Piero Cocco

Based on a short story written by Novel Prize for Literature in 1894, Grazia Deladda, “La Grazia” is a classic Italian-drama that follows the story of the a man (Giorgio Bianchi) who fell in love with beautiful shepherdess (Carmen Boni). Separated by fate, the man had an accident on his way back to his wife. For years, absence of her husband has made the woman suffer. She takes care of her child while waiting for her husband’s return.

The movie is about a student in Turin during the 1920s (moved up from the earlier versions) and his love for a a seamstress. The student, Mario, is played by Walter Slezak; the girl Dorina by Carmen Boni. The femme fatale Elena (Elena Sangro) threatens the relationship. When school days end, seen here as a kind of transitory idyll, it is "farewell to youth" as the title states, and a melancholy goodbye to youthful romances as well to allow new lives to take form.