Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Audrey Wells

Writers (WGA):

Frances Mayes (book)
Audrey Wells (screen story)

Release Date:

26 September 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The Only Thing More Surprising Than The Chance She's Taking...Is Where It's Taking Her

Plot:

While on vacation, a just-divorced writer buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim, hoping it will be the start of a change for the better in her life.

Plot Keywords:

Love At First Sight | Tourist | Market | Virgin Mary | Teen Romance

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. Oct. 16	9:00 PM	LIFE
Fri. Oct. 17	2:00 PM	LIFE

Cast

Diane Lane	...	Frances
Sandra Oh	...	Patti
Lindsay Duncan	...	Katherine
Raoul Bova	...	Marcello
Vincent Riotta	...	Martini
Mario Monicelli	...	Old Man with Flowers
Roberto Nobile	...	Placido
Anita Zagaria	...	Fiorella
Evelina Gori	...	Nona Cardinale
Giulia Steigerwalt	...	Chiara
Pawel Szajda	...	Pawel
Valentine Pelka	...	Jerzy
Sasa Vulicevic	...	Zbignew
Massimo Sarchielli	...	Nino
Claudia Gerini	...	Signora Raguzzi

Also Known As:

Sotto il sole della Toscana (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA | Italy

Language:

English | Italian | Polish | French | Spanish | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | South Korea:15 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:o.Al. | Italy:T | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | Sweden:Btl | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40079)

Filming Locations:

Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Company:

Blue Gardenia Productions

Trivia:

In the scene when Frances is talking to her divorce lawyer, the camera stays on Frances and we never see the lawyer. The script originally called for a longer scene with coverage of both Frances and the lawyer. Jeffery Tambor, the actor who played the lawyer, was so impressed by Diane Lane's performance that he insisted to Audrey Wells that the scene would have more emotional impact if his character remained unseen. However, the R2 DVD cut of the film shows the scene in its entirety, including camera cuts between Tambor and Lane.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Frances meets Marcello, she is being pursued by a group of men. As she runs around a corner, her boots are visible underneath her dress and they are medium brown or tan. Later on that same day, when Frances and Marcello start making love in the antiques store, her boots are black.

Quotes:

Frances: [in voiceover] Every day I watch for the old man with the flowers, and I wonder, was he born here? Did he love someone here? Did he lose someone here? He doesn't seem as curious about me, but that's all right. These days I'm something of a loner myself.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fear of Clowns (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night in the Week)

Diane Lane is Brighter Than the Tuscan Sun

"Under the Tuscan Sun" is a polarizing film that seems to leave viewers (and critics) either in love with a story of growth and renewal or dismissive of its line. I'm firmly in the former camp.

Based so loosely on Frances Mayes's own account of her regeneration in beautiful Italy as to carry an end credit pronouncing that substantial fictionalization replaced key true details, writer and director Audrey Wells crafted a stunning vehicle for Diane Lane whose radiance projects from the screen powerfully. And in every scene.

Diane Lane, as the changed-from-the-memoir Frances, abandons San Francisco after her never shown cad husband divorces her, getting the house she once loved. Frances is a writer and literary critic. Why does she leave S.F.? Two of her closest friends give her a ticket for a gay bus tour of Italy and she jumps off the bus to look into a ramshackle old country house up for sale. Impetuosity? Definitely. Believable? Yes, actually.

Frances' new house isn't a handyman's special, it's a contractor's assurance of food on the table for a very long time. Frances adapts to the house and the locals with remarkable aplomb. Tuscany is sunny but its light fades before Frances's challenged but resilient commitment to not just restore a house but to create a home. The two aren't the same. I'm not sure how many male directors could so well create that reality.

Director Wells tells the story from a woman's heart but with a breadth of humor and drama that should appeal to anyone who wants to believe, or needs to hope, that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel of marital infidelity and dissolution.

Supporting Diane Lane is Sandra Oh as Patti, her closest friend. In relatively short scenes, Ms. Oh displays a lively and laconic grasp not only of her friend's life but also of her own which is not, as they say today, devoid of "issues."

Lindsay Duncan is Katharine, an older woman determined to hold on to her now fading attractiveness through a blend of humor, earthiness - and alcohol. Her character may be predictable but she's also fun.

Raoul Bova has garnered some press attention as handsome Marcello, the romantically available and affluent Italian. That's a character we've seen in many, many films and Bova delivers an expectedly satisfactory but hardly deep performance.

Yes, Diane Lane is beautiful but there is much more to her acting than a shining appearance. Her facial gestures, mirroring her emotions as they shift from moment to moment, are the product of extraordinary acting ability. And her character draws a powerful portrayal.

Credit also must go to cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson. Perhaps it would be impossible for a blind camera director to turn in anything but a gorgeous visage of rural and urban Italy but Simpson did do a marvelous job of making the locales come alive.

This is a film for adults, for people who can understand pain and the search for recovery and understand the difficulty of coming back from a space that once offered the mirage of safety and security.

I loved this film.

9/10.