What??
If anything Alfredo was like the father her never had and Toto was like the son he never had.
What a beautiful relationship they had.
You know what the Queen said? If I had balls, I'd be King.
Why on earth would you think this? Because Alfredo told Toto to leave? He did this purely out of love. He saw the genius within Toto, and knew it'd be squandered if Toto stayed. Sending him away was an act of love, and judging by Toto's reaction at the station, he knew this was the case. The family leaving for Germany was more important than it perhaps seemed, as this showed a general feeling of hopelessness and lack of opportunity for those who stayed.
shareFirst of all, I saw the Director's Cut yesterday at night, and I loved the movie. I expect to see the Theatrical Cut in a few weeks.
From my point of view, Alfredo's intention was that Salvatore do not have attachments to his old town and the persons he knew and go pursuing his goals.
In this case, Alfredo can be viewed as a person who do not wanted that Salvatore has the same destiny than him, so he encourages Elena to stop see him. Probably he saw that their love was mainly idealized.
IMO.
If this line is a signature, then I have no idea what to write as a signature.
He is his friend and 'father figure'. You are an idiot.
shareHow does it have 38 responses. Oops. Now it has 39.
As Alfredo himself correctly points out, "The blue-eyed ones are the worst".
shareIf you think Alfredo is a villain then you probably didn't get the message and the soul of the film. What a pity! Alfredo really knew Toto! Toto was about to sacrifice his life for a juvenile romance. It was just infatuation, he fell for her before even knowing her. Elena and Salvatore didn't have much in common. You can clearly see that she was a nice girl but without ambitions. Elena found happiness staying there in the little town and ended up marrying Boccia! Elena would not have made Salvatore happy, she would have stopped him of achieving his dreams. She was happy to be a housewife even though she comes from a family who had much better position than Toto's family. At the end we can clearlty see Toto's greatest love was the world of cinema! When he sees all those kisses and end ups laughing and with tears is finally when the truth is unveiled for him. He has been bitter, longing for a past that did not exist anymore. He loved the young Elena, but this new Elena is a person that barely resembles the other one. Now he realises that Alfredo was wise and he always knew Toto's potential. His love was always with him, because his love was part of who he was: it was his art! Interestingly, Toto realises that he is already living his dream but he was blind because his obsession with his past didn't let him see the beauty of what he already has in his life. Now he can move on from the past and if he wants he can find a partner, a real one, not an idealised one. He doesn't need another Elena.
I am just a girl who likes coffee and tea
I read the whole thread looking for an explanation that would most make sense to me and it's this very last post that indirectly got me there. I thought of this:
Perhaps Toto is a very flawed, "tragedy-bound" character? He experiences human relationships through Cinema. As a kid, he sneaks in to see the "censored" scenes - which makes those very scenes most desirable to him. It's not just 'love' he desires though - it's the unrealistic "perfect love story as seen in movies". But true life sadly is not like the movies - if i remember well, this is what Alfredo tells Toto at some point in the second half of the film.
Hence - Alfredo, when he lies about Elena visiting, and when he sends Toto away, Alfredo displays wisdom - not by "knowing" what's best for Toto, not by thinking that Toto's potential relationship with Elena would fail - but because Alfredo knows that the concept of a "perfect love story, as seen in movies" which Toto imagines for himself and Elena is not possible, because their lives are real lives and not a movie. And perhaps, if Alfredo allowed this to happen - would this absolutely destroy Toto's world, his entire personality? Realizing that the world is not like the movies, not able to look at his life through movies anymore, would he become simply a broken old man? (paradoxically, isn't that where he ends up either way - hence again, flawed, 'tragedy-bound' character)
So as is, Toto goes on living his entire life like it is a movie, growing old, sad, and lonely, because real life, his life, can never be as perfect as the movies.
To take a big step back to the very beginning of the film - Alfredo tried to keep little Toto away, perhaps for that very reason - Alfredo talked of life of loneliness in the projection booth. Maybe he wanted to spare Toto from this very illusion, from living his life with unrealistic expectations. Yet Alfredo also understood, likely by personal experience, the allure, the magic of cinema, and he just couldn't get himself to keep the boy away - especially after learning of Toto's family hardships, of Toto living without a father and needing something/someone to fill that void - cinema and Alfredo were able to fill that void.
And so at the end, Elena has a new life now, sadly with no room for Toto - the night her and Toto spend together by the pier is a bittersweet "movie climax" of this 'perfect movie love story" which Toto has been dreaming of, but it's not a lasting moment.
In the end, Toto is back in his daily life, alone, sad and aging and watching the montage - and it's this scene that really shows the tragedy of his character - because he still goes back to cinema. After all this, he still goes back to his comfort zone - to "witnessing" love, emotion, desire on the screen, but knowing that he's never been able to "experience" it in real life the same way. He's not 'clueless' - he realizes his flaw, his 'inner-tragedy' now, hence he both laughs and he cries. It's a breakdown of a number of human emotions for him - old memories, hopes he still has, missed opportunities but also the ones he took advantage of. In a way, it's a very 'human' ending, and although it may be a realization of Toto's inner flaw, it's sort of open ended whether it empowers him to make a change or (i think this is more the case) if he just decides to remain in this dream-like reality of seeing the world through cinema.
Sorry it's so long. Hope it makes sense!
Exactly! Thank you for writing this!
