Tre fratelli (1981)

Director:

Francesco Rosi

Writers:

Tonino Guerra (story) &
Francesco Rosi (story) ...

Release Date:

15 May 1981 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Three men face their mother's death.

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 8 wins

Cast

Philippe Noiret	...	Raffaele Giuranna
Michele Placido	...	Nicola Giuranna
Vittorio Mezzogiorno	...	Rocco Giuranna / Young Donato
Andréa Ferréol	...	Raffaele's Wife
Maddalena Crippa	...	Giovanna
Rosaria Tafuri	...	Rosaria
Marta Zoffoli	...	Marta
Tino Schirinzi	...	Raffaeles's Friend
Simonetta Stefanelli	...	Young Donato's Wife
Pietro Biondi	...	1st Judge
Charles Vanel	...	Donato Giuranna
Accursio Di Leo	...	1st Friend at Bar
Luigi Infantino	...	2nd Friend at Bar
Girolamo Marzano	...	Nicola's Friend
Gina Pontrelli	...	The Brother's Mother

Also Known As:

Three Brothers (International: English title)
Trois frères (France)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Matera, Basilicata, Italy

Company:

Iterfilm

Trivia:

In the French post-synchronized version, the Italian actors are dubbed by: Bernard Murat (Michele Placido), François Marthouret (Vittorio Mezzogiorno); Stefanie Kent (Marta Zoffoli); Perrette Pradier (Maddalena Crippa) and Véronique Chobaz (Rosaria Tafuri).

Movie Connections:

Featured in Il cineasta e il labirinto (2004)

Soundtrack:

Je so' pazzo

One of those movies that deserves a much larger audience...

I've always been very interested in Italy, its culture, its architecture, its cinema,... and that's why I will not let a chance go by to watch an Italian movie, because most of the time you'll see a fine combination of all these factors in it. So far I've already seen several Italian films, including some fine award winners like "La Meglio gioventù" and "La Stanza del figlio", and I can't remember that I've seen many that I really didn't like.

"Tre fratelli" tells the story of three brothers who return to the farmhouse in southern Italy where they grew up after the death of their mother. Except for their family ties, the three adult men don't really seem to have anything in common. Raffaele is a happily married judge in Rome who risks to be assassinated for a political case he hasn't even accepted yet, Rocco is a single social worker who works at a correctional institute for boys in Naples and Nicola is a radical factory worker from Turin who lives separated from his wife and who is involved in labor disputes and therefor risks to be fired. Together they have several discussions about the meaning of life, marriage terrorism, the mafia,... while their father grieves over the loss of his wife with his young granddaughter, who he also teaches something about life in the countryside.

Perhaps not everybody agrees with me, but this movie reminded me a lot of "La Meglio gioventù". And you can definitely see that as a compliment, because I really loved that movie a lot. This movie too showed how several family members, who don't seem to have much in common at first, make the best of their lives together, with the current social and political situation in Italy on the background. The main difference is that this movie only focuses on the 1980's, while the story of the other movie started in 1966 and ended in 2000.

Philippe Noiret, Michele Placido and Vittorio Mezzogiorno are very nice to watch as the brothers and Charles Vanel was very good as their father, but if I have to chose one actor who really surprised me, then it must be the young Marta Zoffoli. Despite her young age, she gave away a very fine performance and in my opinion she was the true star of the movie.

Overall this is a very nice drama that certainly should get a lot more attention than what it has received so far. When I see that it has only received 130 votes until now, I truly believe that this movie doesn't get the audience that it deserves. It has a good story and some very fine acting to offer, the decors are nice and thanks to Francesco Rosi, the director and co-writer of this movie, everything has been brought together into one solid movie. I give this movie at least a 7.5/10 and hope that many more will see it.