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 after their mother's death. The two were reunited after a difficult family circumstances.

Family Diary
Directed byValerio Zurlini
Written byMario Missiroli
Produced byGoffredo Lombardo
StarringMarcello Mastroianni
Jacques Perrin
Sylvie
Valeria Ciangottini
Salvo Randone
CinematographyGiuseppe Rotunno
Edited byMario Serandrei
Music byGoffredo Petrassi
Distributed byTitanus
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release dates
September 1962 (premiere at VFF)
11 November 1963 (New York City)
8 December 1963 (United States)
Running time
115 mins
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

Described by Elliot Stein in The Village Voice as "the classiest 'male weepie' ever filmed",[1] 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 1945 Rome. 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 raised by their poor but warm-hearted grandmother (Sylvie), while 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 guilt 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.

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References edit

  1. ^ Stein, Elliot. "Valerio Zurlini’s Autumn Tales", The Village Voice, 22 August 2000. Retrieved on 5 August 2016.

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