A series of comedic and nostalgic vignettes set in a 1930s Italian coastal town.A series of comedic and nostalgic vignettes set in a 1930s Italian coastal town.A series of comedic and nostalgic vignettes set in a 1930s Italian coastal town.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 20 wins & 9 nominations total
Magali Noël
- Gradisca
- (as Magali' Noel)
Antonino Faà di Bruno
- Count
- (as Antonino Faa' Di Bruno)
Nando Villella
- Prof. Fighetta
- (as Ferdinando Villella)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe title is the phonetic translation of the words "Mi ricordo" (I remember) as spelled in the dialect of Rimini, the town in which the director Federico Fellini was born, and where the film is set. The correct spelling should be "A m'arcord".
- GoofsThe banners promoting the Mille Miglia indicate that it was the seventh event (VII). However, the seventh running of the event was in 1933, and Beau Geste (1939) was not released until 1939. The Mille Miglia was not held in 1939.
- Quotes
[repeated line]
Teo, Titta's Uncle: I want a woman!
- Alternate versionsAn exclusive digital restoration of the film was done by Criterion in 1995 for their laserdisc. The disc contains a before-and-after demonstration of the restoration process and has the option of either the original Italian soundtrack or the English-dubbed soundtrack.
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: La monnaie de l'absolu (1999)
- SoundtracksStormy Weather
(uncredited)
Written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler
This tune is heard several times during the film.
Featured review
Although on one level this is indeed a warm reminiscence of youth, it would be a mistake to think that's all it is. In fact there is sharp satire at the heart of the film, indicated by the punning title - "Amarcord" is the local dialect for "I remember" (used in preference to the Italian "Mi ricordo") while "Amaro" is Italian for "bitter".
There is considerable brutality among the laughs - a man is maltreated by the Fascists, a small boy tries to kill his infant brother with a rock in an aside the casual viewer might miss.
Rimini stands in for the whole of Italy as Fellini tries to get to grips with what factors in the national psyche (Catholicism, the education system, past imperial glory, sexual frustration) led Italy to invent and wholeheartedly embrace fascism.
These are some of Fellini's own comments on the film:-
"The province of Amarcord is one in which we are all recognizable, the director first of all, in the ignorance which confounded us. A great ignorance and a great confusion. Not that I wish to minimize the economic and social causes of fascism. I only wish to say that today what is still most interesting is the psychological, emotional manner of being a fascist. What is this manner? It is a sort of blockage, an arrested development during the phase of adolescence That is, this remaining children for eternity, this leaving responsibilities for others, this living with the comforting sensation that there is someone who thinks for you (and at one time it's mother, then it's father, then it's the mayor, another time Il Duce, another time the Madonna, another time the Bishop, in short other people): and in the meanwhile you have this limited, time-wasting freedom which permits you only to cultivate absurd dreams the dream of the American cinema, or the Oriental dream concerning women; in conclusion, the same old, monstrous, out-of-date myths that even today seem to me to form the most important conditioning of the average Italian."
One can only speculate on what Fellini would have made of Berlusconi.
Apparently the film as we see it was originally planned as part of a larger-scale project in which a man in the present day retreats into a nostalgic reminiscence of his adolescence. For whatever reason that framing device was abandoned and what we have is just the reminiscence.
Fellini described "Amarcord" as "a minor planet... not a masterpiece" but for all that it enjoyed considerable success and remains wonderful to behold. On the downside it could be considered the seed of the later plague of execrable 'adolescence' movies such as "Porky's" and "Road Trip".
Still, you can't blame Fellini for that.
There is considerable brutality among the laughs - a man is maltreated by the Fascists, a small boy tries to kill his infant brother with a rock in an aside the casual viewer might miss.
Rimini stands in for the whole of Italy as Fellini tries to get to grips with what factors in the national psyche (Catholicism, the education system, past imperial glory, sexual frustration) led Italy to invent and wholeheartedly embrace fascism.
These are some of Fellini's own comments on the film:-
"The province of Amarcord is one in which we are all recognizable, the director first of all, in the ignorance which confounded us. A great ignorance and a great confusion. Not that I wish to minimize the economic and social causes of fascism. I only wish to say that today what is still most interesting is the psychological, emotional manner of being a fascist. What is this manner? It is a sort of blockage, an arrested development during the phase of adolescence That is, this remaining children for eternity, this leaving responsibilities for others, this living with the comforting sensation that there is someone who thinks for you (and at one time it's mother, then it's father, then it's the mayor, another time Il Duce, another time the Madonna, another time the Bishop, in short other people): and in the meanwhile you have this limited, time-wasting freedom which permits you only to cultivate absurd dreams the dream of the American cinema, or the Oriental dream concerning women; in conclusion, the same old, monstrous, out-of-date myths that even today seem to me to form the most important conditioning of the average Italian."
One can only speculate on what Fellini would have made of Berlusconi.
Apparently the film as we see it was originally planned as part of a larger-scale project in which a man in the present day retreats into a nostalgic reminiscence of his adolescence. For whatever reason that framing device was abandoned and what we have is just the reminiscence.
Fellini described "Amarcord" as "a minor planet... not a masterpiece" but for all that it enjoyed considerable success and remains wonderful to behold. On the downside it could be considered the seed of the later plague of execrable 'adolescence' movies such as "Porky's" and "Road Trip".
Still, you can't blame Fellini for that.
- Krustallos
- Sep 29, 2004
- Permalink
- How long is Amarcord?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $125,493
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $432
- Oct 18, 2009
- Gross worldwide
- $197,754
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content