Home / Il Postino: The Postman

Il Postino: The Postman

Year:

1996

Duration:

108 min

Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama | Romance

IMDB rate:

7.8

Director:

Michael Radford

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 28 wins & 15 nominations

Details

Country: Italy

Release Date: 1996-03-22

Filming Locations: Pollara, Salina Island, Aeolian Islands, Messina, Sicily, Italy

Earnings

Budget: $3,000,000

Gross: $20,681,301 (USA) (13 October 1996)

Cast

Actor

Character

Maria Grazia Cucinotta

Philippe Noiret

Pablo Neruda

Massimo Troisi

Mario Ruoppolo

Renato Scarpa

Telegrapher

Linda Moretti

Donna Rosa

Sergio Solli

Carlo Di Maio

Nando Neri

Vincenzo Di Sauro

Orazio Stracuzzi

Alfredo Cozzolino

Mariano Rigillo

Di Cosimo

Anna Bonaiuto

Matilde

Simona Caparrini

Elsa Morante (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

The film was shot in 11 weeks, with only one break for the Easter holiday.

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Theatrical run in New York City was so long (almost two years), it was still in theaters after the video release and its premium cable run.

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Massimo Troisi was so weak that it was only possible for him to work for about an hour each day. Most of his scenes were shot in one or two takes. A shooting schedule was designed to allow the film to be shot around him. This was aided greatly by the fact his stand-in bore such a striking resemblance to Troisi. He was used for all back to camera, long/medium shots and most of the bicycle riding sequences. Director Michael Radford has said that watching the film after it was cut together even he was unable to tell the difference between the two men.

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Quotes

Pablo Neruda: Even the most sublime ideas sound ridiculous if heard too often.

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Pablo Neruda: We poets are all fat.

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Mario Ruoppolo: Your laugh is a sudden silvery wave.

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Faq

Is this film based on real events?

Not really. Neruda was elected as a Communist senator in 1945, and after making harsh criticisms of the treatment of miners, he was forced to go into hiding, eventually escaping to Mexico. He later went to Europe, India, China, Sri Lanka and the Soviet Union, and did indeed spend some time on the island of Capri. Matilde Urrutia was also a real person, Neruda's mistress at the time the film is set, and later his third wife. The election featured in the film took place on June 7, 1953, and it genuinely was claimed by the Italian right wing that in Communist countries, parents ate their children. But Mario Ruoppolo and the other characters were fictional, as was Neruda's friendship with the postman.

What does the sign say above the café where Beatrice works?

It says Vino e Cucina, Italian for "wine and cooking".

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