Leopardi
Description
Based on the fraught life of 19th-century Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi, Mario Martone’s expansive biopic features an unforgettable performance by Elio Germano in the title role. Born into an aristocratic and learned family living in Recanati, Giacomo has access to a celebrated library where he and his siblings are encouraged by their strict father to spend many hours in study. Physically frail, he increasingly leads a life of the mind, devoting himself to an epistolary friendship with scholar Pietro Giordani, several unrequited romantic interests and a feverish compulsion to write. Like Martone’s previous film, the historical epic We Believed (NIC 2013), Leopardi brings the past to life with sumptuous visuals and a propulsive narrative. Filmed in the actual house, library and streets where Leopardi lived, the film offers a scintillating depiction of the life and times of a man whose body just could not keep pace with his intellect.
Mario Martone was born in 1959 in Naples. His early film Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician (1992) won several international prizes while his more recent work We Believed (2010) swept the David di Donatello awards, taking home seven. Speaking about the character of Leopardi, Martone says, “[He] was a universal intellectual…You don’t have to have studied 19th-century Italian history or know Leopardi’s works to follow his story, to see my film. All you need is a heart and soul.”
Trailer
//www.youtube.com/embed/kN-lCxEx0loFilm Details
Language Italian
Original Language Title Il giovane favoloso
Year 2014
Runtime 137
Country Italy
Director Mario Martone
Producer Carlo Degli Esposti, Patrizia Massa, Nicola Serra
Writer Mario Martone, Ippolita Di Majo
Editor Jacopo Quadri
Cinematographer Renato Berta
Music Sascha Ring, Gioacchino Rossini
Cast Elio Germano, Michele Riondino, Isabella Ragonese
Print Source Rai Cinema