Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Encyclopedia
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (b. November 8, 1931, and September 20, 1929, respectively, both in San Miniato
, Tuscany
, Italy
) are noted Italian film directors and screenwriters. They are brothers, who have always worked together, each directing alternate scenes.
Paolo Taviani's wife Lina Nerli Taviani has been costume designer of many of their films.
At the Cannes Film Festival
the Taviani brothers won Palme d'Or
and the FIPRESCI
prize for Padre padrone
in 1977 and Grand Prix du Jury
for La notte di San Lorenzo in 1982.
directing, with Joris Ivens
the documentary
L'Italia non è un paese povero (Italy is not a poor country), and they went on, directing with Valentino Orsini
two films Un uomo da bruciare (1962) and I fuorilegge del matrimonio (1963).
Their first autonomous film was I sovversivi (The Subversive) (1967), with which they anticipated the events of '68. With actor Gian Maria Volonté
they rose to fame with Sotto il segno dello scorpione (Under the Sign of Scorpio) (1969) where one can see the echoes of Brecht
, Pasolini
and Godard
.
In 1971 they co-signed the media campaign against Milan's police commissioner Luigi Calabresi
, published in the magazine L'espresso
.
The revolutionary theme is present both in San Michele aveva un gallo (1971), a superb adaptation of Tolstoy
's novel The Divine and the Human, a film greatly appreciated by critics, and in the film Allonsanfan
(1974), where Mastroianni
plays an ex-revolutionary who has served a long term in prison and sees his idealistic youth in a much more realistic light, and nevertheless gets entangled in a new attempt in which he no longers believes.
Their next film Padre padrone (1977) (Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival
), taken from a novel by Gavino Ledda
, speaks of the struggle of a Sardinian shepheard against the cruel rules of his patriarchal society. In Il prato (1979) there are neorealistic echoes, while La notte di San Lorenzo (Saint Lorenzo's night) (1982) narrates, in a fairy-tale tone, a marginal event in the days before the end of World War II, in Tuscany, as seen through the eyes of some village people. The film was awarded the Special Jury Award in Cannes.
Kaos
(1984) - again a literary adaptation - is a poignantly beautiful and poetical film in episodes, taken from Luigi Pirandello
's Short Stories for a year.
In Il sole anche di notte (1990) the Taviani brothers transposed in 18th century Naples the story from Tolstoy's "Father Sergius
".
From then onwards, the Taviani's inspiration proved faltering. Successes like Le affinità elettive, (1996), from Goethe) and an attempt to woo the international audiences like Good morning Babilonia, {1987), on the pioneers of cinema history, alternate with much inferior films, commercial and critical disasters like Fiorile
(1993) and Tu ridi (1996), inspired by the characters and short stories of Pirandello.
In the 2000s, the two directors turned successfully to television films and miniseries. They gave a respectful adaptation of Tolstoy's Resurrection
(2001) and Luisa Sanfelice (2004) a sort of romantic-popular ballad from a book by Alexandre Dumas.
Literary adaptations continue with La masseria delle allodole
(2007), presented at the Berlin Film Festival in the section 'Berlinale Special'.
their favourite composer: eight films together, from La notte di San Lorenzo to Luisa Sanfelice; a series only interrupted for Le affinità elettive (music by Carlo Crivelli).
San Miniato
San Miniato is a town and comune in the province of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, Italy.San Miniato sits at an historically strategic location atop three small hills where it dominates the lower Arno valley between the valleys of Egola and Elsa...
, Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) are noted Italian film directors and screenwriters. They are brothers, who have always worked together, each directing alternate scenes.
Paolo Taviani's wife Lina Nerli Taviani has been costume designer of many of their films.
At the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
the Taviani brothers won Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
and the FIPRESCI
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
prize for Padre padrone
Padre Padrone
Padre padrone is an Italian film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. The Tavianis used both professional and non-professional actors from the Sardinian countryside....
in 1977 and Grand Prix du Jury
Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)
The Grand Prix is an award of the Cannes Film Festival bestowed by the jury of the festival on one of the competing feature films. It is the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d'Or...
for La notte di San Lorenzo in 1982.
