In Eva Oppenheimer’s new movie, expected in early 2017, Eric Lazard (played by Brett Dalton) a former football player, is broken-hearted in Florence. He proposed his girlfriend but she said no.
Eric stays at Anna’s, his cousin, and slowly starts to discover the city of markets and the typical Tuscan trattorias, jogs along the river and in this break in his life he meets the city’s historical football. With his new friend Paolo (Alessandro Preziosi) he starts training to play the Whites.
Historical Football
Each year, in midsummer, the four teams of the historical quarters, the Whites from Santo Spirito, Reds from Santa Maria Novella, Greens from San Giovanni and Blues from Santa Croce, fight in a tournament consisting of two semifinals and a final to be played on Saint John the Baptist’s day, the patron saint of the city, on June 24th.
Players in costume train for an entire year and finally play, challenge and fight each other in a Piazza Santa Croce that seems to be back in time.
The other main character in the story is Stefania (Alessandra Mastronardi) Paolo’s girlfriend, with whom Eric will develop a very close (and closer) relationship. Warm hospitality, betrayals, old sports and contemporary prejudices can be found in this movie, whose title, Lost in Florence replaced the original The Tourist. The international cast features Stana Katic (mostly famous for playing Detective Beckett in Castle), Emily Atack and the Italians Marco Bonini and Federico Marignetti.
The movie was filmed in Florence and Tuscany for four weeks in June 2014. Its release is still unknown but the trailer already pays a great tribute to the beauty of places the like of a half deserted Ponte Vecchio at night and the view of the city from the hills, the ideal places to hang around and have a romantic picnic.
What will Eric finally choose for his life?
What about you? Are you ready to get lost in Florence?
See the trailer