Golden Door

Golden Door is set in Sicily at the start of the twentieth century, where Salvatore Mancuso, a widowed farmer, decides to sell everything he owns and take his children and elderly mother to America. A postcard promising a land of plenty convinces him to make the crossing. On the voyage he meets Lucy Reed, a British woman travelling to the United States who wants to marry before she arrives. Salvatore agrees, and the family's fate comes down to the inspections at Ellis Island, where officials decide who may enter the country and who must return.

Emanuele Crialese wrote and directed the film, an Italian and French co-production. It followed his earlier features and preceded L'immensità. Vincenzo Amato plays Salvatore, with Charlotte Gainsbourg as Lucy, Aurora Quattrocchi as his mother Fortunata, and Francesco Casisa, Filippo Pucillo and Vincent Schiavelli among the credited cast of thirty-seven.

Made for about ten million dollars, the film returned roughly seven million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 6.8 rating from around 5,300 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.5 from about 150 votes. A critics' rating of 6.9 from eighty-four reviews places it close to the audience score. The story contrasts the family's old beliefs with the bureaucracy of the new world.