Giuliana de Sio Movies

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2002 Palm Springs Film Festival, Eugenio, I Love You is the story of Eugenio (Giancarlo Giannini), a grown man with Downs Syndrome. Eugenio lives in a spacious country home where he takes care of Federico (Jacques Perrin), his older brother. He also spends his time working as a gardener and volunteering in a hospital trauma center, where he meets Laura (Chiara de Bonis), who has been badly injured in a car accident. Eugenio makes the surprising discovery that Laura is the daughter of Elena (Giuliana De Sio), whom Eugenio loved as a teenager and has never really gotten over. When Elena reappears in Eugenio's life, he is forced to come to terms with the rejections he has suffered over the course of his life. Eugenio, I Love You was screened at the 2002 Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Ulisse is a conductor on board a train running from Sicily to Milan and back during the 1960s. Every day, as the engines clatter over the rails he observes a wide variety of human dramas unfold. This sentimental and ultimately bitter Italian drama chronicles several such mini-dramas using them to comment upon the sad state of modern Italy. In one episode, a Sicilian woman who is moving northward with her family must choose between two disparate suitors. In another, a businessman attempts to conceal the presence of his mistress from his son. In another, a heart-broken nurse finds brief, passionate solace in the arms of a novelist. Meanwhile Ulisse looks out the window and in one scene sees a train heading back for Sicily. On board are many of the passengers he now attends, but they have all aged 20 years. None have fared well, including Ulisse, and this is meant to mirror Italy's own decline. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This 1991 Italian period drama is not to be confused with the 1990 Australian vampire film with the same English-language title, Wicked. The entire story, a genuine psychological detective tale, concerns the attempt by a young doctor (Julian Sands) working early in the 20th century in a Swiss clinic to uncover the root cause for the persistent mental breakdown of a young woman (Giuliana De Sio) who has recently suffered the death of her daughter. Despite the resistance of the clinic's administration to his use of Freudian methods, the doctor begins his analysis at the clinic but finds that he must travel to Italy to interview the woman's family and friends in order to get at the ultimate cause. A version of this film capably dubbed into English was released at the same time as its Italian-language version. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A group of characters come in and out of each other's lives in this Italian sex comedy. Nagra (Giuliana De Sio) is an ambitious journalist who is not opposed to sleeping her way to the top. Brunetta (Kate Capshaw) is victimized by her lover Lionel (Michele Placido) when he dumps her for young swimming teacher Marina (Carolina Rosi). Brunetta later watches in disgust when Lionel picks up Nagra. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In this Italian romantic drama the beautiful mistress of an internationally recognized surgeon becomes insanely jealous when he suddenly takes up with a young swimming teacher. Soon she begins engineering elaborate plots to get him back. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In many ways, this was a courageous film to make about Carlo Dalla Chiesa (played by Lino Ventura), an Italian general who gave his life trying to eliminate Mafia bosses and their supporters. Dalla Chiesa's wife was also murdered when her husband got too close to exposing the truth about the connections between the Mafia, the state, and the banking world. After Dalla Chiesa organized a campaign against the Red Brigades, he was sent to Sicily to clamp down on Mafia activities and bring some of the worst mob leaders to justice. His wife Emmanuela completely supported him in this dangerous undertaking, and during the course of his investigations, Dalla Chiesa began to check out the banks suspected in laundering money for the mob. That level of inquiry brought him a warning phone call from a government minister, and when he refused to stop his three-month investigation, he and his wife were murdered. In an eloquent statement of support for his efforts to combat the Mafia, a long list of sponsors for this film - including local organizations both inside and outside the government, anti-drug groups, and organizations in the cinematic field among many others, were listed in the closing credits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Originally a six-hour mini-series, Cuore lost four hours after being cut down to this sentimental feature-length film on life before the turn of the 20th century. Four soldiers meet in the army and reminisce about their childhoods in a bygone era, and these are the scenes that unfold for the majority of the next two hours. The men have been privileged to have had good teachers in school, and while their home lives differed and in some cases were difficult, nothing really stopped them from going on to a well-adjusted adult life. As 19th-century attitudes are painted in clear strokes, viewers may still wonder if life was quite as ideal as these vignettes would indicate. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this Italian comedy, a young pool sharp struggles to win the national champion. Unfortunately, while the youth can beat him in games for fun, he invariably chokes when money is involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Co-writer and director Massimo Troisi also stars in this comedy about Vicenzo, a young man living at home (in Naples) with his mother and his sister and her family and having to face the prospect of assuming more responsibility if he wants to keep his relationship with Anna (Giuliana De Sio). Vicenzo met Anna at a party and the two began an affair that is threatened when Anna is offered a job in Perugia, in central Italy. Depending on Vicenzo's response, Anna will either leave or stay. Troisi is an imposing comic presence that carries this film through episodes of dense Neapolitan dialogue. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Argante (Alberto Sordi) is an eccentric recluse who suffers from a malady of real and imagined gastrointestinal difficulties in this tasteless, low-brow comedy. While his doctor (Bernard Blier) tries various cures, Argante exposes his unfaithful wife (Marina Vlady) and makes peace with his estranged daughter (Giuliana De Sio). The viewer is subjected to endless scenes of enemas as the film caters to the lowest levels of bathroom humor. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi