high school teacher Michele Casali, whose quiet life changes suddenly when his only daughter is involved in a scandal. Francesca Neri ("Live Flash" "Collateral Damage") plays Delia, Michele's loving but somewhat remote wife.

In 1938, a respected Bologna high school teacher Michele, living with his beautiful wife and a sweet but painfully shy and sensitive daughter 17-year-old Giovanna (Alba Rohrwacher), discovers that something is wrong with the latter after her friend's birthday party. Several days later the concerned father finds on her clothes some brown stains that look like blood.

The strength of the melodramatic drama lies not in the mystery or courtroom drama (which is not the center of the story), but in the pathos behind the flawed but likable characters trying to survive while struggling with the conflicts within themselves. The story is told against the backdrop of the political unrest in Italy, with Mussolini's fascist regime, but the political events and the war are all described from the ordinary citizen's viewpoints.

The pace often feels rushed, and some of the supporting characters (especially Michele's next-door neighbor and best friend Sergio, who plays an important role in the latter half of the film) need more space to breathe. The film becomes episodic in the second half though its story remains engaging with the atmospheric cinematography and the realistic characters played by the gifted actors.