The First Beautiful Thing
| The First Beautiful Thing | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Paolo Virzì |
| Written by | Paolo Virzì Francesco Bruni Francesco Piccolo |
| Produced by | Paolo Virzì |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Nicola Pecorini |
| Edited by | Simone Manetti |
| Music by | Indiana Production Company |
| Distributed by | Palisades Tartan |
Release date |
|
Running time | 122 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
The First Beautiful Thing (
Plot
The film tells the story of the Michelucci family, from the 1970s to the present day: the central character is the stunningly beautiful Anna, the lively, frivolous and sometimes embarrassing mother of Bruno and Valeria. Everything begins in the Summer of 1971, at the annual Summer beauty pageant held at Livorno's most popular bathing establishment. Anna is unexpectedly crowned "Most Beautiful Mother", unwittingly stirring the violent jealousy of her husband, a Non-commissioned officer of Carabinieri. From then on, chaos strikes the family and for Anna, Bruno and his sister Valeria, it is the start of an adventure that will only end thirty years later. The whole movie is set when Bruno, a high school teacher who ended up living in Milan after managing to escape from Livorno and his mother, returns to his hometown to be at his mother's side during her very last days, remembering many of the key episodes of his family life through a long series of flashbacks.
Cast
- Valerio Mastandrea as Bruno Michelucci
- Micaela Ramazzotti as Anna Nigiotti in Michelucci - 1971-1981
- Stefania Sandrelli as Anna Nigiotti in Michelucci - 2008
- Claudia Pandolfi as Valeria Michelucci
- Marco Messeri as Il Nesi
- Fabrizia Sacchi as Sandra
- Aurora Frasca as Valeria Michelucci - child
- Giacomo Bibbiani as Bruno Michelucci - child
- Giulia Burgalassi as Valeria Michelucci - teenager
- Francesco Rapalino as Bruno - teenager
- Sergio Albelli as Mario Michelucci
- Isabella Cecchi as Zia Leda Nigiotti
- Emanuele Barresi as Roberto Lenzi
- Dario Ballantini as Avvocato Cenerini
- Paolo Ruffini as Cristiano Cenerini
Reception
Critical response
The First Beautiful Thing has an approval rating of 74% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 6.6/10.[1] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generaly favorable reviews".[2]
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for 18
In July 2010, La prima cosa bella (The first beautiful Thing) won four Silver Ribbon awards: Director of the Best Film of the Year (Paolo Virzi), Best Actress Micaela Ramazzotti and Stefania Sandrelli, Best Screenplay Paolo Virzi, Francesco Bruni, Francesco Piccolo) and Best Costume Design to the Oscar winner Gabriella Pescucci. The film was screened at some international film festivals including the Open Roads, New York, the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Annecy Cinéma Italien Film Festival and the NICE Italian Film Festival, San Francisco.
See also
- List of submissions to the 83rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Italian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
- ^ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_first_beautiful_thing
- ^ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-first-beautiful-thing?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c
- ^ "Nominations for the 23rd European Film Awards". europeanfilmacademy.org. European Film Academy. 6 November 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ^ "Virzì's The First Beautiful Thing sets out to conquer Hollywood". cineuropa. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
- ^ "9 Foreign Language Films Continue to Oscar Race". oscars.org. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
External links
- The First Beautiful Thing at IMDb
