''Sunflower'' ( it, I girasoli) is a

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the Italian neorealism, neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Shoeshine (film), Sciuscià ...

. It was the first

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

movie to be filmed in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

. Some scenes were filmed near

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, while others near

Poltava Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administrativel ...

, a regional center in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

Plot

''"A woman born for love. A man born to love her. A timeless moment in a world gone mad."'' Giovanna (

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

) and Antonio (

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (28 September 1924 – 19 December 1996) was an Italian film actor, regarded as one of his country's most iconic male performers of the 20th century. He played leading roles for many of Italy's top di ...

) marry to delay Antonio's deployment during World War II. After that buys them twelve days of happiness, they try another scheme, in which Antonio pretends to be a crazy man. Finally, Antonio is sent to the Russian Front. When the war is over, Antonio does not return and is listed as

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been killed, wounded, captured, ex ...

. Despite the odds, Giovanna is convinced her true love has survived the war and is still in the Soviet Union. Determined, she journeys to the Soviet Union to find him. In the Soviet Union, Giovanna visits the sunflower fields, where there is supposedly one flower for each fallen Italian soldier, and where the Germans forced the Italians to dig their own mass graves. Eventually, Giovanna finds Antonio, but by now he has started a second family with a woman who saved his life, and they have one daughter. Childless, having been faithful to her husband, Giovanna returns to Italy, heartbroken, but unwilling to disrupt her love's new life. Some years later, Antonio returns to Giovanna, asking her to come back with him to the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Giovanna has tried to move on with her own life, moving out of their first home together and into her own apartment. She works in a factory and is living with a man, with whom she has a baby boy. Antonio visits her and tries to explain his new life, how war changes a man, how safe he felt with his new woman after years of death. Unwilling to ruin Antonio's daughter's or her own new son's life, Giovanna refuses to leave Italy. As they part, Antonio gives her a fur, which he had promised years before that he'd bring back for her. The lovers lock eyes as Antonio's train takes him away from Giovanna, and from Italy, forever.

Cast

– Giovanna *

– Antonio *

Lyudmila Savelyeva Ludmila Mikhailovna Savelyeva (russian: Людмила Михайловна Савельева; born January 24, 1942, in Leningrad) is a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress. She achieved lasting fame in the role of Natasha Rostova in the 1 ...

– Masha (Maria) * Galina Andreyeva – Valentina, Soviet official *

Anna Carena Anna Carena (30 January 1899 - 15 April 1990) was an Italian actress. She appeared in more than thirty films from 1941 to 1983. Filmography References External links * 1899 births 1990 deaths Italian film actresses {{Italy-fi ...

– Antonio's mother *

Germano Longo Germano Longo (24 May 1933 – 14 July 2022) was an Italian actor and voice actor. He was sometimes credited as Herman Lang or Grant Laramy. Life and career Born in Poggiardo, Longo attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, ...

– Ettore * Nadya Serednichenko – Woman in sunflower fields *

Glauco Onorato Glauco Onorato (7 December 1936 – 31 December 2009) was an Italian actor and voice actor. As an actor and dubber popular with audiences throughout Italy, he was renowned for voicing over nearly all of Bud Spencer's roles as Spencer had a thic ...

– Returning soldier *

Silvano Tranquilli Silvano Tranquilli (23 August 1925 – 10 May 1997) was an Italian stage, television and film actor. Life and career Born in Rome, Silvano Tranquilli attended theatre lessons at the Sharoff Academy, and started his stage activity with the th ...

– Italian worker in Russia * Marisa Traversi – Prostitute * Gunars Cilinskis – Russian Ministry Official * Carlo Ponti, Jr. – Giovanna's baby *

Pippo Starnazza Pippo Starnazza (16 April 1909 – 16 July 1975) was an Italian jazz singer and actor. Born Luigi Redaelli in Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous ci ...

– Italian official * Dino Peretti * Giorgio Basso

Release

The film was released on

Saint Joseph's Day Saint Joseph's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Joseph or the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, is in Western Christianity the principal feast day of Saint Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and legal father of Jesus Christ, celebrated on 19 March. ...

, 19 March 1970, in 5 key cities in Italy. It expanded to an additional 13 cities at

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

. It was the first Italian film to be dubbed and screened at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for ...

in New York City.

Reception

In its first 2½ months on release in Italy, it earned

theatrical rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...

s of $1 million.

Soundtrack

Track listing

SIDE A

01. Love Theme From "Sunflower" (2:26)
02. Masha's Theme (1:54)
03. Giovanna (1:54)
04. The Search (4:20)
05. Love In The Sand (Love Theme From "Sunflower") (3:00)
06. New Home In Moscow (1:20)

SIDE B

07. Two Girls ("Masha's Theme And Love Theme From "Sunflower") (2:07)
08. The Retreat (5:10)
09. The Invitation (2:04)
10. Masha Finds Antonio (Masha's Theme) (3:35)
11. The Parting In Milan (Love Theme From "Sunflower") (3:23)

Awards

David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (The Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award cat ...

: Best Actress (Sophia Loren) *

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Music, Original Score

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunflower (1970 film) Mosfilm films 1970 drama films 1970 films 1970 multilingual films Films directed by Vittorio De Sica Films set in Italy Films set in Russia Films about the Battle of Stalingrad 1970s Italian-language films 1970s Russian-language films Films scored by Henry Mancini Films with screenplays by Cesare Zavattini Italian multilingual films Soviet multilingual films Films shot in Russia Soviet World War II films Russian World War II films Italian World War II films 1970s Italian films