Career
They started their career as journalists. In 1960 they came to the world of cinemaFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directing, with Joris Ivens
Joris Ivens
Joris Ivens was a Dutch documentary filmmaker and committed communist.-Early life and career:...
the documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
L'Italia non è un paese povero (Italy is not a poor country), and they went on, directing with Valentino Orsini
Valentino Orsini
Valentino Orsini was an Italian film director.After his first interests to arts in his hometown, in 1954 Valentino Orsini directed with the brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani the documentary San Miniato: luglio...
two films Un uomo da bruciare (1962) and I fuorilegge del matrimonio (1963).
Their first autonomous film was I sovversivi (The Subversive) (1967), with which they anticipated the events of '68. With actor Gian Maria Volonté
Gian Maria Volontè
Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor. He is perhaps most famous outside of Italy for his roles as the main villain in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.-Early life:Volonté was born in Milan, and graduated in Rome in 1957...
they rose to fame with Sotto il segno dello scorpione (Under the Sign of Scorpio) (1969) where one can see the echoes of Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
and Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
.
In 1971 they co-signed the media campaign against Milan's police commissioner Luigi Calabresi
Luigi Calabresi
Luigi Calabresi , recipient of a gold medal of the Italian Republic for civil valor, was a commissioner of Italian police in Milan....
, published in the magazine L'espresso
L'Espresso
l'Espresso is an Italian newsmagazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies, the other being Panorama. Since the latter has been acquired by right-wing tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi, l'Espresso enjoys the reputation of being the main politically independent newsmagazine...
.
The revolutionary theme is present both in San Michele aveva un gallo (1971), a superb adaptation of Tolstoy
Tolstoy
Tolstoy, or Tolstoi is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy who served under Vasily II of Moscow...
's novel The Divine and the Human, a film greatly appreciated by critics, and in the film Allonsanfan
Allonsanfàn
Allonsanfàn is an Italian drama film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani with the score written by Ennio Morricone.The film is set in early 19th-century Italy and stars Marcello Mastroianni as Fulvio Imbriani, an Italian middle-aged aristocrat-turned-revolutionary, losing his commitment to a...
(1974), where Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
plays an ex-revolutionary who has served a long term in prison and sees his idealistic youth in a much more realistic light, and nevertheless gets entangled in a new attempt in which he no longers believes.
Their next film Padre padrone (1977) (Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
), taken from a novel by Gavino Ledda
Gavino Ledda
Gavino Ledda is an author and a scholar of the Italian language and of Sardinian. He is best known for his autobiographical work Padre padrone .-Early life:...
, speaks of the struggle of a Sardinian shepheard against the cruel rules of his patriarchal society. In Il prato (1979) there are neorealistic echoes, while La notte di San Lorenzo (Saint Lorenzo's night) (1982) narrates, in a fairy-tale tone, a marginal event in the days before the end of World War II, in Tuscany, as seen through the eyes of some village people. The film was awarded the Special Jury Award in Cannes.
Kaos
Kaos (film)
Kaos is a 1984 drama film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani based on short stories by Luigi Pirandello...
(1984) - again a literary adaptation - is a poignantly beautiful and poetical film in episodes, taken from Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
's Short Stories for a year.
In Il sole anche di notte (1990) the Taviani brothers transposed in 18th century Naples the story from Tolstoy's "Father Sergius
Father Sergius
Father Sergius is a short story written by Leo Tolstoy in 1890 and first published in 1898.-Plot:The story begins with the childhood and exceptional and accomplished youth of Prince Stepan Kasatsky. The young man is destined for great things. He discovers on the eve of his wedding that his fiancée...
".
From then onwards, the Taviani's inspiration proved faltering. Successes like Le affinità elettive, (1996), from Goethe) and an attempt to woo the international audiences like Good morning Babilonia, {1987), on the pioneers of cinema history, alternate with much inferior films, commercial and critical disasters like Fiorile
Fiorile
Fiorile is a 1993 Italian drama film about a family curse caused by greed. The film was directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, and stars Claudio Bigagli, Galatea Ranzi, and Michael Vartan. It was entered into the 1993 Cannes Film Festival....
(1993) and Tu ridi (1996), inspired by the characters and short stories of Pirandello.
