Plot
A family of beekeepers living in the Tuscan countryside finds their household disrupted by the simultaneous arrival of a silently troubled teenage boy and a reality TV show intent on showcasing the family.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 6.7/10 (2,057 voted)
Critic's Score: 75/100
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Stars: Alba Rohrwacher, Maria Alexandra Lungu, Sam Louwyck
Storyline
Gelsomina's family functions according to very particular rules. First of all, Gelsomina, at twelve years of age, practically runs the family. Her three younger sisters obey her and work under her watchful eye. But the outside world mustn't know anything about their lifestyle, and they should be kept away from it, well-protected in their isolated countryside home. Gelsomina's father, Wolfgang, is a foreigner and Gelsomina is the future queen of this strange and improbable kingdom he has constructed for them. A male heir would have been better, of course, but Gelsomina is strong and determined and what's more, she has a special talent for beekeeping and making honey. It's Gelsomina that retrieves the swarms from the trees, who organizes the honey extraction, and she is the one that carries the hives. Whilst all around them the countryside is being burnt up by pesticides, rural life is falling apart and becoming something different, a TV show competition arrives from the city offering a...
Trivia:
Swiss censorship certificate # 1010.229. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
I didn't expect a similar plot. But the plot itself it not the
important part of this movie. The Cannes Festival have create some
interest about this little incredible surprise, and it worth entirely
the attention. It is all about life. Filmed in a very strange and
unusual location, a farm in a poor area (Tuscany, but could be
everywhere). About a very strange and unusual family (the center of it
is a young teenager, Gelsomina by a unbelievable in her great acting
Maria Alexandra Lungu), and a very strange business (honey and bees).
But all these unusual choices results in a so strong, so sweet, so
touching, little masterpiece. We feel fully involved, interested, part
of this world that is, in fact, the world: love, young expectation,
economic difficulties, pollution, family affairs, all is inside, but
with no drama because the look used in this opera is a colored one,
full of the hope of young people.
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