Sunflower (1970)

In the 1940s and into the 50s, Vittorio De Sica made quite a name for himself. Although he was a very successful actor, as a director he became one of the big names in the Italian film industry during this period through his so-called neo-realist films. De Sica and a few other directors found their country in ruins following WWII and practically no funds to make films. So they improvised--abandoning fancy sets (most were blown up during the war) and went into the streets filming non-actors. While it sounds destined to fail, De Sica's films of the period became classics with successes like "The Bicycle Thieves", "Umberto D", "The Children are Watching Us" and "Miracle in Milan". Here in "Sunflower", you see De Sica in a much later period--and the film is about as unlike a neo-realist movie as you can get. Here instead of non-names acting in the leads, you've got Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren--the two biggest stars of the Italian cinema. You've also got some location shooting...in the Soviet Union!! This must have cost a fortune and economy clearly was NOT the trademark of this film.The story is a sad one. A guy (Mastroianni) is being drafted into the Italian Fascist army during WWII and he doesn't want to go. He decides to marry a beautiful lady (Loren) and she is soon left home to wait for him. However the man is sent to the Russian Front and never returns. Years pass and she eventually visits the USSR to look for traces of him...and discovers he's alive!!In many ways, the film is reminiscent of the wonderful French film "A Very Long Engagement". Both stories are about women who refuse to believe that their love is dead despite being lost in the war-- though the way both stories play out are very different. As for "Sunflower" it's a very good film though not quite as good as "A Very Long Engagement".The film has generally good direction but, surprisingly, a few camera shots are fuzzy and should have been better as were a few clumsy edits. I wouldn't have expected this with a great director like De Sica. As for the rest of the film, the story is compelling, though a bit slow. I didn't mind the slowness, though some might. Much of this is because many times instead of talking or doing things, the director had the actors use their faces and body language to convey a lot of the story. It's artsy but still I enjoyed it and the music was haunting. As far as the ending goes, it did leave me slightly dissatisfied as I wanted to see Loren's character beat her husband within an inch of his life!! Oh well, you can't win 'em all.By the way, I was very, very surprised that the film crew got permission to make a film with so much of it shot in the Soviet Union. Things weren't exactly friendly at the time between the East and West but somehow they got it done. Also, when they showed Loren's character going about the country unescorted, this did seem a bit unlikely--though who knows? I just assumed Italians and other westerners wouldn't be able to do so back in 1970--perhaps I am wrong.

I just finished watching the stunning Blu Ray of the original Italian English-subtitled version of this film--the best version available. I do not understand all the naysayers reviewing this film. If you are a fan of Loren and Mastroianni, if you are a fan of DeSica, if you enjoy a good old-fashioned melodrama that will tear at your heart, you MUST see this film! To dismiss this film as Soviet propaganda, or as unrealistic, is like criticizing "The Little Mermaid" for having a singing mermaid and talking fish. It utterly misses the point. This movie contains one of the very best, if not THE best Sophia Loren performance on film. Henri Mancini's score is unforgettable. This film makes you care about the plight of both characters. It is available as part of the new "Sophia Loren Collection" box set, and for me, this, along with "Marriage Italian Style," is the "jewel" of the set. See it!

Having focused on post-war Italy in "The Bicycle Thief", Vittorio DeSica focused on the war - and many years later - in "I girasoli" ("Sunflower" in English"). I had never known about the Italian contingent that fought the Soviet Union, so that part was certainly new to me, and I thought that Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni did well in their roles. I don't know whether or not I would recommend the movie for any kind of class. As it was, the DVD kept skipping over scenes, so I may have missed important parts of the film. Overall, I don't know specifically whether I would call this a really good movie or just an OK one. I didn't find it sappy, if that's the problem that some people have with the film.Whatever the case, I consider the movie worth seeing, if only once.

So many reviews talk of the beauty of this film, but you can't see it on the horribly transferred DVD I saw from Netflix last weekend. So much of the color has been drained from the source, and you'd thought the movie was shot in experimental color in 1939 instead of 1970. Shame on the quick-buck types who have violated De Sica's original film. It's simply awful to watch. I had never seen this emotional film about an Italian couple who marry on the eve of his being sent to the Russian front. He never returns, and she never gives up hope of his return. The Loren/Mastroianni pairing has always been potent on the screen. And it is so here with Loren utterly magnificent as the loving wife and the grief-struck and abandoned woman later on. When the wife travels to Russia to find him years after the war, she's much older, and her life has been ruined. So the scene where she finally is connected to him through his Russian wife, and then sees him arriving at the local train station, is truly heartbreaking. While he has committed himself to his new life in Russia, marrying another woman and father two children, Loren's face shows her disappointment and overwhelming sense of sadness as she finally see that all that this woman has is now denied to her. Mastroianni has a bothersome role here. It is Loren who initially proposes they marry at the beginning of the film. He's just another callow fellow having a fling before he goes off to war. Later when he's nearly dead from walking through the frozen Russian winter, in retreat and trying to get back to Italy, his character finally gives up and falls down in the snow to die. He is saved by a beautiful Russian girl who drags him back to civilization. I guess, grateful for her ministrations, he eventually marries her and settles into a new life in Russia. So the character is rather passive to begin with, robbing Mastroianni of his usual comic bombast. In the end, you wonder why waste these two screen giants on this weeper of a movie. I have always adored Loren. Besides her jaw-dropping beauty, she always projected such warmth, generosity of spirit, a sense of fun, and when called for, she could be as great playing tragedy as any screen actress of any generation. TWO WOMEN proved that, and films such as A SPECIAL DAY and Marriage Italian STYLE only underlined the marvelous acting skills she possessed. So it's disappointing to see her giving her usual great self to a property that isn't quite worthy of her. It's worth seeing for two stars who can elevate any material they've been given, but wait for a better DVD remastering. This one will not do at all.