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The Wonders

Play trailer Poster for The Wonders Released Oct 30, 2015 1h 50m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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96% Tomatometer 72 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
The preteen daughter (Maria Alexandra Lungu) of a Tuscan beekeeper (Sam Louwyck) enters a contest to appear on a television show.
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The Wonders

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Critics Consensus

The Wonders offers a charming coming-of-age tale that doubles as a quietly effective tribute to a vanishing way of life.

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Critics Reviews

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Tara Brady Irish Times Rohrwacher's recreation of the monotonous rhythms of low-tech farm life is every bit as attentive and diligent as the film's heroine. But the director's impressionistic approach to narrative does get a little frustrating. Rated: 3/5 Mar 7, 2016 Full Review Matthew Lickona San Diego Reader What's worth wondering at is the way writer-director Alice Rohrwacher illustrates the private world of an authentic and genuinely loving family. Rated: 3/5 Dec 4, 2015 Full Review J. R. Jones Chicago Reader A prize winner at the Cannes film festival, this naturalistic Italian drama presents a warm and credible portrait of a modern beekeeping family in the Tuscan countryside. Dec 3, 2015 Full Review Diego Lerer Otroscines.com Little by little, layer by layer, [Alice Rohrwacher] makes us members of the family and participants in their conflicts. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 4/5 Aug 1, 2023 Full Review Dustin Chang Floating World Rohrwacher reminds us that whatever the circumstances we are in, life is filled with full of wonders. Le Meraviglie deserves all the recent accolades. Feb 22, 2021 Full Review David Lamble Bay Area Reporter Sam Louwyck imbues the sputtering would-be domestic tyrant Wolfgang with a hyper-comic charm reminiscent of Roberto Benigni. Jun 9, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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isla s This is a somewhat sobering watch about a family living close to the breadline, on perhaps the outskirts of society. There is a lot of footage of bees, so if your especially squeamish about them then this won't be a film for you, suffice to say. I suppose there was something respectable about how the children seemed so comfortable around said bees. There is a definite dysfunctional side/element to the family - it was sad seeing the arguments and I felt sorry for certain characters. This is a good watch, perhaps not brilliant but good. If your a fan of world cinema then I'd say this is worth a watch. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review raphael g Fell asleep but it seems nice. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review nefasto r I quote: "WONDER: a feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar." Indeed. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting look at an isolated existence that's suddenly invaded and disrupted, but little of substance actually happens, and there's not a lot of pace to the film either. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Italian and German with subtitles. Written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher. The film is centred on Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungu) and her odd family in the middle of nowhere on a run-down farm in Tuscany. The family business is making honey and this coming-of-age drama vividly shows their isolated life and their struggles with keeping their bees intact. Bad weather, poison weedkiller and escaping swarms are some of their problems. The plotline is very weak though, it is as if we are just following a rambling episode of their existence. Pretty though it is visually. The father is a blow-hard ranting against the outside world. He desperately wants things to stay the same, but the outside world intrudes into his insularity. Gelsomina, like most teenagers want to break away from the confines of the family and an opportunity arises when a cheesy show turns up on a video shoot. The show is offering money and a grand prize for the most artisan product in the area. So their honey is in with a chance. Predictably enough the father is dead set against entering the competition, but Gelsomina covertly enters anyway. In addition, as they are desperate for money they take in a virtually mute 14 year old delinquent boy as part of his rehabilitation whose only virtue seems to be the ability to whistle nicely. The storyline doesn't seem to make his presence relevant until some scenes towards the end. Another oddity in the plot is the purchase of a camel, which then refuses to stand up. It made no sense, why did the otherwise tight fisted father decide to buy a camel? There was also no explanation of why the father often slept on a mattress in the middle of the yard. Baffling. Part of the raison d'etre of the film may be to show the vanishing poverty stricken parochial way of life in Tuscany and the rise of tourism as a more profitable enterprise. The end scene emphasises this. It won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Un film noioso che non lascia il segno, se non per la decadenza vista nella pellicola. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Wonders

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Cast & Crew

I Travel Alone 62% 48% I Travel Alone Watchlist Li and the Poet 95% 79% Li and the Poet Watchlist Simple Women 100% % Simple Women Watchlist Still Life 63% 77% Still Life Watchlist La Sapienza 88% 50% La Sapienza Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis The preteen daughter (Maria Alexandra Lungu) of a Tuscan beekeeper (Sam Louwyck) enters a contest to appear on a television show.
Director
Alice Rohrwacher
Producer
Carlo Cresto-Dina, Karl Baumgartner, Tiziana Soudani, Michael Weber
Screenwriter
Alice Rohrwacher
Distributor
Oscilloscope Pictures
Production Co
RAI Cinema
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 30, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 22, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$69.2K
Runtime
1h 50m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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