Up at the Villa

Pros: Thomas, Bancroft, Fox, Jacobi, Penn
Cons: A bit cold for my tastes

(This is an entry in the sleeper54 Rewrite Write-off. I originally wrote this article in June 2000. The original, which met with very mixed reviews, has been deleted in favor of this overhaul. Thanks to all who read and rated previously.)

"Up...

Pros: Great actors, great costumes, and Tusan settings
Cons: Takes a while to get going

Based on a minor short novel by W. Somerset Maugham, "Up at the Villa," is a very sumptuous portrait of expatriates in Tuscany during the late 1930s, a film visually very much in the Merchant-Ivory tradition, and concerned as many of theirs...

Pros: Sophisticated romantic performances by Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn. Marvelous period setting.
Cons: May be seen as just "a movie taken from the book of a forgotten author.

"The nature of what we call romance today," was Director Philip Haase's answer when, at Q & A following an SF Film Festival screening, I asked him to expand on his opening remark about trying to find the point in a modern adaptation of this...

Pros: excellent cast, beautiful lush scenery and settings, a chilling story
Cons: won't make it to the big screen in too many cities

Another pleasant surprise at our local art theatre!! We go there often for diversion, since we can go cheaply as members of the Columbia Film Society, and they offer a variety of films we'll never get to see on the big screen otherwise. Sadly, films...

Pros: Kristen Scott Thomas & Jeremy Davies
Cons: boring first 1/2 hour, miscast Penn

Based on a novella by W. Somerset Maugham, the new film “Up at the Villa” starts out like any other rolling-hills, Hallmark-hall-of-fame, costume movie. There’s a cheerfully vulgar matriarch (Anne Bancroft) who butts into everyone’s business, a penniless...

Pros: Plays out like an nice old-fashioned movie
Cons: Nothing overly exciting

Situated in pre-World War II Italy, some British aristocrats try to live their lives by pretending that hostilities around them aren’t escalating into war. They insist on acting very properly and oh so very British, no matter what is happening.
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Pros: Masterful Looking
Cons: Hurt by Ridculous Pacing and Some Poor Performances

Sometimes there are those films that are so frumpy and dislocated from interest at the very beginning that it is hard to forgive it for the rest of the film. So often costume dramas use the façade of the genre to make them seem important. While...

Pros: cinematography
Cons: plot, story, doesn't expound enough on what it should and spends too much time expounding on things that it shouldnt

Up At The Villa stars Kristen Scott Thomas, Sean Penn, Jeremy Davies and Anne Bancroft in a mundane film set in 1930’s Florence, Italy. The film tells the story of Mary, recently widowed and penniless, floating about the highest of high society and...

Pros: Some interesting performances...
Cons: ...not including that of Kristin Scott Thomas.

In Philip Haas' adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novella, Up at the Villa is where young English widow Mary Panton (Kristin Scott Thomas) gets herself into a little bit of big trouble while on an extended holiday in pre-WWII Florence, Italy....

Pros: Setting was about it
Cons: Ummm...just about everything in the movie sucked

Im not big on Independant Movies. I have a hard time trying to understand the meanings of the storyline. Well this one proved to be the reason why I prefer a blockbuster type movie.
Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, The movie really made...

Pros: cinematography, fine performances, great clothes
Cons: dull, no spark among actors

The weekend UP AT THE VILLA opened, at least 50% of the moviegoing public decided to visit ancient Rome, opting to see GLADIATOR. A few, I'm told unfortunate, souls went to see a rare sight — an actress over 40 cast as something other than a dowager or a...

Pros: Sean Penn and Anne Bancroft entertain
Cons: Kristin Scott Thomas is vapid and unsympathetic

If you weren't besotted by the beauty of Italy in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," this screen adaptation of a novella by W. Somerset Maugham should send you directly to your travel agent for tickets. The story, however, doesn't live up to its...

Pros: wonderful acting
Cons: none

Sean Penn has always been a terrific actor but how did he grow up so fast? He is charming and sophisticated in his role as Rowley, a bit of an American scoundrel, but you love him anyway. Anne Bancroft as Princess has some wonderful lines. She is quite...

Pros: A different slice of life, good cast
Cons: Rather slow paced, nothing compelling about this story.

Straight up. This movie is a toss up.

I would recommend it to those who like stories slightly off the beaten path. Those who like movies like Washington Square or Pride and Prejudice might appreciate this movie. Save "Up at the Villa" for...

Pros: set in beautiful Italy
Cons: dull, no chemistry between actors

I was thoroughly disappointed by this movie, as the trailers looked so promising. I was expecting a romantic picture set in the turbulent political climate of Mussolini's Italy. Instead, this turbulent time was barely touched on, instead focusing...