With the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic
The film Il Giovane Favoloso (Leopardi) tells the story of the short life of the great Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi and it is included in this year’s Italian Language Week.
Born in Recanati, Giacomo Leopardi was a noble who soon began to study Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and English in the rich library of his palace that his father built. Giacomo, however, possessing an inquisitive, restless spirit, would like to travel abroad to widen his views and enrich his knowledge, as was usual for European landed gentry in the 19th century, though this desire is at odds with his parents. So the poet begins to write his first works, reflecting on the human condition, coming to the conclusion that unhappiness is a constant factor of human existence, and that in life there is no remedy for this problem. In the 1820s, Leopardi can finally leave his native Recanati, and begin to travel to Rome and Florence where, however, his high expectations of intellectual rewards and public recognition are not achieved. He suffered from repeated instances of unrequited love: that he chiefly felt towards the Countess Fanny Targioni Tozzetti, contributing to Leopardi’s negative view of life and human experience. He finally moves to Naples, where a physical affliction results in his premature death.
Directed by Mario Martone, 2014, 143 min.
Film in Italian with English subtitles.
Screening not suitable for young persons and children (category IIB).
The screening will be preceded by a reading of Leopardi’s famous poems by Ms. Susan Lavender (La Sera del di’ di Festa and L’Infinito).
Susan Lavender is an actress, published poet, solicitor and radio newsreader. She performs in theatre as well as poetry and story-telling events, often writing her own material. Anglo-Italian by birth, Susan has a 1st Class Honours degree in Italian and Romanian and law degrees in both common and civil law.
50 seats. First come, first served. No online registration.
The event is part of the Italian Language Week and of Bellissima Italia.