Bread and Tulips

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!


Escaping to Venice   May 12, 2002
Rebecca Johnson (Washington State)
49 out of 50 found this review helpful

When an Italian housewife Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) suddenly finds herself stranded, she realizes that perhaps she is not as appreciated by her family as she would like to be. All she sees is the tour bus moving off into the distance and then realizes her son has changed his phone number so she is unable to stop the bus.

When they finally call to ask where she is, she can't believe they didn't even check to see if she was on the bus before they left. Feeling adventurous and a little resentful, she decides to hitch a ride home, but ends up in Venice. With little money to spare, she manages to survive for a few days with hopes of getting a job and finding a place to stay.

After finding a job in a florist shop and moving in with a waiter named Fernando (who is just about to kill himself it seems), she meets Grazia who bursts into her life asking her to help her with a plumbing disaster.

For some reason Rosalba is swept away in this new life and keeps telling her family she will be back soon, yet something strange power seems to overtake her and she decides she too needs a vacation, albeit a working vacation. She spends her time working in the florist shop, reading books in the evening and eating breakfast prepared by Fernando. He also leaves her a note each morning, which is quite romantic even though, technically, she is just his house guest.

Once Rosalba's husband starts to notice that things are not getting done around his house, he hires Costantino (Giuseppe Battiston) as his private detective. This is when it become more of a comedy of sorts as Costantino is really a plumber who is determined to find Rosalba and return her to her husband.

An enjoyable escape that really keeps
your full attention. Licia Maglietta is
pure magic.

~The Rebecca Review


A CHARMING ROMANTIC COMEDY - VIVA VENICE!   August 23, 2001
Gail Cooke (TX, USA)
43 out of 45 found this review helpful

Forget flurrying pigeons, St. Mark's, Florian's tables, all the standard fare usually delivered by films set in Venice. Silvio Soldini's deftly masterful "Bread and Tulips" is instead an ethereal Venezia, a triptych of shadows, echoes and lights that evoke a city of workers, narrow stone studded streets, mini bridges and interlocking canals.

It is a place that Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) cannot resist. She is an under estimated, unappreciated middle-age housewife and mother of two teenage sons who is on a family vacation to the Adriatic coast. When Rosalba exits the ladies room during a rest stop she sees the back bumper of the tour bus as it trundles down the road without her.

Her husband is Mimmo (Antonio Catania), a self-centered boor who dallies with his mistress and oversees a plumbing business in Pescara. She immediately contacts him by cell phone and is lambasted for being left behind. She agrees to wait there, but evidently ready for a vacation of her own choosing she makes her way to Venice.

After her evening arrival she has dinner at a modest trattoria where she meets Fernando (Bruno Ganz), an Icelander, a despondent waiter who is prone to suicide attempts. (He keeps a noose handy). Ganz's artfully understated portrayal of Fernando is superb.

When Rosalba allows that she is short on funds Fernando invites her to share his lodgings, where she is greeted each morning with a note from him as well as breakfast on a tray. Eventually, she finds work with an elderly florist and becomes friends with her neighbor, Grazia (Marina Massironi), a wide-eyed, other worldly masseuse. The emergence of Rosalba as a confident woman is a joy to watch as her eyes dance and features soften with radiant allure.

When Mimmo's mistress refuses to iron his shirts, he hires Costantino (Giuseppe Battiston), an unemployed wanna be detective to track down his wife. Costantino's arrival in Venice provides some of the film's better comic moments as he searches for a hotel and Rosalba.

When Costantino is able to trace Rosalba to her room, he meets Grazia and falls under her spell. Love's rocky path has more twists and turns when Costantino confesses why he really came to Venice.

Apparently conscience stricken Rosalba returns to her nonchalant sons and indifferent husband. Fernando is left more mournful than ever with only a note and a bouquet of tulips. Or, is he?

"Bread and Tulips" is a charming romantic comedy that leaves one sighing contentedly, hoping for a trip to Venice and maybe even breakfast on a tray.


Bread and Tulips   October 1, 2001
Janis L. Stoker (Grants Pass, OR USA)
33 out of 33 found this review helpful

I found this movie to be absolutely charming and left the theatre with a smile on my face. Licia Maglietta was marvelous as the 40-something lovely lady who decides to take the other fork in the road and starts a new life in Venice. Tired of being under-appreciated and verbally abused by her boorish husband and preoccupied sons, Rosalba (Licia) decides to live for herself for a change and then becomes the catalyst that magically causes others to change around her -- the suicidal landlord/restauranteer, the aging florest employer who is a former anarchist, the lady neighbor down and hall, and even the comical plumber/detective sent in pursuit by her husband.

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.


Charming Interlude   May 9, 2002
BeachReader (Delaware)
24 out of 24 found this review helpful

When Rosalba escapes her dreary life as the wife of the philandering and boorish Mimmo, she is transformed before our eyes from a frumpy, stretch-pants clad tourist to a sexy and beautiful object of admiration in romantic Venice. Wrapped in caring from Fernando, a waiter who invites her to share his apartment, and her neighbor Grazia, a masseuse who may be more than just that, Rosalba becomes a confident and self-assured woman. She makes a life for herself where she finally feels appreciated and loved, no longer taken for granted.

Most of the comedy is provided by Costantino, a bumbling wannabe detective hired by Mimmo to track Rosalba down and incidentally provides the viewer with a tour of Venice.

This film is an escape to unreality, a beautifully filmed feel-good movie with wonderful acting. I finished watching it with a smile on my face!