Vittorio De Sica - Sunflower / I girasoli

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

This was a visual poetry about love and love lost. There are so many
scenes which are a text book example of how to make a film. Let me
name a few: The bathroom scene when Giovanna is saying goodbye to
Antonio at the train station before Antonio goes to war. Antonio takes
Giovanna into a bathroom to kiss. He believes a little privacy will
make the moment more intimate but finds out that it is not the place
that was wrong but rather the whole situation (them being separated
and not able to connect on this desperate moment). It is like they are
there but at the same time not there. De Sica makes us feel these
emotions by breaking the 180 degree rule and by making Antonio look
into empty space, and then cut like he is looking at them self. For
those of you who don't know what the 180 degree rule, see this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180_degree_rule.

It is interesting that this scene takes place at a bathroom because
when I thought film studies I would use another film which break the
same rule in a bathroom, Shining by Kubrick.

Another scene is when Giovanna is in the USSR on a train looking at a
Sunflower field. The field moves rapidly up and down in the frame,
almost like an avant garde scene and then comes to a close in the
field where she is standing, perfectly reflecting her inner emotions.

SPOILERS!!! The best example is when she finds the wife of Antonio. We
see perfectly what see is thinking without her ever uttering a word.
We think like she does and hope as she, that this is all a
misunderstanding. All done visually! Brilliant. And that clock scene
when Antonio comes with the train! Another example of visual story
telling. We hear the train, Antonio's new wife looks at the clock, we
see the clock, Giovanna looks at the clock and we realise what is
happening. All in one shot! Beautiful heartwarming film!

[Thorkell A. Ottarsson]

Thanks :)

On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 6:20 PM, ranadeep bhattacharyya
<ranad...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Thorkell for the wonderful analysis in such few words... would love
> to hear more observations from u n the film
>
>
> On Thursday, August 2, 2012 1:28:29 AM UTC+5:30, Thorkell Ágúst Óttarsson