The Best of Youth

The Best of Youth
Italian theatrical release poster
ItalianLa meglio gioventù
Directed byMarco Tullio Giordana
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Sandro Petraglia
  • Stefano Rulli
Produced byAngelo Barbagallo
Starring
CinematographyRoberto Forza
Edited byRoberto Missiroli
Production
company
Distributed by01 Distribution
Release dates
  • 20 May 2003 (2003-05-20) (Cannes)
  • 20 June 2003 (2003-06-20) (Italy; Act I)
  • 27 June 2003 (2003-06-27) (Italy; Act II)
Running time
366 minutes (theatrical version)
382 minutes (TV version)
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
BudgetL.12 billion[1]
Box office$2.7 million[2]

The Best of Youth (Italian: La meglio gioventù) is a 2003 Italian historial romantic drama film directed by Marco Tullio Giordana and written by Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli. A family saga set in Italy from 1966 through 2003, it chronicles the life of the middle-class Carati family, focusing primarily on brothers Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio) and Matteo (Alessio Boni) as their life paths separate during youth, encompassing major political and social events in post–World War II Italian history.

Originally conceived as a Rai television miniseries, it premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Prize Un Certain Regard. It was then given a theatrical release in Italy as two 3-hour films (titled Act I and Act II), before being aired with broader success on Rai 1 in a slightly longer four-episode television version later that year. In the U.S., the film was released by Miramax in its theatrical version.

The title of the film, an ungrammatical rendition of La miglior gioventù ("the best youth/young people"), comes from the title of a 1954 Friulian language poetry collection by Pier Paolo Pasolini, who in turn borrowed it from a line of Alpini World War II song Sul ponte di Perati;[3] here, Giordana uses it to refer to his generation, which is also the main characters' one, made up of those young people who participated in the Sessantotto.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference d'italia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ The Best of Youth at Box Office Mojo
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference stampa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).