Life Is Beautiful

This article is about the 1997 Italian film. For other uses, see Life Is Beautiful (disambiguation).
"La vita è bella" redirects here. For other uses, see La vita è bella (disambiguation).

Life Is Beautiful
English-language release poster
Directed byRoberto Benigni
Written byRoberto Benigni
Vincenzo Cerami
Produced byGianluigi Braschi
Elda Ferri
Starring
CinematographyTonino Delli Colli
Edited bySimona Paggi
Music byNicola Piovani
Production
company
Melampo Cinematografica
Distributed byCecchi Gori Group (Italy)
Miramax Films (International)
Release date
  • 20 December 1997 (1997-12-20) (Italy)
Running time
116 minutes[1]
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
BudgetLit. 15 billion[2]
Box office$230.1 million[3]

Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella, Italian: [la ˈviːta ˈɛ bˈbɛlla]) is a 1997 Italian comedy-drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who employs his imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp. The film was partially inspired by the book In the End, I Beat Hitler by Rubino Romeo Salmonì and by Benigni's father, who spent two years in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during World War II.

The film was an overwhelming critical and commercial success. Despite some criticisms of using the subject matter for comedic purposes, it received widespread acclaim, with critics praising its story, performances and direction, and the union of drama and comedy. The movie grossed over $230 million worldwide, including $57.6 million in the United States, is the second highest-grossing foreign language film in the U.S. (after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)[4] and one of the highest-grossing non-English language movies of all time.[5] The National Board of Review included it in the top five best foreign films of 1998.[6]

The movie won the Grand Prix at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, nine David di Donatello Awards (including Best Film), five Nastro d'Argento Awards in Italy, two European Film Awards, and three Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor for Benigni, the first for a male non-English performance.[7]

  1. ^ "La Vita E Bella (Life Is Beautiful) (12A)". Buena Vista International. British Board of Film Classification. 26 November 1998. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  2. ^ "La vita è bella: crolla il fienile di "Buongiorno Principessa", appello a Roberto Benigni". Movieplayer.it (in Italian). Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference mojo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Top grossing foreign films in the US". RTT News.
  5. ^ John, Adriana (21 September 2016). "Top 10 Highest Grossing Non-English Movies of All Time". Wonderslist. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  6. ^ "1998 Archives". National Board of Review.
  7. ^ "Roberto Benigni: Dante is Beautiful". Mary Manning.