| Family Diary | |
| Director: | Valerio Zurlini |
| Producer: | Goffredo Lombardo |
| Starring: | Marcello Mastroianni Jacques Perrin Sylvie Valeria Ciangottini Salvo Randone |
| Music: | Goffredo Petrassi |
| Cinematography: | Giuseppe Rotunno |
| Editing: | Mario Serandrei |
| Distributor: | Titanus Metro Goldwyn Mayer |
| Runtime: | 115 mins |
| Country: | Italy |
| Language: | Italian |
Family Diary (Italian: '''Cronaca familiare''') is a 1962 Italian film directed by Valerio Zurlini and is based on the novel by Vasco Pratolini. Enrico, played by Marcello Mastroianni, is a struggling artist in 1945 Rome who recently loses his brother, Lorenzo (played by Jacques Perrin) and recalls their tumultuous relationship and examines grief, existentialism, and the importance of familial ties[1] .
Described by Elliot Stein in The Village Voice as "the classiest 'male weepie' ever filmed",[2] Family Diary is an adaptation of the 1947 semi-autobiographical novel by Vasco Pratolini, Cronaca familiare, or in english Two Brothers.
At the 1962 Venice Film Festival Family Diary was awarded a Golden Lion for Best Picture Photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno, it has been acclaimed as one of Zurlini's greatest achievements.
Marcello Mastroianni plays Enrico, a struggling journalist in 1945 Rome. He receives a phone call informing him that his younger brother Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) has died. Enrico recalls their long and difficult relationship. He was raised by their poor but warm-hearted grandmother (Sylvie), while Lorenzo was raised as a gentleman by a wealthy local aristocrat. Reunited in the Florence of the 1930s, Enrico becomes his spoiled brother's keeper, forever haunted by a sense of guilt and responsibility towards a man he both hates and loves.