 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Photos © 2001 Universal Studios Publishing
Rights, a Division of Universal Studios Licensing, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
 |
 | Corelli's Mandolin "An exuberant mixture of history and romance, written with a
wit that is incandescent." --Los Angeles Times Book Review |
About the Book
Extravagant,
inventive, emotionally sweeping, Corelli's Mandolin is the story of a timeless
place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history. The place is
the Greek island of Cephallonia, where gods once dabbled in the affairs of men
and the local saint periodically rises from his sarcophagus to cure the mad.
Then the tide of World War II rolls onto the island's shores in the form of the
conquering Italian army.
Caught in the occupation are Pelagia, a willful, beautiful young woman, and the
two suitors vying for her love: Mandras, a gentle fisherman turned ruthless
guerilla, and the charming, mandolin-playing Captain Corelli, a reluctant
officer of the Italian garrison on the island. Rich with loyalties and
betrayals, and set against a landscape where the factual blends seamlessly with
the fantastic, Corelli's Mandolin is a passionate novel as rich in ideas as it
is genuinely moving.
"Brims with al the grand topics of literature--love and death, heroism and
skullduggery, humor and pathos, not to mention art and religion. . . . A good
old-fashioned novel." --Washington Post Book World
"Stunning. . . . A high-spirited historical romance. . . . Remarkable." --The
New York Times Book Review
"A captivating read . . . a daring work. De Bernières writes with a sense
of the fantastic [and] his writing takes on a terrible force. To embrace
Corelli's Mandolin is to be enveloped." --The Philadelphia
Inquirer
About the Author Louis de Bernières is English, and
was born in 1954. He spent four months in the British army, then moved to
Colombia, where he worked both as a teacher and as a cowboy. Upon his return to
England he took numerous jobs, with stints as a mechanic, a groundsman, a
landscape gardener, and a teacher of truants. In the early 1990s, prior to
Corelli's Mandolin, he published a trilogy of tragicomic novels set in
Latin America.
About the Film Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Miramax Films present a Working Title
production of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, directed by John Madden
(Shakespeare In Love). Based on the classic novel by Louis de Bernières,
the screenplay is adapted by Shawn Slovo, with Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner,
Kevin Loader and Mark Huffam producing. In theaters August 2001.
Academy Award-winner Nicolas Cage (The Family Man) and Penelope Cruz (All
the Pretty Horses) star in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, an epic tale about
the enduring hope of love and the devastating brutality of war, set amid the
Italian occupation of Greece during World War II.
The idyllic beauty of Greece's Mediterranean coast has been invaded by
Italy, bringing legions of soldiers to the once tranquil island of
Cephallonia. Captain Antonio Corelli (Cage), an officer with an
irrepressibly jovial personality and passion for the mandolin, initially
alienates a number of the villagers, including Pelagia (Cruz). The daughter
of the village doctor, Pelagia is an educated and strong-willed woman, and
while at first offended by the Italian soldier's behavior, she slowly warms
to his certain charms as they are forced to share her father's home.
When Pelagia's fiancee, a local fisherman, heads off to war, the friendship
between Antonio and Pelagia grows even stronger. Her beauty and
intelligence capture his heart, and his fondness for the village's vibrant
community causes him to question his reasons for fighting. Antonio becomes
a part of the lives of the villagers, but the moment is fleeting. As the
war grows ever closer, Antonio and Pelagia are forced to choose between
their allegiance to their countries and the love they feel for one another-a
love which must overcome tremendous odds, and endure the inevitable
sacrifice which accompanies eternal devotion.