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The Flowers of St Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio) (Francis, God's Jester)

The Flowers of St Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio) (Francis, God's Jester) (1950)

  • 100% of critics liked it
    (15 reviews)

  • 84% of users liked it
    (1,141 ratings)

Flowers of St. Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio) is an early example of the "commercial" side of Roberto Rossellini. The film traces the life of St. Francis, from his embracing of religion to his efforts to establish a harmonious middle ground between life and spirituality. Rosselini… More

Unrated,
Directed By
Written By
Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini
Genres
Art House & International, Drama
In Theaters
Oct 6, 1950 Wide
Franciscan University Film Society

Critic Reviews

  • Bosley Crowther, New York Times

    Thanks to the simplicity of its filming and the sympathetic musical score Renzo Rossellini has affixed, it sends one forth from the theatre feling kindlier towards his fellow man.

  • Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

    Rossellini's buoyant 1950 masterpiece is a glorious hallucination of perfect harmony between man and nature.

  • Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

    Austerely glorious; what's seen confronts what's felt. 63 years on, Rossellini's vision of St Francis offers a humble Catholicism at stark odds with the reality of the Church's ruling elite today.

  • Jay Antani, Cinema Writer

    one of the cinema's loveliest spiritual explorations

  • Shawn Levy, Oregonian

    Pious and earthy, crude and artful, filled with pithy religious lessons but devoid of moralizing.

Read all 14 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Stella D


    more vignettes from rossellini; i'd like to watch this again sometime as it may have suffered in comparison with buñuel's towering film. it's certainly lovely

  • Universal D


    There's more than one moment of humor here, as Rossellini takes the opposite approach to religious storytelling (rather than Hollywood's overblown, over pious pandering) showing ordinary men struggling to live as their faith instructs: simply, and with faith. Episodic and… More

  • Cindy I


    More of a visual book than a movie, this film discusses episodes in the life of St. Francis of Assisi by means of "chapters", each of which is subtitled by a description of what will happen in this section. It's a gentle film in many ways, following the priests as they… More

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Cast

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