DIRECTOR: Vittorio De Sica
BOTTOM LINE: Directed by Vittorio De Sica, “The Garden of the Finzi Continis” is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by gay Italian writer Giorgio Bassani. His character in the book and the film, Alberto, is played by gay actor Helmut Berger fresh from Visconti’s “The Damned” and it’s a very different performance. Alberto is clearly in love with his friend Malnate, a young man with imposing physicality and communist leanings, played by Fabio Testi, and he delights in his company. He even reacts jealously when he senses that his sister Micol (Dominique Sanda) and Malnate may be getting closer. Will Alberto’s love be reciprocated? Of course, the Finzi Contini’s are living on borrowed time. Beyond their wall-off compound, the Jews of Mussolini’s Italy are being rounded up with an express ticket to the concentration camps.
Oscar-nominated adapted screenplay by De Sica and Ugo Pirro.
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