Novecento (1976)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers:

Franco Arcalli (writer)
Bernardo Bertolucci (writer)

Release Date:

4 November 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Plot:

Set in Italy, the film follows the lives and interactions of two boys/men, one born a bastard of peasant stock (Depardieu)...

Plot Keywords:

Peasant | Friend | Italy | Enemy | Italian

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Alfredo Berlinghieri
Gérard Depardieu	...	Olmo Dalcò (as Gerard Depardieu)
Dominique Sanda	...	Ada Fiastri Paulhan
Francesca Bertini	...	Sister Desolata
Laura Betti	...	Regina
Werner Bruhns	...	Ottavio Berlinghieri
Stefania Casini	...	Neve
Sterling Hayden	...	Leo Dalcò
Anna Henkel	...	Anita
Ellen Schwiers	...	Amelia
Alida Valli	...	Signora Pioppi
Romolo Valli	...	Giovanni
Bianca Magliacca	...	Peasant
Giacomo Rizzo	...	Rigoletto
Pippo Campanini	...	Don Tarcisio

Also Known As:

1900 (USA)
1900 - Gewalt, Macht, Leidenschaft (West Germany) (first part title)
1900 - Kampf, Liebe, Hoffnung (West Germany) (second part title)
1900: Seconde époque (France) (TV title)
Nineteen Hundred (USA) (alternative spelling)
Novecento - Atto I (Italy) (first part title)
Novecento - Atto II (Italy) (second part title)
Novecento (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
1900 (Brazil) [pt]
1900 (Finland) [fi]
1900 (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
1900 (Greece) [el]
1900 (Sweden) [sv]
1900 - Gewalt, Macht, Leidenschaft (Austria) (first part title) [de]
1900 - Kampf, Liebe, Hoffnung (Austria) (second part title) [de]
1900 de Bertolucci (Brazil) [pt]
Huszadik század (Hungary) [hu]

Runtime:

USA:245 min (R-rated version) | 315 min (2 parts) (uncut version) | Argentina:250 min (heavily cut) | Australia:248 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Italy | France | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:18 (DVD release) (2005) | West Germany:16 (video rating) (cut) | Germany:18 (uncut version) | New Zealand:R18 | France:-16 (uncut) | Hungary:18 | USA:NC-17 (re-rating) (uncut version) (1993) (rating surrendered) | Italy:VM14 (re-release) (uncut version) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) (uncut version) (1976) | Portugal:M/16 (uncut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Singapore:R21 (cut) | West Germany:16 (f) (original rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Spain:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | Norway:18 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Canada:R | USA:X (original rating) (uncut version) (1976) | USA:R (original rating) (edited version) (1976)

Filming Locations:

Busseto, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Company:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA)

Trivia:

The integral version of the film, the entire 5 hours and 20 minutes, was shown for the first time in 30 years in Belgrade, Serbia (ex-Yugoslavia), on April 12 2007.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: As Attila Mellanchini is shot by the communist partisans on VE Day, a close-up is shown of a man's hand holding the pistol to Attila's head. The pistol in his hand is a Beretta M951, which only began production circa 1953 - eight years after the war ended.

Quotes:

Attila Mellanchini: That's not a pussycat, that's a communist!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Making 'Taxi Driver' (1999) (V)

A long and good picture

One of the most perfect historic contemporary pictures ever made. Wonderful performances of the actors Robert de Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Burt Lancaster and Donald Sutherland. This film tells us a story of two mans (Alfredo and Olmo) born in the same day back in the beginning of the twentieth century - Alfredo is a landowner, Olmo is a peasant- and their relation with friendship, love, politics. ( I think this is a film about how friendship can be true in a cruel half century that was the fist half os the "novecento").

There is a Marxist view about life and about cinema itself in this Bertolucci film: the two main characters, Alfredo and Olmo, symbolize the strike between the two classes of the capitalism - the high bourgeosie that owns the land where live the proletarian. The picture tries to prove that their lives are different in the way that their different social condition can interfere. In the beginning Alfredo and Olmo are very close, because they are only child. Alfredo tries to be like Olmo. He sees in his friend the freedoom that he hasn't. He wants to be a socialist.

I recommend this picture to all who like good cinema.