Bread and Tulips (Pane e Tulipani) (2000) |
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Bread and Tulips (Pane e Tulipani) (2000) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Romantic Comedy |
Trailer-L'Ultimo Bacio; My Mother's Smile; Unfair Competition Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer-2 Audio-Only Track-3 Gallery-Photo Biographies-Cast & Crew |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2000 | ||
| Running Time | 111:06 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (62:10) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Silvio Soldini |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Licia Maglietta Bruno Ganz Guiseppe Battiston Antonio Catania Marina Massironi |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $36.95 | Music | Giovanni Venosta |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English | Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes | ||
Rosalba is on holidays with her family in the north of Italy. She is not having the time of her life. But one simple stop at a roadside diner is about to change all that. While she is stuck in the ladies lavatory at the diner, her bus tour, along with her husband and children leave her behind. Eventually, Rosalba's husband discovers his missing wife. He contacts her, orders her to stay put while he makes his way back to her. She doesn't and instead decides to hitchhike her way home. But while this is the plan, plans change and instead she decides to take a trip to Venice on her own. Taking her own time with a untroubled attitude, Rosalba finds accommodation at the apartment of a local waiter at a restaurant that has a surprising lack of cooked food. Settling into life in Venice, Rosalba finds employment at a floral shop and begins a sort of 'personal vacation'.
Meanwhile, hubby Mimmo has hired an amateur private detective to travel to Venice to look for his missing wife. As the detective begins his search in Venice, Rosalba and the waiter Fernando begin to come closer in a mutual attraction that neither expects or fights. Rosalba is about to discover a whole new life that she has missed and it's just a question of which life she will choose.
This is a charming film that reminds me of another film of similar subject matter, that being Shirley Valentine (1989) with a disgruntled housewife taking a total break from her normal hum-drum life and exploring herself unhindered. This is a relaxed film with a quirky sensibility, though not as quirky as might be expected from an Australian film (which seems to have perfected the art of the quirky movie).
The performances are very good, with the principal actors doing a fine job in their roles, especially the leads Licia Maglietta and Bruno Ganz as Rosalba and Fernando. I did expect more laughs than the film delivered, but in the end, it did deliver, just in a different way than I had expected. If you are expecting something like the humour of La Vita e Bella without the heartache, then you may be in for a surprise, but it is a pleasant one. A nice escape with some interesting characters that draw the viewer into their world. A nice romance from the country that invented romance (don't listen to the French — they take credit for everything).
This film is presented in 1.78:1 with 16x9 enhancement with the original aspect ratio being 1.85:1.
We have a reasonable level of sharpness here, though the disc presents an image that sometimes suffers from some obvious grain and very minor pixelisation. These are very visible but not to a hugely distracting extent. This film takes us to many and varied locations with some being bright and others dark. The darker scenes give a reasonable level of detail. Low level noise is visible from time to time (see 12:54 as an example) but is not enough of an issue to distract.
Colour use is good with a quite natural palette used, even during the dream sequences, which some directors seem to embellish with powerful and exaggerated colour schemes. Not here.
As stated before, there is some very slight fine pixelisation to be seen, but the level of this is quite acceptable, and once drawn into the film, one would probably find it hard to notice it. There is some frequent aliasing, with prime examples at 27:07, 61:44 on the cards, 62:55 on the brick wall and 73:45 on the bridge rail. This is one artefact that can at times distract, but smaller displays may reduce its impact. Chroma noise is visible, see 19:25, 52:52 and 57:58 for examples. Not hugely distracting, but there none the less. Grain is fairly visible throughout, but this is expected and didn't distract unduly. There are some film artefacts, with the odd nick and fleck visible, but these are kept to a reasonable level.
This feature is presented in its original Italian language with English subtitles available. I watched this feature with a person (my helpful wife, actually) who is fluent in Italian and, according to her, the subtitles were quite good though not word for word.
This disc is formatted RSDL with the layer change taking place at 62:10. This is right after we go from an indoor setting to an exterior shot and I believe that the layer change would have been better placed if it were between the interior shot and the exterior rather that about 3 seconds into the exterior shot where the image and audio hang oddly while the player finds the second layer. Perhaps some of the newer machines will help make this change more seamless, but I can't visualize this change being invisible no matter what the player.
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The audio for this title is quite good with a very nice, clean and engaging sound mix on offer. The slight exception to this is a very slight crackle that can be heard at 64:40. This is ever so slight that may would not even notice, but it is there.
The audio on this DVD is available in both Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded and Italian Dolby Digital 5.1. There is no English dub available, so if you hate subtitles, tough. Besides, this is one of those films where the actors and their characters come through in a total package, both visual and auditory. Dubbing their voices would rob them of half their performances. If you insist in an English track, rent Shirley Valentine.
The dialogue quality is quite good with the spoken word always audible and understandable, even more so if you speak Italian. There were no problems with the audio sync.
The score for this film is by composer Giovanni Venosta, who provides an adequate soundtrack in a style that suits the film and its subject matter without being overpowering, or indeed overly memorable.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix serves this film well with much interesting audio audible across the entire soundstage. There are some interesting front effects that give a impressive Left / Right separation. The rears are used quite well also with an example at 19:14 with the bell. Overall, a very good 5.1 mix. This film was available theatrically with a dts track, but this is not available here.
The subwoofer plays a supporting role here with most of its contribution being due to the soundtrack. It is never overused and works in with the other 5 channels well.
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We have a small range of extras here that for the most part unfortunately don't have much to with the film.
After the trailer, we are taken to the Main Menu which is animated, 16x9 enhanced and features music from the soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0. The following options are on offer:
The scene selection presents us with the choice of 4 pages of chapter titles (in English) without images selectable.
Within the Explore Extras we have the choices of:
This is the American trailer, with the American voice over making the film look like a typical European farce, which it isn't. Audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0. The trailer is presented full frame.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This disc was released in early 2002 in Region 1 in almost exactly the same package we have here. The only thing that looks to be different is the Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mix not available on the Region 1 disc. The Region 2 Italian disc offers some DVD-ROM content that is reportedly some scene images with text description. While this title is in a rental window, when it eventually does become available we would have the better version with local availability and affordability and with a PAL transfer.
This is a charming little film about one woman's desire to become her own self and discover life (and love) once again. Not syrupy or melodramatic, it is a fine film that many will find enjoyable. I did.
The video is just average with some fine pixelisation, grain and edge enhancement all visible. The image is easily watchable, but it could have been better.
The audio is fine, with an effectively used 5.1 mix that uses all the channels to support the story.
The extras are filling, but without much taste. More extras detailing the film's production and stars would have been more interesting.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Panasonic A300-MU, using S-Video output |
| Display | Hitachi CP-L750W LCD Projector. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Yamaha RX-V2090 |
| Speakers | VAF DC-X fronts; VAF DC-6 center; VAF DC-2 rears; LFE-07subwoofer (80W X 2) |