Product Details

• Actors: Anders W. Berthelsen, Ann Eleonora Jřrgensen, Anette Střvelbćk, Peter Gantzler, Lars Kaalund
• Directors: Lone Scherfig
• Writers: Lone Scherfig
• Producers: Gert Duve Skovlund, Ib Tardini, Karen Bentzon, Lars von Trier, Marianne Moritzen
• Format: Color, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Danish, Italian
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• DVD Release Date: October 15, 2002
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006ADFP
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,577 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Italian for Beginners" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Not your usual lighthearted romance, Lone Sherfig's heartwarming comedy warms the usually chilly Dogme 95 world of prickly eccentrics and damaged souls with a glowing sense of hope and passion. A belligerent restaurant manager, a repressed hotelier, a lonely hairdresser, and a clumsy, childlike bakery clerk are among the lonely thirtysomethings who escape the social disasters and comic chaos of their unfulfilled lives in an Italian-language evening course. It becomes a place to dream and to heal emotional wounds (and they have more than their fair share of scars). Sherfig manages to turn the familiar social landscape of films as The Celebration and The King Is Alive--fractured families, abusive parents, tragic pasts--into a backdrop for romantic comedy. If not exactly profound, Italian for Beginners remains a sweet, hopeful, and affirming tale of eccentrics who find friendship, family, and romance while learning the language of love. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description

An unforgettable romantic comedy that's earned overwhelming acclaim, ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS is a warm and playful story about seven perfect strangers and the shared journey of discovery that changes each of their lives! In a small, rainy suburb, a mismatched collection of opposites have signed up for an Italian class in hopes of spicing up their lives! Then, as they realize the class offers them more than just language lessons, they join together on a quest to Italy with the renewed desire to pursue the romances of their lives! Once there, these world-weary students who thought there was nothing left to learn from life will get an education that will change everything they know about love!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Touching and funny January 6, 2003

By Charlotte Vale-Allen VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

It's initially somewhat disconcerting to watch this movie, shot as a video rather than in traditional film format. But the script and the performances are so affecting and so honest that it quickly becomes entirely engrossing. A motley-seeming collection of average people: a raging restaurant keeper with a hidden talent for language, an accommodating hairdresser with a nightmare of a mother who just happens to be terminally ill, a klutzy, good-natured young bakery worker with a horrible father, a disaffected management type and a charming Italian waitress. They all find themselves at an evening class in Italian and they manage to make connections--with themselves and with the others in the class--in humorous and bittersweet ways.

This is a very worthwhile film. Don't be put off by the oddness of the video. You'll forget about it soon enough and become entirely caught up in this wonderfully well-acted, truly touching and amusing film.
Highly recommended.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Danish Dogma February 4, 2002

By MICHAEL ACUNA VINE™ VOICE

The Danish Dogma95 filmmaking movement requires that it's practicioners utilize natural lighting and sound and hand-held cameras. Dogma95 is a response to what they feel is the arcane manner in which movies have been made up to this point and a direct reaction especially to what is termed a "Hollywood Film."
It is hard to argue with this point of view and technique as Dogma95 has been behind such films as "The Celebration," "Together," "Breaking the Waves" and the provocative and wonderful, "Dancer in the Dark."
Lone Sherfig is the first woman to direct a Dogma95 production with her "Italian for Beginners." It is also the first time Dogma95 techniques have been used with comedic material even though there are deadly serious portions of IFB.
"Italian for Beginners" is the story of several 30 somethings...all looking for what they feel is unattainable: Love, Respect, Validation. They all come together once a week for Italian lessons, hence the title. There are three men: Andreas, Jorgen and Hal-Finn and three women: Karen, Olympia and Guilia and by the end of the movie they've all paired-up. This process is done in as light hearted a manner as possible, though each has a sadness in their past or present that must be dealt with before the movie can inevitably achieve it's happy ending.
Scherfig applies a very serious approach to this material; along with the in-your-face camera and microphone work that heightens rather than flattens-out the words spoken and the performances given, which elevates IFB from a piece of fluff it could have been (think "Bread and Tulips") to the serious though very funny film it turns out to be.
The magic of Dogma95 is that, by way of their techniques, which are not new and many have been borrowed from documentary film , is that all artifice is removed. The actors are in a perilous position with the camera right on top of them, catching every glint and flicker of their eyes; the better to see the truth in their hearts and souls, and if they are faking it...we will know.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Example of a Dogma Film October 26, 2003

By Mark Mussari

Format:DVD

Beware the myopic reviews by certain others here: they do not get the Dogma film movement and, more importantly, they do not get this film. With its emphasis on the acting--and not special effects, smarmy scores, or other cinematic sleight of hand--the Dogma film compels us to focus on _character._ «Italian for Beginners» does just that, focusing our attention on some lonely Danish singles who find not only refuge but togetherness in their attraction to all things Italian. The great accomplishment of the film's director, Lone Scherfig, is her ability to transfer very specifically Danish cultural aspects to a broader audience. Along the way you get both hilarious and touchingly sad moments and fine acting, all around. Merely to watch the talented Anders Berthelsen's facial expressions or Peter Gantzler's timing is worth the entire price of admission. An excellent film from Denmark.