If you think about it, the ending suggests that Elena was the wrong person for Toto, and in the long term, things between them would not have worked. This is because life is not like in the movies, but life is harsher, and our choices will come and hunt us.
Elena was a girl who come from an upper middle class, yet she confessed that not only she got married but that she was very happy. Were you aware that she ended up marrying Boccia? The dumbest kid in class, the one that instead responding '25' to the question about the multiplication, responded ' Christmas'. Yes, she married the man she rejected because of Toto! She had the means to go and pursue her own dreams but she didn't, she didn't have the spirit! What could she have done for someone ambitious and bright like Salvatore? At the end Toto would have been miserable, knowing that his juvenile love vanished and that an infatuation ruined his life to become something great and do great things for others.
What did Toto do when Elena did not show up? Toto left his town, and followed Alfredo's advice. He did not have much but he achieved great things because he had the drive! Yet, his big problem is that he was a romantic, and he was also overly-idealist...only at the end, is when he realises that he was already living his dream and he was so blinded that he wasn't enjoying that because he was stuck in the past! Only then he reflects on his life, he knows he was immobilised by nostalgy! That is why that final scene is so perfect. It all starts there! He goes back to the basis! He laughs, because he can see all clearly now...he is free. He is not little Toto anymore! In his town, the Cinema was important because the lives of those people were very simple, so the cinema brought some novelty, some excitement in their quotidian lives. They did not have much world. Salvatore was one of them but he is not one of them anymore, he pursued his dream, he was living it, he is now bringing that magic to the lives of many people! It is time for him to value that! Elena too is part of his past; she was a beautiful illusion but not really something tangible, not even what he thought was love was there anymore. What he truly adored he was already doing...and now he can finally enjoy it! :)
A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous! - Coco Chanel
I think the best summation of why Alfredo did what he did is the blunt statement from the old lady in Annie Hall: "Love fades!" The incandescent passion that young Toto felt for Elena could never be sustained if Toto did get his wish and marry Elena. Over time, what was sublime and electrifying would fade into the ordinary and mundane. The spark of romance would be dulled by the demands and stresses of life, by petty squabbling, and of course Toto's growing dissatisfaction from giving up on his dreams. Toto might even come to resent Elena in time, for diverting him from his life's true passion.
Alfredo, having lived a long life, understood that the only way to experience unfettered youthful passion forever is through cinema, where pure, perfect love can be preserved forever in celluloid. He knew that the most powerful emotion a person can feel is unfulfilled desire. His gift to Toto wasn't merely to remove any obstacles from his path out of town to a better life, but also to prevent the flames of idealistic passion in Toto's heart from being smothered by the inevitable disappointment of gaining his heart's desire. Through Alfredo's actions, not only did Toto leave to become a successful filmmaker, but the romantic idealism that lived on in him enabled him to make films that connected with and moved people.
Funny thing, when I first saw the extended cut of Cinema Paradiso, I was incredibly disappointed and angered that what I'd considered to be a near-perfect film had been sullied with such a depressing, anticlimactic addition to the story. I loved the way the original left me with the tantalizing fantasy of Toto reawakening his heart and returning to his hometown to track down Elena. (If I'm not mistaken, there are shots over the end credits showing a reunion between the two.)
What I realize now is that the extended cut is in some ways the more emotionally mature version of the film. The original version embodies romantic passion, whereas the revised version illuminates it. Rather than simply feeling that sweet agony of romantic desire, we're asked to think about why we're so drawn to the fantasy of cinema. As sad as it is that Toto's reunion with Elena is such a letdown, it illustrates the theme of the film, which is to celebrate cinema as the vehicle for the most profound, heart-shaking emotions that people can feel.
And it's a happy ending for Toto, because, having had that bittersweet experience with Elena, he returns to his life with a renewed appreciation of his art, finally understanding through Alfredo's gift that his true passion in life isn't achieving perfect romance in real life, but capturing it on film for the world to experience.
Exactly, Dark Penguin! This is why I feel disappointed when people judge Alfredo so harshly. They obviously think the romantic side of the story is more important than it actually was. It plays a role but only to show the true essence of Salvatore and Alfredo and the world of Cinema. The film is not even just about Toto but about Cinema and the role it plays in people's lives. The fact that the film is called Cinema Paradiso (Paradiso means Paradise) makes this even more obvious.
Quite frankly, I was never particularly touched by Toto and Elena's love story. The way their relationship started seemed overly romantic and I am not a romantic but more intellectual; thus , I did not think they would end up together. I wasn't touched by older Elena and Salvatore's meeting either. I would have preferred if there were no tears. She clearly tells him she is happy but then she cries and kisses him, which I found over the top. That said, their love story was never really the focus of the movie and that scene helps to see how simple Elena is as a person and that she would not have made Salvatore happy.
Finally, those who think of Alfredo as the villain of this story show they completely missed the message of this film, instead they settled for the most corney part.
A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous! - Coco Chanel
I think you people haven't realized what the director showed when Toto came back and during the funeral saw the people from his childhood who have got old and miserable living in the same town.
Alfredo knew that if Toto remains here he will just be like them and he knew how much Toto loved him, so he asked him to never return to the city.
We need to do sacrifices to become great. The movie on many incidence talks about it. Like when Alfedo tells Toto that when you start living at a place for so long you start realizing that this is the centre of world and being happy and making people happy is the ultimate pleasure and purpose.