This is one of those charming Italian films (subtitled in English) peopled by eccentric small shop owners and adults looking for a sweeter turn of life.

Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) a middle aged Italian mother and wife gets marooned in Venice and decides to try a life away from her family for a while. She takes a spare room from a waiter (Bruno Ganz) who befriends her when she’s penniless.

She takes a job in florist shop whose owner is cranky enough to refuse to sell flowers to particular customers. Meanwhile her husband (Antonia Barletta) sets an incompetent private eye (Giuseppe Battiston) onto her to find her and bring her home.

Bread And Tulips is something of a Shirley Valentine in Venice and is a worthy antidote against much of the fare we’re asked to see at the movies.

I saw the film in Melbourne. There’s a pivotal moment when a petal falls from a tulip. A lightening strike hit a building in Carlton a few kilometers away lending a blast from outside just as the last petal fell.

Now that was entertainment! But even without that explosion Bread And Tulips was fine film value.

4 Italian Flys