Brother Sun, Sister Moon
Encyclopedia
Brother Sun, Sister Moon is a 1972 film directed by Franco Zeffirelli
and starring Graham Faulkner
and Judi Bowker
. The film is a biopic of Saint Francis of Assisi
.
and Perugia
. Struck by a feverish illness that has forced him to leave the war, Francesco lies on his bed tormented by visions of his past when he was a boisterous, arrogant youth. During a long recovery process, he slowly finds God in the midst of all, in poverty, chastity and obedience, experiencing a recovery not only of his body but of his soul.
Healthy again, Francesco returns to his normal life as a rich young man. However, to the consternation of his parents, he begins to spend lots of time surrounded by nature, flowers, trees, animals and poetry as he becomes more and more reluctant to resume his prior life style. His father's obsession with gold now fills him with revulsion and this creates an open confrontation with Pietro. Francesco rebuffs offers to take over the family business and throws the textiles out the window. His father, frustrated, beats him and ends up humiliating him in front of the city's Bishop and population. Francesco renounces all his worldly possessions and his "noble" family name Bernardone and leaves Assisi naked and free from his past in order to live an ascetic and simple life as a man of God and nature.
He goes toward the ruins of the chapel of San Damiano, where he hears God's voice asking him to restore it. Much to the dismay of his family, friends and the local bishop, Francesco gradually gains a following amongst the poor and the suffering. His friend Bernardo, happily joins him after returning from a Crusade that left him in sorrow and emptiness. Two other friends, Silvestro and Giocondo, admiring Francesco's new life style as a beggar, help to rebuild the chapel of San Damiano.
Clare, a beautiful young woman also from a wealthy family, serves and cares for lepers of the community. She joins the brothers in their life of poverty. Meanwhile in Assisi, the high classes of nobility, including the Bishop, protest against Francesco and his group, worried about them "corrupting" the whole of Assisi's youth and they command Francesco's friend Paolo to hinder and stop the so called "minor brothers".
Because of conflicts between the high corrupted levels of the Church and Francesco's group, he decides to walk to the Vatican in Rome and ask Pope Innocent III
for advice. Once in Rome, Francesco becomes stunned by the enormous wealth, power, lust and emptiness that surrounds the throne of St. Peter and when he is brought to face the Pope he vehemently protests against such pomp and worldliness and recites the scriptures (which was not allowed) in order to prove that Christ's words are totally opposite to Rome's wealth. Due to this emotional explosion, Francesco and his friends are jailed, and finally accepting his admiration toward Francesco, Paolo decides to join them. He also reveals to Francesco how ashamed he is to be dressed in fine and luxurious clothes in front of a humble and kind man dressed as a beggar. The Pope orders Francesco and his friends to be brought back and, to everyone's astonishment, the Pope kisses Francesco's feet, and then blesses him and his companions, wishing for them a long world-wide society of men and women willing to serve God in the way he does. The film finishes with the sight of Francesco walking into the distance.
The final lines (in juxtaposition to the well established tone of the film) places the sincerity of the Pope's display in question: "Don't be alarmed, his holiness knows what he is doing. This is the man who will speak to the poor, and bring them back to us."
(1968). The film attempts to draw parallels between the work and philosophy of Saint Francis and the ideology that underpinned the worldwide counterculture
movement of the 1960s and early '70s. The film is also known for the score composed by Riz Ortolani
.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
(Lorenzo Mongiardino
, Gianni Quaranta
, Carmelo Patrono
).
, which reflected the 'flower power' mood of Zeffirelli's film and the cinematography in particular. Donovan also sang all the songs on the soundtrack itself. The composer Leonard Bernstein
had originally been approached to provide a score but the plans fell through. However Bernstein used some of the planned material in his Mass.
In 2004, Donovan re-recorded the songs from the long out-of-print soundtrack. Brother Sun, Sister Moon
was released exclusively on iTunes Store
.
Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....
and starring Graham Faulkner
Graham Faulkner
Graham Faulkner is a British former actor.His first and greatest role was as Francis of Assisi in Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon . After that, he virtually retired from acting. He played a small number of very minor roles, but has not been involved in film or television since 1984...
and Judi Bowker
Judi Bowker
Judi Bowker is an English television and cinema actress. Her roles include Princess Andromeda in the 1981 film version of Clash of the Titans and Saint Clare in Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon.-Biography:...
. The film is a biopic of Saint Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
.
Plot
Francesco, the spoiled son of Pietro Bernardone, a wealthy textile merchant, returns home from fighting in the war between AssisiAssisi
- Churches :* The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi is a World Heritage Site. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253...
and Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
. Struck by a feverish illness that has forced him to leave the war, Francesco lies on his bed tormented by visions of his past when he was a boisterous, arrogant youth. During a long recovery process, he slowly finds God in the midst of all, in poverty, chastity and obedience, experiencing a recovery not only of his body but of his soul.
Healthy again, Francesco returns to his normal life as a rich young man. However, to the consternation of his parents, he begins to spend lots of time surrounded by nature, flowers, trees, animals and poetry as he becomes more and more reluctant to resume his prior life style. His father's obsession with gold now fills him with revulsion and this creates an open confrontation with Pietro. Francesco rebuffs offers to take over the family business and throws the textiles out the window. His father, frustrated, beats him and ends up humiliating him in front of the city's Bishop and population. Francesco renounces all his worldly possessions and his "noble" family name Bernardone and leaves Assisi naked and free from his past in order to live an ascetic and simple life as a man of God and nature.
He goes toward the ruins of the chapel of San Damiano, where he hears God's voice asking him to restore it. Much to the dismay of his family, friends and the local bishop, Francesco gradually gains a following amongst the poor and the suffering. His friend Bernardo, happily joins him after returning from a Crusade that left him in sorrow and emptiness. Two other friends, Silvestro and Giocondo, admiring Francesco's new life style as a beggar, help to rebuild the chapel of San Damiano.
