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62% Critic Match
The Garden That Doesn't Exist
6.2 / 10• 2022• 52m•NR• French
DocumentaryTV Movie
Storyline
Once upon a time there was a garden, a refuge, a safe haven - 'The Garden of the Finzi Continis'. It came to life in Giorgio Bassani's 1962 semi-autobiographical novel recounting an unfulfilled love story between two young Jews in Ferrara, while fascism was raging in Italy in the late 1930's. In 1972, Vittorio De Sica's film adaptation of the book won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Since then, the fictional space of the garden became so tangible that people from all over the world come to Ferrara to look for it. Fifty years after winning the Oscar, reality and fiction come together once more, as we walk through an imaginary garden and bring to life the book, its author, its main protagonists, history, love, friendships and betrayals.
Cast & Crew
Dominique Sanda
Self
Lead
Giorgio Bassani
Self (archive footage)
Vittorio De Sica
Self (archive footage)
Alessandro D'Alatri
Self
Lino Capolicchio
Self
Helmut Berger
Self (archive footage)
Fabio Testi
Self (archive footage)
Manuel De Sica
Self (archive footage)
What People Are Saying
4.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Rä di Martino's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
3.0
“Every frame feels alive. The Garden That Doesn't Exist is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
