FIORILE Movie Review

Wild Flower

Two children—descendants of a Tuscan family that has a long, unusual history—are being driven by their father to meet their grandfather for the first time. Before they arrive, the father decides to arm the children with the truth about the family's past—200-year-old curse and all. This exquisitely delicate memory film from directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (The Night of the Shooting Stars) proceeds to tell us in flashback—using a graceful, sophisticated, yet uncluttered visual style that suggests a fable told to children—about the centuries-old, star-crossed love story at the heart of one family's protracted, multi-generational misery. We hear all of it, as do the children, and when they finally arrive for their visit, they look at their old grandfather—perhaps the last living figure in the curse's path—as if he were the central figure in the scariest ghost story they've ever heard. And when he serves them mushrooms, just like the mushrooms in the story they've been listening to in terror...no, you're going to have to squirm through that electric final sequence without any guide other than the Tavianis. They're among the most fabulous storytellers in all cinema, and though Fiorile may not quite be up there with Taviani triumphs like Padre Padrone and Kaos, it's nevertheless one of the most haunting campfire stories you'll ever hear.

NEXT STOP … Padre Padrone, The Night of the Shooting Stars, Kaos

1993 (PG-13) 118m/C IT Michael Vartan, Galatea Ranzi, Claudio Bigagli, Lino Capolicchio, Constanze Engelbrecht, Athina Cenci, Giovanni Guidelli, Chiara Caselli; D: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani; W: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani, Sandro Petraglia; C: Giuseppe Lanci; M: Nicola Piovani. VHS, LV NLC