In the 2000s, the two directors turned successfully to television films and miniseries. They gave a respectful adaptation of Tolstoy's Resurrection
Resurrection (novel)
Resurrection , first published in 1899, was the last novel written by Leo Tolstoy. The book is the last of his major long fiction works published in his lifetime . Tolstoy intended the novel as an exposition of injustice of man-made laws and the hypocrisy of institutionalized church...
(2001) and Luisa Sanfelice (2004) a sort of romantic-popular ballad from a book by Alexandre Dumas.
Literary adaptations continue with La masseria delle allodole
La Masseria Delle Allodole
La masseria delle allodole is a 2007 Italian film directed by Taviani brothers about the Armenian Genocide. The film is also known as "The Lark Farm".-Plot:...
(2007), presented at the Berlin Film Festival in the section 'Berlinale Special'.
1950s-1960s
- San Miniato, luglio '44 (1954)
- L'Italia non è un paese povero (1960, together with Joris IvensJoris IvensJoris Ivens was a Dutch documentary filmmaker and committed communist.-Early life and career:...
) - Un uomo da bruciare (1962, together with Valentino OrsiniValentino OrsiniValentino Orsini was an Italian film director.After his first interests to arts in his hometown, in 1954 Valentino Orsini directed with the brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani the documentary San Miniato: luglio...
) - I fuorilegge del matrimonio (1963, together with Valentino Orsini)
- I sovversivi (1967)
- Sotto il segno dello scorpione (1969)
1970s-1980s
- San Michele aveva un gallo (1972)
- AllonsanfànAllonsanfànAllonsanfàn is an Italian drama film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani with the score written by Ennio Morricone.The film is set in early 19th-century Italy and stars Marcello Mastroianni as Fulvio Imbriani, an Italian middle-aged aristocrat-turned-revolutionary, losing his commitment to a...
(1974) - Padre padrone (1977)
- Il prato (1979)
- La notte di San Lorenzo (1982)
- KaosKaos (film)Kaos is a 1984 drama film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani based on short stories by Luigi Pirandello...
(1984) - Good Morning, Babylon (1987)
1990s
- Il sole anche di notte (1990)
- FiorileFiorileFiorile is a 1993 Italian drama film about a family curse caused by greed. The film was directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, and stars Claudio Bigagli, Galatea Ranzi, and Michael Vartan. It was entered into the 1993 Cannes Film Festival....
(1993) - Le affinità elettive (1996)
- Tu ridi (1998)
2000s
- Un altro mondo è possibile (2001)
- Resurrezione (2001, TV film)
- Luisa Sanfelice (2004, TV miniseries)
- La masseria delle allodoleLa Masseria Delle AllodoleLa masseria delle allodole is a 2007 Italian film directed by Taviani brothers about the Armenian Genocide. The film is also known as "The Lark Farm".-Plot:...
(2007)
1950s-1960s
- San Miniato, luglio '44 (1954, with Valentino Orsini and Cesare ZavattiniCesare ZavattiniCesare Zavattini was an Italian screenwriter and one of the first theorists and proponents of the Neorealist movement in Italian cinema.-Brief biography:...
) - Un uomo da bruciare (1962, with Valentino Orsini)
- I fuorilegge del matrimonio (1963, with Lucio Battistrada, Giuliani G. De Negri, Renato Niccolai and Valentino Orsini)
- I sovversivi (1967)
- Sotto il segno dello scorpione (1969)
1970s-1980s
- San Michele aveva un gallo (1972, based on a story by Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
) - Allonsanfàn (1973)
- Padre padronePadre PadronePadre padrone is an Italian film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. The Tavianis used both professional and non-professional actors from the Sardinian countryside....
(1977, based on a book by Gavino Ledda) - Il prato (1979, with Gianni Sbarra)
- La notte di San Lorenzo (1982, with Giuliani G. De Negri and Tonino GuerraTonino GuerraTonino Guerra is an Italian poet, writer and screenwriter who has collaborated with some of the most prominent film directors of the world.-Biography:Guerra was born in Santarcangelo di Romagna....
