Cheap Bread and Tulips (DVD) (Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz) (Silvio Soldini) Price

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Customer Reviews of Bread and Tulips

This film is funny, poignant, heart-warming, and charming. The entire cast is truly memorable; the small vignettes of Rosalba's dreams are somewhat jarring in their presentation - but once you become acclimated to their random arrival they add a bit of mystery to the film that is somewhat resolved at the end.

This is a DVD that I will buy upon release for sure.

Housewife escapes having to scrape the lasagna pan
The plot of BREAD AND TULIPS is a familiar one. A forty-something housewife, dulled by her day-to-day domestic obligations, takes time out for herself away from husband and offspring, during which she rekindles a zest for life and unexpectedly discovers a new passion. The same theme runs through another film of a few years back, BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY.

In BREAD AND TULIPS, it's the end of the family vacation, and Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) finds herself mistakenly left marooned at a roadside food-petrol-souvenir tourist trap by the bus disappearing down the road with the hubby and teenage kids. Meaning to hitchhike back home, Rosalba chooses to be diverted to Venice, a city she's always dreamed of visiting. Once there, she extends her stay by finding lodging and a job, but her postcards home do not give specific details. Her husband, Mimmo (Antonio Catania), is incensed. However, his anger seems less fueled by his wife's absence per se than the fact that his mistress won't iron his shirts in the meantime. ("I'm your mistress, not your wife!")

This Italian production is filled with attractive and quirky characters. Rosalba herself is beautiful and sexy in a mature sort of way. (She might not appeal to the young bucks, but she looks pretty good to these 50+ year old eyes!). Then there's Fernando, the world weary, suicidal waiter who invites her to take over a vacant room in his apartment. Fermo the florist is the ancient anarchist who gives her a job in his flower shop. Grazia, Rosalba's new friend down the hall from Fernando's flat, is an unlucky-at-love "holistic beautician and masseuse". Best of all in a supporting role is Giuseppe Battiston as Costantino, the fat plumber hired by Mimmo to go to Venice and track down the errant spouse. Though Costantino's only qualification for the quest is the large number of detective stories he's read, he's certainly game, inspired probably by a desperate desire to get away from his over-protective mother.

The movie was filmed largely in Venice. Refreshingly, the director chose as his stage many parts of the city far off the beaten tourist track, as well as more recognizable landmarks.

I liked BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY much more because the acting was better, the emotions rawer, and the dilemma faced by Meryl Streep more immediate. However, because BREAD AND TULIPS has a sunnier ending, perhaps it's a better choice for a light-hearted afternoon at the flicks. Bravissimo!

Dreadfully overrated trash!
Maybe I can't appreciate Bread and Tulips because I am not a middle-aged housewife. I found the film slow, overlong, boring, and pointless. I could not feel any sympathy for the main character, therefore I couldn't like her, which made me dislike the film itself. How can I like someone who leaves her family for no reason to start a new life just for the hell of it. I didn't understand what motivated this character to do what she did or why she didn't even care to find out how her children are doing. Yes, her husband was a pig and didn't deserve her, but what fault do the children have? She was a distant and unlikeable woman who didn't even seem to realize how serious her actions were. The ending was absolutely ridiculous and I was fuming and impatient for the film to end by the time the credits started to roll! Not only does her so-called real love, a man old enough to be her father, drive from Venice to claim her, but he somehow seems to know that she would be at the supermarket in the middle of the day, bringing the film to an end ridiculous even by cheesy American romance standards. This film was recommended to me as a lighthearted comedy, but I didn't laugh once. In fact, I am baffled at all these five star reviews because this film was so awful. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much I hated it. Maybe it was just so overrated that I expected something more, but aside from the gorgeous setting, there is absolutely nothing in this for me to recommend it.