Far from a simple, feel-good story of self-discovery, Facing Windows delivers a challenging examination of loneliness and human interaction.
Facing Windows(La finestra di fronte)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Italy, Turkey, Portugal · 2003
Rated R · 1h 46m
Director Ferzan Özpetek
Starring Massimo Girotti, Raoul Bova, Filippo Nigro, Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Genre Drama, Romance
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Giovanna is overburdened by work and a dull marriage; her husband’s job is precarious, and she is gaining interest in a neighbor. Then her husband brings home an elderly man with vague memories from 1943. As she cares for the man, she begins to reflect on her own life, and grows closer with the handsome man across the street…
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Only partially succeeds in interweaving questions of family loyalty with historical memory and the fate of Italian Jews in WW2.
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
Ozpetek moves things along at a snail's pace and lays the sentiment down thickly. But it's a potent tale, wonderfully acted by Mezzogiorno and Massimo Girotti as the old man.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Probably best skipped - unless you have a penchant for shallow, "comfortable" foreign films that offer obvious messages and never attempt to challenge the viewer.
Village Voice by Jessica Winter
Blends past and present to draw some utterly stupefying parallels.
Blends history and mystery into an entertaining, if somewhat slight, romance.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Paula Nechak
Istanbul-born director Ferzan Ozpetek has outdone himself with this wise and ruminative mystery about memory, unfulfillment and yearning.
Structurally, it's ambitious, but emotionally the movie never quite connects, spending so much time laboring over its parallel storytelling and its cosmic connections that the characters remain at arm's length, as intangible as reflections in glass.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Despite its surreal touches and an improbable story that piles on the metaphors, the movie, which has a rich, honey-dripping score by Andrea Guerra, maintains a tone of refined heart-tugging realism.
Gets off to a worthy start, but falls apart about halfway through.
Users who liked this film also liked
Evil
(Ondskan)
A troubled boy is sent to an elite boarding school run by a brutal group of upperclassmen.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden, Denmark • 2003
- Director Mikael Håfström
- Cast Andreas Wilson, Henrik Lundström, Gustaf Skarsgård, Linda Zilliacus, Jesper Salén, Mats Bergman
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Video, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex Channel
A Perfect Day
(Un giorno perfetto)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2008
- Director Ferzan Özpetek
- Cast Isabella Ferrari, Valerio Mastandrea, Valerio Binasco, Nicole Grimaudo, Federico Costantini, Monica Guerritore
- Genre Romance, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
His Secret Life
(Le fate ignoranti)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2001
- Director Ferzan Özpetek
- Cast Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Serra Yılmaz, Gabriel Garko, Erika Blanc, Filippo Nigro
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Good Morning, Night
(Buongiorno, notte)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2003
- Director Marco Bellocchio
- Cast Maya Sansa, Luigi Lo Cascio, Roberto Herlitzka, Paolo Briguglia, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Giovanni Calcagno
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Steam: The Turkish Bath
(Hamam)
What he inherited was a sexual awakening...
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Turkey, Spain • 1997
- Director Ferzan Özpetek
- Cast Alessandro Gassmann, Francesca D'Aloja, Halil Ergün, Mehmet Günsür, Başak Köklükaya, Şerif Sezer
- Genre Drama
- Available on Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Remember Me, My Love
(Ricordati di me)
Some loves are never forgotten
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, United Kingdom • 2003
- Director Gabriele Muccino
- Cast Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Laura Morante, Monica Bellucci, Silvio Muccino, Nicoletta Romanoff, Gabriele Lavia
- Genre Drama, Comedy, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Sacred Heart
(Cuore sacro)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2005
- Director Ferzan Özpetek
- Cast Barbora Bobuľová, Andrea Di Stefano, Lisa Gastoni, Massimo Poggio, Camille Dugay Comencini, Luigi Angelillo
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Last Harem
(Harem Suare)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, Turkey • 1999
- Director Ferzan Özpetek
- Cast Marie Gillain, Alex Descas, Lucía Bosé, Valeria Golino, Serra Yılmaz, Şerif Sezer
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Amazon Video
I Knew Her Well
(Io la conoscevo bene)
A young woman from the Italian countryside moves to Rome hoping to become a star, but discovers the business’s dark side instead.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, West Germany • 1965
- Director Antonio Pietrangeli
- Cast Stefania Sandrelli, Mario Adorf, Jean-Claude Brialy, Joachim Fuchsberger, Nino Manfredi
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Pretty Princess
(Piccolo grande amore)
- ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1993
- Director Carlo Vanzina
- Cast Raoul Bova, Barbara Snellenburg, David Warner, Susannah York, Paul Freeman, Catherine Schell
- Genre Comedy, Romance, Family
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Tutta colpa della musica
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2011
- Director Ricky Tognazzi
- Cast Ricky Tognazzi, Marco Messeri, Elena Sofia Ricci, Stefania Sandrelli, Monica Scattini, Debora Villa
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
A Five Star Life
(Viaggio sola)
Irene is entirely devoted to her job as an inspector of luxury hotels. But one fateful event will change her mindset.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2013
- Director Maria Sole Tognazzi
- Cast Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Fabrizia Sacchi, Gianmarco Tognazzi, Alessia Barela, Lesley Manville
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on OVID, Amazon Video, Kanopy, Plex Channel
Me, Myself and Her
(Io e lei)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2015
- Director Maria Sole Tognazzi
- Cast Margherita Buy, Sabrina Ferilli, Alessia Barela, Fausto Maria Scarappa, Domenico Diele, Ennio Fantastichini
- Genre Comedy, Romance
- Available on Tubi TV
Red Istanbul
(İstanbul Kırmızısı)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey, Italy • 2017
- Director Ferzan Özpetek
- Cast Halit Ergenç, Tuba Büyüküstün, Nejat İşler, Mehmet Günsür, Çiğdem Selişik Onat, Zerrin Tekindor
- Genre Romance, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Eye on Juliet
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, France, Morocco • 2018
- Director Kim Nguyen
- Cast Joe Cole, Lina El Arabi, Brent Skagford, Faycal Zeglat, Hatim Seddiki, Mansour Badri
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Filmzie, Freevee, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Naples in Veils
(Napoli velata)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2017
- Director Ferzan Özpetek
- Cast Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Alessandro Borghi, Anna Bonaiuto, Peppe Barra, Biagio Forestieri, Lina Sastri
- Genre Thriller
- Available on Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, Filmzie, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
The Big Step
(Il grande passo)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2020
- Director Antonio Padovan
- Cast Giuseppe Battiston, Stefano Fresi, Camilla Filippi, Flavio Bucci, Roberto Citran
- Genre Comedy, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, VIX , Freevee