The Flowers of St. Francis

Infobox Film
name = Francesco, giullare di Dio


caption =
director = Roberto Rossellini
producer = Angelo Rizzoli
writer = Roberto Rossellini
Federico Fellini
starring =
music = Renzo Rossellini
Enrico Buondonno
cinematography = Otello Martelli
editing = Jolanda Benvenuti
distributor =
released = 14 December 1950
runtime = 89 min.
country = Italy
language = Italian
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:17906
imdb_id = 0042477

"The Flowers of St. Francis" (in Italian, "Francesco, giullare di Dio", or "Francis, God's Jester") is a 1950 film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Federico Fellini. The film consists of a series of modest vignettes, based on the 14th century book "Little Flowers of St. Francis", which relate the life and work of St. Francis and the early Franciscans, all of whom are portrayed by actual monks (a total of thirteen in the cast); with the exception of Aldo Fabrizi in a small supporting role, the entire cast is non-professional.

Chapters

The film is divided into nine chapters each covering an incident in the life of St. Francis subsequent to his vocation.

1 - How Brother Ginepro returned naked to St. Mary of the Angels, where the Brothers had finished building their hut.

2 - How Giovanni, known as “the Simpleton”, asked to follow Francis and began imitating him in word and gesture.

3 - Of the wonderful meeting between St. Clare and St. Francis at St. Mary of the Angels.

4 - How Brother Ginepro cut off a pig’s foot to give to a sick brother.

5 - How Francis, praying one night in the woods, met the leper.

6 - How Brother Ginepro cooked enough food for two weeks, and Francis moved by his zeal gave him permission to preach.

7 - How Brother Ginepro was judged on the gallows, and how his humility vanquished the ferocity of the tyrant Nicalaio.

8 - How Brother Francis and Brother Leon experienced those things that are perfect happiness.

9 - How St. Francis left St. Mary of the Angels with his friars and traveled the world preaching peace.

Critical Response

Although somewhat poorly received at the time (a not uncommon reaction to Rossellini's work), the film is now recognized as a classic of world cinema. It has been released on DVD by The Criterion Collection and Masters of Cinema.

In 1995 the Vatican listed the film as one of the forty five greatest films ever made.

External links

*imdb title|id=0042477|title=The Flowers of St. Francis and at [http://www.csfd.cz/film/7868-frantisek-prostacek-bozi-francesco-giullare-di-dio/ CSFD ie Czechoslovak Film's Database]
* [http://artsandfaith.com/t100/2005/entry.php?film=279 The Flowers of St. Francis] at the [http://artsandfaith.com/top100/ Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list]
* [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=293&eid=429&section=essay Essay by Peter Brunette for the Criterion Collection]
* [http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/francesco-giullare-di-dio/essay/ Appreciation by Martin Scorsese] for the Masters of Cinema DVD
* [http://www.decentfilms.com/sections/articles/2572 Vatican list of films]