) - Kaos (1984, based on short stories by Luigi PirandelloLuigi PirandelloLuigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
) - Good Morning, Babylon (1987, with Tonino Guerra)
since 1990s
- Il sole anche di notte (1990, with Tonino Guerra)
- FiorileFiorileFiorile is a 1993 Italian drama film about a family curse caused by greed. The film was directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, and stars Claudio Bigagli, Galatea Ranzi, and Michael Vartan. It was entered into the 1993 Cannes Film Festival....
(1993, with Sandro PetragliaSandro PetragliaSandro Petraglia is an author and screenwriter. He has over 40 writing credits to his name, most famously the 400-minute epic La Meglio Gioventù.-Filmography :*Mino...
) - Le affinità elettive (1996, based on a novella by Johann Wolfgang Goethe)
- Tu ridi (1998, based on short stories by Luigi PirandelloLuigi PirandelloLuigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
) - Resurrezione (2001, based on a novel by Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
) - Luisa Sanfelice (2004, based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
)
For their first eight films
In chronological order:- Gianfranco Intra: Un uomo da bruciare
- Giovanni FuscoGiovanni FuscoGiovanni Fusco was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor, who has written numerous film scores since 1936, including those of Alain Resnais' Hiroshima mon amour and La guerre est finie as well as of most of the 1948-1964 films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, from N.U...
: I fuorilegge del matrimonio, I sovversivi - Vittorio GelmettiVittorio GelmettiGelmetti in the 60's electronic music.Synthetic music, as they say the futurists.Music created by their own means. Home Music.Solo and sincere.Gelmetti is out of the concert, in sympathy with the field of cinema.Giuseppe Chiari----...
: Sotto il segno dello scorpione - Benedetto Ghiglia: San Michele aveva un gallo
- Ennio MorriconeEnnio MorriconeEnnio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
: Allonsanfan - Egisto MacchiEgisto MacchiEgisto Macchi was an Italian composer.Born in Grosseto, he made his musical studies in composition, piano, violin and singing in Rome. He died in Montpellier, France.-Sources:...
: Padre padrone - Ennio Morricone: Il prato
Nicola Piovani
Nicola PiovaniNicola Piovani
Nicola Piovani is a light-classical musician, theater and film score composer, and winner of the 1998 Best Original Dramatic Score Oscar for the score of the Roberto Benigni film La Vita è bella, better known to English-speaking audiences as Life Is Beautiful.After high school, Piovani enrolled at...
their favourite composer: eight films together, from La notte di San Lorenzo to Luisa Sanfelice; a series only interrupted for Le affinità elettive (music by Carlo Crivelli).
Favourite classical composers
- MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
- Adagio from Mozart's Clarinet ConcertoClarinet Concerto (Mozart)Mozart's Clarinet concerto in A major, K. 622 was written in 1791 for the clarinetist Anton Stadler.It consists of the usual three movements, in a fast–slow–fast form:# Allegro# Adagio# Rondo: Allegro...
in Padre padrone - Cavatina L'ho perduta from Nozze di Figaro in Kaos
- Adagio from Mozart's Clarinet Concerto
- WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
:- Baritone aria O du mein holder Abendstern from the 3rd act of TannhauserTannhäuser (opera)Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
in Notte di San Lorenzo
- Baritone aria O du mein holder Abendstern from the 3rd act of Tannhauser
- Rossini:
- Sinfonia from Guglielmo Tell (Good Morning Babilonia)
- Aria dei gatti (Tu ridi)
- ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
and TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
in Resurrezione
Awards
- 1977: Palme d'orPalme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
per Padre padrone. - 1983: David di Donatello for Best FilmDavid di Donatello for Best Film-1970:*Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto, by Elio Petri *Metello, by Mauro Bolognini -1971:*The Conformist , by Bernardo Bertolucci...
for La notte di San Lorenzo. - 1986: Leone d'Oro {Golden Lion) of the Venice Film Festival for the whole of their career
- 2007: Efebo d'oro for La Masseria delle Allodole.
- 2008: Laurea Honoris Causa in "Cinema, theatre and multimedia production" by the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the Pisa University.
External links
- Paolo Taviani, IMDB entry
- Vittorio Taviani, IMDB entry