Preamble
I'm excited to be home. For two weeks, I've been everywhere but here which has put a huge cramp into my theater-going experience. I had no clue what was even out this week. Once I caught up, my first choice was to see Luther with that hunky Joseph Fiennes. I like period pieces and I dig a hot man with scruff. But you know, I was really in the mood for some romance today and as I perused those types of films, the one that looked like it might have something for me was Under The Tuscan Sun.
I had seen the previews for Under The Tuscan Sun and they looked moderately decent. I love Diane Lane to pieces. She can make any room come alive.
The Story
35 year old Frances (Diane Lane), a writer who lives in a fantastic house in San Francisco, is also married to a fantastic man and together, they lead the perfect life.
Until one day he leaves her for another woman and takes her house. Bastard.
Once her divorce is final, her lesbian friend, Patti (Sandra Oh) gives her a ticket to Italy so that she can take part of a romantic, tour of the country. Although Frances is hesitant to do anything romantic, Patti points out that her tour friends are all gay so she's sure to have a great time.
Frances decides to go and she's in awe of the beauty that surrounds her. While walking the city, she sees an advertisement for real estate and she's drawn to one listing in particular. A larger than life local, Katherine (Lindsay Duncan), urges her to go for it. Frances just looks at her like she's crazy. She boards the bus and the tour continues. Guess where the bus ends up stopping? That's right, in front of the exact villa that she saw the advertisement for. Taking this as a sign, she departs the bus and the tour, and walks in looking for the owner.
Moments later, she has her villa. Signed, sealed, and delivered. Of course, it needs a lot of fixing up and that's where she decides to get some help in the form of some illegal Polish workers (men of course). They help her turn her money pit into something akin to a Martha Stewart layout.
Does Frances ever find the love of her life?
Does Frances stay in Tuscany or does she return to the States?
The Scoop
Just so you know, I never had the opportunity to read the book, so I don't know how close the book and film match each other (in the beginning of the film, they do make it a point to say that the characters have been dramatized and changed in the film).
I was disappointed folks. I thought what I was going to get was a romantic movie, with perhaps, lots of good sex stuff, and maybe I'd shed a few tears. Nope. Sigh.
I hate to do this but I have to put 2/3rds of the blame on the screenplay writer/director, Audrey Wells (The Truth About Cats and Dogs). Audrey, Audrey, Audrey. While I appreciate a paint by numbers type of story, you missed some of the numbers and the colors you used need a little brightness added to their pigment. The first ten minutes of the film clicked with me. And that's good because you need a good foundation to move forward. Diane Lane's world is turned upside down and she needs to go find herself. I liked that. Once she purchased the house though, your focus evaporated. Was the film going to be about her, the Polish workers, the lusty teenagers, the old man down the road, her best friend Patti? Too many sub-plots took away from the "Frances" story. And then, you brought in his fake-fly-by-night Romeo who really cheapened things. Tsk tsk. The last ten minutes of the film, you rushed to wrap everything up in a nice, neat way. It was forced. It was silly. You disappointed me. Sigh.
The other blame goes to casting group - John Brace, Béatrice Kruger, and Linda Lowy. They made some horrible choices including the guy straight out of the Harlequin Romance novels Raoul Bova (he's not really, but if the shoe fits...). Sandra Oh also felt like a miscast. And isn't it convenient to stick in newcomer, David Sutcliffe from the new television series, I'm With Her?
There are two reasons to even see this movie. The first is Diane Lane. I have always had a great love for her because she is one of the few actresses that can light up any screen no matter what the story line, no matter what other actors are around her. Despite the bad direction given to her, she did a good job portraying the woman, looking for that something in her life. With a different director, perhaps she would have found that something :).
The second reason to like this movie is for its beautiful cinematography. Heck, the gorgeous flowers, the billowy fields, the blue water, and the bright skies made me want to hop a plane to Italy. Thank you Geoffrey Simpson :).
The End Under The Tuscan Sun is rated PG-13 for sexual content (not enough in my personal opinion) and a bit of language. While it pains me to just give it three stars, really, that's what it comes out to. If you're a huge fan of Diane's, wait for this to come out on video instead of spending a ton of money at the theater.
DVDS. A woman starts her life over with a new home in a new land in this {\romantic} {\comedy drama} . {%Frances} ({$Diane Lane}) is a writer in her m...More at DeepDiscount.com
Based on the #1 New York Times best-selling book, Under The Tuscan Sun follows San Francisco writer Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) to Italy as a good frie...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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