Follow Your Heart (1996 film)

Follow Your Heart (Italian: Va' dove ti porta il cuore) is a 1996 Italian romantic drama film written and directed by Cristina Comencini. It is based on the novel with the same name by Susanna Tamaro.[1][2]

Follow Your Heart
ItalianVa' dove ti porta il cuore
Directed byCristina Comencini
Written byRoberta Mazzoni
Cristina Comencini
Based onFollow Your Heart
by Susanna Tamaro
Starring
CinematographyRoberto Forza
Edited byNino Baragli
Music byClaudio Capponi
Alessio Vlad
Release date
  • 1996 (1996)
LanguageItalian

For her performance Virna Lisi won a Globo d'oro and a Nastro d'Argento for best actress.[3]

Plot

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The film follows the unhappy lives of three generations of women – Olga, her late daughter Ilaria and her granddaughter Marta – as recounted by Olga in a letter she is writing to Marta before dying. Written in the form of a diary, the letter is an attempt to expiate the family trauma in order to free Marta from the misery she appears destined to.

Olga starts by recalling her childhood and her first clashes with her middle-class parents as a teenager. She has an affair with a married man, whose identity she does not disclose, falling pregnant with Ilaria shortly before his death. Her daughter also grows up as a turbulent young woman, developing a conflictual relationship with her mother which further deteriorates as she returns from a trip to Turkey pregnant with Marta. During a fight, Olga reveals to Ilaria the identity of her father, upsetting her to the point that, as she drives away, she crashes her car into a tree and is killed.

Through the love she expresses in the letter, Olga manages to relieve Marta's burdensome familial legacy, allowing her to "go where her heart takes her".[4]

Cast

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References

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  1. ^ Roberto Chiti; Enrico Lancia; Roberto Poppi. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I Film. Gremese Editore, 2002. ISBN 8884401372.
  2. ^ "Follow Your Heart". Variety. March 3, 1996. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  3. ^ Enrico Lancia (1998). I premi del cinema. Gremese Editore, 1998. ISBN 8877422211.
  4. ^ "Va' dove ti porta il cuore (1996) | Follow Your Heart". Archivio del Cinema Italiano / Italian Cinema Database (in Italian and English). Retrieved 21 May 2024.
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