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The San Francisco Chronicle
March 5, 1994
Curse Stalks Family for Two Centuries
by Edward Guthmann
3 Star Rating
FIORILE: Romantic fable. Directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. (PG-13. 118 minutes. At the Lumiere Theater.)
Cursed by the legacy of their own greed, the Benedetti family of Tuscany is still paying, after 200 years, for the sins of their ancestors. Passion ends in tragedy. Mothers die in childbirth. Sisters poison brothers. And old men wither from insanity.
That's the story of ''Fiorile'' (opening today at the Lumiere Theater), a sweeping romantic fable from Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, the Italian brothers who co- directed ''Night of the Shooting Stars'' and ''Padre Padrone.''
Based on a legend that the Tavianis grew up hearing in their native Tuscany -- one that may or may not be born in fact -- ''Fiorile'' spans two centuries of family lore and offers up the concept that karma, when it so desires, has the power to dominate and cripple our destinies.
GORGEOUS CINEMATOGRAPHY
It's a gorgeous film, shot by the Tavianis' perennial cinematographer Giuseppe Lanci, designed by their longtime art director Gianni Sbarra and costumed by Paolo Taviani's wife, Lina Nerli Taviani. High marks all around. It's also performed by attractive actors, the most notable of whom, Michael Vartan, is an American based in France.
Elisa (Galatea Ranzi) and Elio (Giovanni Guidelli) in 'Fiorile': Descendants of 18th century Italian family keep paying for ancient crimes But ''Fiorile'' is never as satisfying as the Tavianis' best work: After an impressive opening vignette, it bogs down, making it progressively harder to stay interested in the Benedettis' soap-operatic saga.
''Fiorile'' opens in the present, as Luigi Benedetti (Lino Capolicchio) drives throu! gh the Tuscan countryside with his French wife (Constanza Engelbrecht) and two children (Elisa Giani and Ciro Esposito). Sent to Paris as a youth -- there to escape the powerful Benedetti ''curse'' -- Luigi returns to introduce the kids to the crazed grandfather they've never seen, and to explain the family curse -- a lingering dark star that's earned them the nickname ''Maledettis.''
Luigi's narrative becomes a framing device for glimpsing generations of Benedettis and tracking their legend. The curse originated in the late 18th century, we learn, when Napoleon's army passed through Tuscany, and Jean (Michael Vartan), a young lieutenant, fell for Elisabetta Benedetti (Galatea Ranzi), a simple peasant girl.
PASSION BOILS
It doesn't take long for passion to boil: One look and he's a goner, dropping his drawers and nicknaming her ''Fiorile'' -- the name for the month of May on the French Revolutionary calendar.
It's worth noting that when Jean discovers ''Fiorile'' behind a bush, she's just been wounded in the leg -- a victim of crossfire. Lust is foolish, so Jean makes a tourniquet out of his belt, fastens it to her thigh, and proceeds to ravish the maiden under the Tuscan sun.
Jean's fate, however, is sealed at that moment. The regimental trunk he was supposed to guard, full of priceless gold coins, is stolen, and martial law requires his execution if the trunk isn't returned. Tragically, it's Elisabetta's greedy brother, Corrado (Claudio Bigagli), who has stolen the trunk.
A CURSE IS BORN
Jean is executed, and the grieving Elisabetta swears vengeance, not knowing her brother's role in the tale. The Benedetti curse is born.
''Fiorile'' follows that curse to 1903, when the family has built a Medici-like empire from their illegal wealth, and Elisabetta's descendant Elisa avenges her brother's cruelty; and to 1944, when Massimo Benedetti, a man haunted by the family curse, joins the anti- Fascist Resistance.
Finally, ''Fiorile'' returns to the present when the ancient Massimo (Renato Carpentieri) orders his son and grandchildren to return to France. Instead, they stay with him, boldly defying the curse.
Telling a story as wide-ranging as ''Fiorile,'' incorporating 15 major characters and four historical periods, is tough work. The Tavianis manage to weave the segments into a single family tapestry, and reinforce the notion of repeating karma by double-casting actors as more than one Benedetti.
ACTORS DOUBLE ROLES
Ranzi, for example, plays Elisabetta and the similarly ill-fated Elisa; Bigagli plays the brother of those two characters; and Vartan is both Jean and his idealistic descendant Massimo.
''Fiorile,'' however, never fulfills the expectations created by its first luscious sequence. Jean, the passionate French soldier, and Elisabetta, the innocent peasant, make a wonderfully sympathetic Romeo and Juliet, and when they disappear the film never recovers. Pacing is another problem: The Tavianis are so determined not to rush things -- to remain in a moderate key -- that ''Fiorile'' starts to droop from tasteful restraint.
© The Chronicle Publishing Co.
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