Clare, a beautiful young woman also from a wealthy family, serves and cares for lepers of the community. She joins the brothers in their life of poverty. Meanwhile in Assisi, the high classes of nobility, including the Bishop, protest against Francesco and his group, worried about them "corrupting" the whole of Assisi's youth and they command Francesco's friend Paolo to hinder and stop the so called "minor brothers".
Because of conflicts between the high corrupted levels of the Church and Francesco's group, he decides to walk to the Vatican in Rome and ask Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
for advice. Once in Rome, Francesco becomes stunned by the enormous wealth, power, lust and emptiness that surrounds the throne of St. Peter and when he is brought to face the Pope he vehemently protests against such pomp and worldliness and recites the scriptures (which was not allowed) in order to prove that Christ's words are totally opposite to Rome's wealth. Due to this emotional explosion, Francesco and his friends are jailed, and finally accepting his admiration toward Francesco, Paolo decides to join them. He also reveals to Francesco how ashamed he is to be dressed in fine and luxurious clothes in front of a humble and kind man dressed as a beggar. The Pope orders Francesco and his friends to be brought back and, to everyone's astonishment, the Pope kisses Francesco's feet, and then blesses him and his companions, wishing for them a long world-wide society of men and women willing to serve God in the way he does. The film finishes with the sight of Francesco walking into the distance.
The final lines (in juxtaposition to the well established tone of the film) places the sincerity of the Pope's display in question: "Don't be alarmed, his holiness knows what he is doing. This is the man who will speak to the poor, and bring them back to us."
Cast
The film features a cast of newcomers and screen veterans:- Graham FaulknerGraham FaulknerGraham Faulkner is a British former actor.His first and greatest role was as Francis of Assisi in Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon . After that, he virtually retired from acting. He played a small number of very minor roles, but has not been involved in film or television since 1984...
- St. Francis of Assisi - Judi BowkerJudi BowkerJudi Bowker is an English television and cinema actress. Her roles include Princess Andromeda in the 1981 film version of Clash of the Titans and Saint Clare in Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon.-Biography:...
- ClareClare of AssisiClare of Assisi , born Chiara Offreduccio, is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi... - Leigh LawsonLeigh LawsonLeigh Lawson is a film and stage actor, director, and writer.-Career:Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Lawson has acted in film and television since the early 1970s, directed plays in the West End and on Broadway...
- Bernardo - Kenneth CranhamKenneth CranhamKenneth Cranham is a film, television and stage actor. He starred in the title role in the popular 1980s comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon. He also appeared in Layer Cake, Gangster No. 1, Rome, Oliver! and many other films. He is probably best known to horror genre fans as the deranged Dr...
- Paolo - Lee MontagueLee MontagueLee Montague is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television, usually playing tough guys.Film credits include: Moulin Rouge, The Camp on Blood Island, The Savage Innocents, Billy Budd, The Secret of Blood Island, Deadlier Than the Male, The Legacy and Brother Sun, Sister...
- Pietro Di Bernardone - Valentina Cortese - Pica Di Bernardone
- Alec GuinnessAlec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
- Pope Innocent IIIPope Innocent IIIPope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni.... - Michael Feast - Silvestro
- Nicholas Willatt - Giacondo
- John SharpJohn Sharp (actor)John Sharp was a British television actor.He made more than 100 appearances in television and occasionally films between 1949 and 1991. Sharp began as a film actor in 1949 and appeared in films throughout the 1950s...
- Bishop Guido - Adolfo CeliAdolfo CeliAdolfo Celi was an Italian film actor and director.-Life and career:Born in Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 movies, specializing in international villains. His most famous role was as Emilio Largo in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball...
- Consul - Francesco Guerrieri - Deodato
Reception
Featuring Zeffirelli's signature lush photography, Brother Sun, Sister Moon was conceived and executed in much the same visual manner as his Academy Award-winning adaptation of Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet (1968 film)
Romeo and Juliet is a 1968 British-Italian cinematic adaptation of the William Shakespeare play of the same name.The film was directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, and stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design; it was also...
(1968). The film attempts to draw parallels between the work and philosophy of Saint Francis and the ideology that underpinned the worldwide counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
movement of the 1960s and early '70s. The film is also known for the score composed by Riz Ortolani
Riz Ortolani
Riziero "Riz" Ortolani is an Italian film composer.In the early 1950s Ortolani was founder and member of a jazz band of national Italian renown...
.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Lorenzo Mongiardino
Lorenzo Mongiardino
Lorenzo Mongiardino was an Italian architect, interior designer and production designer...
, Gianni Quaranta
Gianni Quaranta
Gianni Quaranta is an Italian production designer and art director. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction and won the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Production Design for La Traviata . He won the Oscar for Best Art Direction for the...
, Carmelo Patrono
Carmelo Patrono
Carmelo Patrono is an Italian production designer and art director. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film Brother Sun, Sister Moon.-External links:...
).
Soundtrack
The romantic soundtrack was by the Scottish singer-songwriter DonovanDonovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
, which reflected the 'flower power' mood of Zeffirelli's film and the cinematography in particular. Donovan also sang all the songs on the soundtrack itself. The composer Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
had originally been approached to provide a score but the plans fell through. However Bernstein used some of the planned material in his Mass.
In 2004, Donovan re-recorded the songs from the long out-of-print soundtrack. Brother Sun, Sister Moon
Brother Sun, Sister Moon (album)
Brother Sun, Sister Moon is the twenty-second studio album and twenty-seventh album overall from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. Brother Sun, Sister Moon was released exclusively on the iTunes Music Store in 2004.-History:...
was released exclusively on iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
.