Die Qual der Liebe

The writer and Director of this film was Gianni Da Canpos who attempted to create International controversy and perhaps garner an award or two with this effort. The movie is called " The Flavor of Corn. " However after viewing his film, I got the distinct impression I was watching the death of a slow drama in the throes of it's last gasp. The film appears to be telling the story of A young pedagogue (Lorenzo Lena) in his first year at school. There, he meets a young boy named Duilio (Marco Mestriner) who finds the companionship of the arriving teacher intriguing and alluring. Although the Teacher is happy with the attention of his handsome student, he is much more interested with a divorced woman with rather loose morals. Interestingly enough the boy's family is taken in with the interesting teacher and smother him with hospitality and kindness. The relationship with the boy, although seemingly innocent, attempts to give the impression there is something going on between them. However, the majority of the film proves the opposite, idyllic, scenic and far too ambivalent for a romantic love-story. There is nothing in this movie which garners controversy, not even the blatant used of standard lovemaking between men and women. I suppose the director tried to reprise the role offered in the movie 'For a Lost Soldier' and failed miserably. There is nothing in the movie which can in it's most extreme be considered a man/boy film. Far from it. It's a film destined to be shelved and considered a waste of time. A poor excuse of so many other Classic films. **

This is a beautiful movie, very sentimental with beautiful music. The love-making scene of Lorenzo and his girlfriend looked so real. Lorenzo left his yound student thinking that their relationship would never develop into a serious one because of age difference. In real life there are situations like this that two people fall in love and have to painfully tear apart because of age gap.

A beautifully acted and directed love story, pure and simple, and very complicated at the same time: a twelve-year-old boy grows to love a young and very handsome (and masculine-looking )teacher.Mind you, it is not a fickle falling in love - easy to come, easy to go - but a deep and amazingly mature feeling.Of course, any boy dreams of a hero in the shape of an older brother or friend (just remember, what Sigmund Freud said about juvenile sexuality),but in the film it is deeper, more meaningful.Both, the teacher and student are very well aware of the nature of their relationship.It is the younger one, who is not ashamed or embarrassed of his love,and it is the older one, who runs away, possibly, from the biggest love in his life. My heart-felt compliments to the makers of this beautiful and sad film.The rare nowadays sense of tact and measure has never left them. It is a pity, there is no information about the careers and lives of the films' leading actors in the recent years.

My guess is that this movie is going to evoke different feelings in different people. I felt disappointed- not of the movie – I like it a lot, but of the way the leading character (a first year teachers) choose to follow – I almost screamed " how dare you " – even trough I know that some people would say that he did the right thing. The scenes were filmed very professionally – the river, the barn, the fields – you just have to see it for yourself. There is one thing that I find strange – the open minded people that live in the rural Italy in the 80s – this is almost unbelievable - for its time I am sure that this movie was considered very controversial – I won't be surprised if it is considered controversial even today . Feeling such as friendship and love are portrayed very good and there is a lot of romance – even trough sometimes it gets between all that clusters of the routine live. Trough I enjoyed the movie – it made me sad – it did not surprised me much , as I know that there is rarely a thing which one could consider perfect – even if thing is called love – and probably especially if that thing is love. I can only hope that someday people will realise that the important thing is the love itself

'The flavor of corn' is a film about friendship and love between a young boy and his teacher. Italy in '80, before pedophile hysteria' which would come after from USA, was a normal country where things like that can happen. Often parents happily welcomed a true friendship like that, well aware of natural attraction from a boy to a man, a model and example to follow, with all the affective implications that accompany such relationships. This is not a good movie, and the director' amateurism is evident, but it is a courageous movie. And this is not a small matter. Remarkable is the contrast between the instinct of the boy and the 'neurosis' of his teacher. The real problem for him is not the boy courtship, but the feelings of his own homosexuality.