The Wonders ( Le meraviglie )

The Wonders (DVD) (*)

$22.99

Original Title: Le meraviglie
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
David Donatello Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
Italian ( Dolby Digital Stereo )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
107 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Deleted Scenes
Featurette
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 2014 and produced in:
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )
Italy ( Italy, Greece )
Switzerland ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Alice Rohrwacher

Written By:
Alice Rohrwacher

Actors:
Alba Rohrwacher ..... Angelica
Maria Alexandra Lungu ..... Gelsomina
Sam Louwyck ..... Wolfgang
Sabine Timoteo ..... Cocò
Agnese Graziani ..... Marinella
Monica Bellucci ..... Milly Catena
André Hennicke ..... Adrian
Luis Huilca ..... Martin
Eva Lea Pace Morrow ..... Caterina
Maris Stella Morrow ..... Luna
Carlo Tarmati ..... Carlo Portarena
Margarete Tiesel ..... Second Life Representative

Synopsis:

Gelsomina is the designated heir of her family's 'kingdom' - an isolated and rustic beekeeping farm in Italy. Wise beyond her years, she is idolised by her three younger sisters, and has an extraordinary affinity to the bees that provide her family's living. One extraordinary summer the arrival of Martin, a German boy on a youth rehabilitation program, and the local community's participation in a TV competition 'Village Wonders', disrupts their simple and regimented existence. Nothing will be the same at the end of this summer for Gelsomina and her family.

Gelsomina's family functions according to very particular rules. First of all, Gelsomina, at twelve years of age, practically runs the family. Her three younger sisters obey her and work under her watchful eye. But the outside world mustn't know anything about their lifestyle, and they should be kept away from it, well-protected in their isolated countryside home. Gelsomina's father, Wolfgang, is a foreigner and Gelsomina is the future queen of this strange and improbable kingdom he has constructed for them. A male heir would have been better, of course, but Gelsomina is strong and determined and what's more, she has a special talent for beekeeping and making honey. It's Gelsomina that retrieves the swarms from the trees, who organizes the honey extraction, and she is the one that carries the hives. Whilst all around them the countryside is being burnt up by pesticides, rural life is falling apart and becoming something different, a TV show competition arrives from the city offering a cash prize and a luxury cruise for the Most Traditional Family. "Village Wonders" is presented by the good fairy, Milly Catena. Gelsomina wants to participate in the contest, but Wolfgang won't even consider it. Something else is tormenting him: the new European laws regarding farm produce. If they don't get their honey lab in order, with washable walls and well-defined working spaces, they will have to cease production. They have to work very hard to expand the bee colonies, and get the lab up to standard. In his desperate search for cheap labor, Wolfgang agrees to take on a delinquent German boy, Martin, who comes from a youth rehabilitation exchange program. The tension mounts: between a silent evasive boy onto whom Wolfgang projects his desire for a son, and, counteracting this, the outward reaching force of Gelsomina that will stop at nothing just in order to see the good fairy TV show hostess again. Nothing will be the same at the end of this summer for Gelsomina and her family. An extraordinary summer, when the strict rules that hold the family together, begin to break...

A family of beekeepers living in the Tuscan countryside finds their household disrupted by the simultaneous arrival of a silently troubled teenage boy and a reality TV show intent on showcasing the family.

This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 16 March, 2016.

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