Poster © Cecchi Gori Group. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreComedy, Drama & Romance
RatedPG-13
Runtime1 hr 56 mins
ReleasedDecember 20, 1997
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorRoberto Benigni
StarringRoberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi
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Life Is Beautiful (1997)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Life Is Beautiful's Details | |
| Genre | Comedy, Drama & Romance |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 12/20/1997 (Italy) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 56 mins |
| Budget | Not reported |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| Life Is Beautiful's Interests | |
| General | Bicycles, riddles, opera nights, hats that go missing, keys falling from the sky, Tuscan sunshine. |
| Music | Nicola Piovani, plus Offenbach's Barcarolle drifting through an opera house. |
| Movies | The Great Dictator (1940). Chaplin using comedy to stand up to fascism. |
| Television | Nothing on TV beats a dad doing all the voices at bedtime. |
| Heroes | Guido. Proof that a sense of humor can be an act of love and courage. |
| Life Is Beautiful's Crew | |
| Director | Roberto Benigni |
| Writers | Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami |
| Producers | Gianluigi Braschi, Elda Ferri |
| Cinematography | Tonino Delli Colli |
| Music | Nicola Piovani |
| Edited By | Simona Paggi |
| Production | Melampo Cinematografica |
| Distributed By | Cecchi Gori Group (Italy), Miramax Films (International) |
The first half is a goofy screwball romance and the second half is set in a concentration camp, and that sharp turn is the whole argument about this movie. Some people find it too sweet for what it shows. That’s a fair worry, and the film doesn’t fully answer it. What it does is stay with one father, Guido, who decides his little boy will not feel the fear around them, so he turns every day into a game with rules and a prize. Roberto Benigni plays him with nonstop energy, and the slapstick and grand romantic gestures of the first half set up what that energy is for. The camp is never played as a joke. Giorgio Cantarini as the boy is heartbreaking without trying. Audiences went 8.6 on IMDb, while critics were cooler at 58 on Metacritic. An 8.0 because the love in it is real, even when the tone asks a lot of you. $36.77 says you hug somebody a little longer than usual after the credits.
What works: Benigni’s devotion as a father, Giorgio Cantarini’s performance, and a first half that makes the second hit harder.
What doesn’t: The tonal shift is jarring, and the gentle, almost fairy-tale view of the camp will feel too soft for some viewers.
Who it’s for: Teens and adults ready for a love story about a parent that keeps its humor and doesn’t look away from history.
Spoilers
Guido hides his son until the camp is liberated, but he is killed by a guard just before the end, still playing the game as he’s marched away so the boy won’t be afraid. Giosuè rides out on an American tank, believing he has won, and is reunited with his mother.
Arezzo, Italy, 1939. Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), a Jewish waiter with a huge imagination and a dream of opening his own bookshop, keeps bumping into a schoolteacher named Dora (Nicoletta Braschi). She is engaged to a stiff, self-important official. Guido does not care. He wins her over with perfectly timed coincidences, a hat mix-up and a whole lot of nerve. Benigni also directs, and the first half plays like a classic screwball romance. But Fascist Italy is turning on Jewish families like his, and in the years ahead Guido will need every bit of that imagination to protect the people he loves. One hundred sixteen minutes, all heart.
Anyone who still says good morning like they mean it. Buongiorno, principessa.
| Roberto Benigni | Guido Orefice |
| Nicoletta Braschi | Dora |
| Giorgio Cantarini | Giosuè Orefice |
| Giustino Durano | Uncle Eliseo |
| Horst Buchholz | Doctor Lessing |
| Marisa Paredes (dubbed by Paila Pavese) | Dora's mother |
| Sergio Bustric | Ferruccio |
| Amerigo Fontani | Rodolfo |
| Lydia Alfonsi | Guicciardini |
| Giuliana Lojodice | the Headmistress |
| Pietro Desilva | Bartolomeo |
| Francesco Guzzo | Vittorino |
| Raffaella Lebboroni | Elena |
| Claudio Alfonsi | Rodolfo's friend |
| Richard Sammel | a Waffen-SS Officer |
| Aaron Craig | an American Tank Driver |
| Omero Antonutti | older Giosuè |
| Marc Schwarz | the voice of another American Tank Driver |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +120 Numbers refreshed: Rotten Tomatoes 81%; Rotten Tomatoes critics 81% (94 reviews); movie.guru score 7.5 → 8.2.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.