Tonino de Bernardi Movies
- 1999
This musical drama (most of the dialogue is sung) concerns a diverse group of people brought together in a city in Italy. Pina (Isabel Ruth) was born in Portugal but now lives in poor circumstances in Naples. Pina has two daughters, Rosa (Iaia Forte), who has been wearing a wedding dress since she was left stranded at the altar several years ago, and Caterina (Galatea Ranzi), who murdered a man who wronged her as he left the church following his wedding. Caterina winds up in prison alongside Maddalena (Anna Bonaiuto), a prostitute who witnessed the murder and was inspired to kill a man in her own life who had hurt her. The incidents from these women's lives are interspersed with another story, set in 1929 and filmed in black-and-white, about a man who shoots his wife in a movie theater and must run to avoid the police. Filmed on location in Naples, with non-professionals as extras, Appassionate was screened as part of the 1999 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anna Bonaiuto, Inês de Medeiros, (more)
- 2007
Director Tonino de Bernardi reworks the tragic myth of Medea into a passionate tale of a nightclub singer abandoned by her husband and forced to care for their two children alone. Irene (Isabelle Huppert) left her homeland in pursuit of Jason, the love of her life. Now Irene is a stranger in a strange land, yet she and her husband Jason live comfortably in a Parisian banlieu with their two children. The couple also owns a nightclub where Irene is the featured entertainer. Though everything seems to be in place for a happy future, Irene suddenly finds herself tumbling into despair after Jason inexplicably abandons his wife and their two young daughters. But Irene has also been caring for a mute girl named Martha who she had brought with her from home, and now the pressure of being a single mother to three children is taking a heavy psychological toll. Consumed by madness yet refusing to lash out violently towards those around her, Irene finds her life forever changed after crossing paths with an exploited Rumanian girl named Marcela. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Tommaso Ragno, (more)
- 2009
Experimental filmmaker Tonino De Bernardi offers us a look into Italy's past and present with this fusion of documentary and dramatic styles. Carlo and Grazia are a middle-aged couple who live in a small town high in the mountains of Tuscany. They operate an independent bakery and make bread the same way its been done for generations, baking the loves in a wood-fueled oven and distributing their handiwork to their customers themselves. Carlo and Grazia work long hours seven days a week, and just as their predecessors before them, they do so without complaint. Their real-life story is crosscut with the fictional story of a handful of twenty-somethings living near Camellia's Square in a suburb of Rome, who are trying to decide what to make of the multitude of opportunities available to them as they navigate the tricky paths of life and love. Pane/Piazza Delle Camelie was an official selection at the 2009 Rotterdam International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 1994
This experimental Italian film, by Tonino De Bernardi, offers the intellectual audience a heady, abstract ride set to the music of Bellini, Schubert, and Mozart. It is divided into 15 highly symbolic mini-chapters. The one thread of continuity running through is that the characters are trying to find a relationship with higher powers, the mysterious, or other people. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Iaia Forte, Anna Bonaiuto, (more)
Rating Systems
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