Family Diary (1962)

Family Diary (Italian: Cronaca familiare) is a 1962 Italian film directed by Valerio Zurlini and based on the novel by Vasco Pratolini. It tells the story of two brothers (played by Marcello Mastroianni and Jacques Perrin) who are brought up apart from each other at their mother's death, then brought together by difficult family circumstances.

Once described as the "classiest male weepie ever filmed", Family Diary is an exemplary adaptation of the semi-autobiographical Vasco Pratolini novel Two Brothers, and won Zurlini a shared Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Marcello Mastroianni gives a sensitive, finely judged performance as Enrico, a struggling journalist in the Rome of 1945. He receives a phone call informing him that his younger brother Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) has died. Enrico recalls their long and difficult relationship; he was brought up by their poor, but warm-hearted grandmother (Sylvie), Lorenzo was raised as a gentleman by a wealthy local aristocrat. Reunited in the Florence of the 1930s, Enrico becomes his spoiled brother's keeper, forever haunted by a sense of guilty and responsibility towards a man he both hates and loves.

Beautifully photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno, this austere, deeply felt masterwork has been acclaimed as one of Zurlini's greatest achievements.

Synopsis

En Italie, Enrico, un journaliste, après avoir appris le décès de son frère, se souvient de leur enfance… Après le décès de leurs parents, les deux garçons se retrouvent séparés : Lorenzo, le cadet, adopté par un majordome aisé, aura une enfance heureuse tandis qu’Enrico, livré à lui-même, passera une adolescence misérable. Plus tard, on découvre que Lorenzo est atteint d’un mal incurable...

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