Review: Francesco Rosi's 1967 'More Than a Miracle' starring Sophia Loren and Omar Sharif

Sophia Loren and Omar Sharif give extraordinary performances during the prime of their careers in Francesco Rosi’s “C’era una volta” (“More than a Miracle”). A delightful, whimsical film that transports you to another time, this enchanting 1967 period piece tells the tale of Rodrigo (Sharif), a Spanish prince initially opposed to marriage, and Isabella (Loren), the beautiful, defiant peasant girl who wins his heart.

The film opens with Rodrigo attempting to tame a wild horse as his mother chides him for not taming a wife instead. When she relays orders from the king of Spain for him to marry, he mounts his unruly steed and gallops away, proudly displaying his independent spirit. Horse and supposed master run free through the countryside for a stretch, but the equally rebellious animal throws Rodrigo and abandons in a field, leaving him to fend for himself. 

While searching for help, he finds himself in a remote monastery where he meets a flying monk (Yes, the monk actually flies.) who informs him that he will marry a woman who matches his “impossible character.” The monk gives him a bag of flour, setting him on a quest to find a woman who will make him seven dumplings and predicting that the prince would marry her only if he didn’t eat all seven of them.

Later, he spots his horse in the possession of Isabella, who is harvesting vegetables in the field. He accuses her of stealing his horses and she levels the same accusation at him. Captivated by her beauty and feisty personality as they tussle over ownership of the animal, he later gives her the bag of flour and asks that she make seven dumplings for him. She does, but eats one and when he informs her that he’ll die without the seventh dumpling and feigns death, she calls upon her neighbors to bury him. Worried about the prince, she goes looking for him, only to encounter a coven of witches who offer her conflicting spells and the plot continues to unspool from there.

When we are introduced to Isabella, we recognize the elements of independence and rebellion that we saw in Rodrigo during the opening scene of the film when he flees his mother’s orders. This is the common ground that connects them, and it forms a bond that neither can deny. However, it will take many more trials until the two can be together.

The film was produced by Loren’s husband, the prolific producer Carlo Ponti. It was filmed on location in the south of Italy in the countryside surrounding Gravina di Puglia and on the plain of Tavoliere delle Puglie, with additional scenes shot in Matera. American celebrity photographer Milton Green was invited to the set with his wife and children. There, he took several iconic photos of Loren.

The film’s scenes are beautifully shot with stunning views, vibrant colors, detailed costumes and beloved actors. Rosi intentionally crafted the film with folkloric and realistic elements, further combining the imagination of fairytales with the bite of satire and the dynamics of a classic American Western. In a 1967 review for the publication Il Popolo, Italian film critic Paolo Valmarana wrote of the film, “It is not only the fairytale and ethnological tradition that constitutes the film’s starting point, but also the secular and never entirely rehabilitated human condition of the disinherited and the afflicted.” He went on to write of the director, “For Rosi, the fairytale becomes a realistic observation. He gladly abandons his two protagonists to talk about common people, filling the screen with hundreds of faces, all gaunt and marked by poverty.”

The film’s triumphant, feel-good ending brings the story full circle, and although the story has a strong element of fantasy, the characters undergo a tremendous amount of personal growth throughout the span of the film. “More than a Miracle” is one of those timeless films the whole family can enjoy. Click here to stream on is Amazon Prime Video. It is also available on Apple TV.

- Written by Jeannine Guilyard for the October, 2024 issue of Fra Noi. Click here to subscribe.