Balloon Chic Cinema 01: Summer 2020 Movie Picks

The corona crisis hit everybody hard, but none how it did beautiful Italy. In its honor, and so that we can remind ourselves of what it will be like again very soon, here are a few of our favorite movies with an Italian backdrop!

1) Stealing Beauty, 1996 by Bernardo Bertolucci

When she was 15, pretty but callow Lucy Harmon (Liv Tyler) visited the small town near Sienna where her mother once enchanted the local male population. Four years later, in the wake of her mother's suicide, Lucy returns to the village. She plans to write some poetry, learn more about her family history and reunite with a boy she once kissed. Surveying an expansive field of suitors, Lucy finds herself taken with unattainable Alex (Jeremy Irons), as her time in the sprawling Tuscan farmhouse imparts some unexpected lessons about love. Very little actually happens in "Stealing Beauty", other than a lot of Garden of Eden–esque frolicking in the preternaturally beautiful Italian countryside. Yet there's something about Tyler's Lucy that feels very genuine and true to the age group she represents. She's curious, eager, and entirely at a loss about what to do with the feelings she experiences. This essence of "everything is ahead of me", of endless possibilities, is definitely one of the aspects that make this such a great movie and keeps us reaching for it summer after summer!

2) Letters to Juliet, 2010 by Gary Winick

Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is a young American woman who goes on a pre-honeymoon with her fiancé Victor to Verona, Italy. Victor, however, is unmoved by the romance of Italy that Sophie is so taken with. The curious Sophie explores the city alone, and discovers that a group of women called the "Secretaries of Juliet" personally respond to all the letters of heartbreak left by visitors on a prescribed wall of Juliet's House in Verona. Sophie joins them and accidentally finds an unanswered letter by a Claire Smith from 1957. She answers it and within a week, the now-elderly Claire Smith arrives in Verona with her handsome grandson Charlie. Claire and Sophie take an instant liking to each other, and set off, along with the reluctant Charlie, to reunite Claire with the long-lost teenage sweetheart she referenced in her "letter to Juliet" all those years ago. Such a feel-good romantic comedy, with an absolutely beautiful setting!

That is all for this month's movie picks! Nothing can dull the devastating effects of these past few months. We are in no way trying to trivialize their impact with this post. So to all affected by the virus, including survivors, the families of victims, businesses and everybody else, our heart goes out to you. We wanted to share a little something cheerful with you, and take this opportunity to say, "andrà tutto bene"... Everything will be okay.

All our love.

The Balloon Chic team x.