Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
"An enchanted village. A wonderful friendship. Star-crossed lovers. And the magic of the movies."
Cinema Paradiso - Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
Whatever you end up doing, love it. The way you loved the projection booth when you were a little squirt.
— Alfredo
Context:
Alfredo gives this advice to Salvatore as he is growing up, recognizing the boy's deep-seated love for film and wanting to ensure he carries that passion into his adult life and career.
Meaning:
This quote encapsulates Alfredo's core advice to Salvatore. It's a simple yet profound message about the importance of passion in one's life and work. It connects Salvatore's future success to the pure, unadulterated love he had for cinema as a child, urging him never to lose that fundamental passion.
Life isn't like in the movies. Life... is much harder.
— Alfredo
Context:
Spoken to a teenaged Salvatore, this line is Alfredo's attempt to ground the boy's romantic worldview. Totò asks if a famous actor said the line, but Alfredo claims it as his own, emphasizing it as a piece of hard-won, personal wisdom.
Meaning:
This is a pivotal moment of realism from Alfredo, contrasting the idealized narratives on screen with the complexities and hardships of reality. It's a crucial lesson for Salvatore, who has learned about the world primarily through films. Alfredo is preparing him for the disappointments and difficulties that lie outside the cinema's darkness.
Don't come back. Don't think about us. Don't look back. Don't write. Don't give in to nostalgia. Forget us all.
— Alfredo
Context:
Alfredo says this to Salvatore at the train station as Salvatore is leaving Giancaldo for good after completing his military service. It's a tearful, powerful farewell that defines the next 30 years of Salvatore's life.
Meaning:
This is Alfredo's painful but necessary command to Salvatore as he leaves for Rome. He understands that for Salvatore to truly succeed, he must make a clean break from the past. Nostalgia, in Alfredo's view, is a trap that will prevent him from fully embracing his future. It is the ultimate sacrifice of their friendship for the sake of Salvatore's dream.
Once upon a time, a king gave a feast... A soldier, who was standing guard, saw the king's daughter... he immediately fell in love with her... she said to the soldier: 'If you can wait 100 days and 100 nights under my balcony, then at the end of it, I shall be yours.'... And on the 99th night, the soldier stood up, took his chair, and went away.
— Alfredo
Context:
Alfredo tells this story to a teenage Salvatore who is pining for Elena, waiting for her to acknowledge him. The story is a complex piece of advice about the nature of love and waiting.
Meaning:
This story, told by Alfredo, is an allegory for love, sacrifice, and perhaps the fear of ultimate disappointment. Its ambiguous meaning has been widely debated: did the soldier leave to save the princess from having to keep her promise, or did he leave because he feared that after 100 days of devotion, the reality of being with her could never live up to the dream? It's a parable that haunts Salvatore's own love story.