By: debbie lynn elias
Successful San Francisco book critic and writer, Frances Mayes, finds her world spinning out of control and going from good to bad to worse. Her husband is having an affair, giving way to a nasty divorce. Critics are criticizing her critiques. Life just isn’t worth living. Taking it upon themselves to turn Frances’ life around, her concerned friends give her an attitude adjustment in the form of a 10-day vacation to Tuscany, Italy. (Note to my friends and publishers – I’ll settle for 5 days.) Okay, so it’s with a tour group that happens to be gay. (Unfortunately the Fab Five missed this bus!) While touring around the Tuscan countryside, Frances falls in love with a dilapidated villa called Bramasole. Viewing the villa as having an almost cathartic value as a rebirth for her, Frances gets off the bus and doesn’t get back on, buying the villa and setting out to restore both the villa and her life.
Touchstone Pictures
Immersing herself in the Tuscan lifestyle and culture, it seems that Frances meets and greets everyone in the entire Italian countryside, creating a very eclectic group of friends, including an Italian entrepreneur with whom she finds herself becoming romantically involved.
Written by Audrey Wells, who does double duty as director, “Tuscan Sun” strays (or shall we cut to the chase and say, runs) from the original Mayes novel, “Under the Tuscan Sun” At Home In Italy”, as great literary license is taken to embellish the Mayes character, the people she meets and the adventures she has. While there was a need to add some “life” to the printed word version of our heroine in order to make her appealing on the big screen, Wells went overboard to such a degree that much of the film feels as if Wells is trying to direct herself out of a hole that was dug too deep in order to explain the often unnecessary added extras. Not content to leave well enough alone with Frances’ own personal post-divorce turmoil (which is an added wrinkle not in the book) , the story gets further bogged down with the melodramatic events of those around Frances, which, of course, she gets dragged into.
On the up side, while Wells could have left this film as a visually stimulating travelogue of the Tuscan countryside, she didn’t. In the capable hands of cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson, best known for excellence in films like “Shine”, “Little Women” and “Fried Green Tomatoes” (we’ll forgive him for “Glitter”), the beauty of Italy is even moreso and more romanticized, guaranteed to elicit wistful sighs and gasps at some of the breathtaking scenery. Not to be missed is an homage to the Trevi Fountain scene from Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita.
Thanks to production designer, Stephen McCabe, Bramasole takes on a life of its own becoming as much of a character if not moreso, than the individual characters. Interestingly, Bramasole is, in fact, so old and run-down that the second floor had to be supported by steel posts which precluded shooting upstairs and downstairs scenes in the same day.
Some of the liberal story embellishment, however, does work well, adding some much needed humor and warmth to the plot and the characters, especially in the relationship between Mayes and her Polish work crew. Language barriers always have and always will provide fuel for comedy and here, are a bright spot amidst some of the more convoluted and melodramatic moments.
Relegated to the background in supporting roles for much of her career, Diane Lane now finds herself thrust to the forefront as a leading lady thanks to her Oscar nominated performance last year as the adulterous wife in Adrian Lyne’s “Unfaithful”. Although she may have the potential to carry such a moniker, and while she exhibits the basic talent for same here, we never see her performance as Frances reach leading lady caliber, due in large part to the character-laden storyline and the time taken by Wells to explain the extra baggage. Lane is, nevertheless, tanned, beautiful and sparkling and follows the emotional journey of Frances from lonely and depressed to vibrant, in love and full of life with a comfortable eloquence.
Adding to the beautiful scenery are the beautiful people cast in the film. Italian superstar Raoul Bova as Marcello, not only satisfies the romantic ideal of Frances, but fills the bill for the fantasies of every woman in the audience. Meanwhile, Vincent Riotta in the small role of realtor Senor Martini, adds a depth and sincerity to a character that could have been relegated to the background but thanks to Riotta, becomes one of significance in the development of Frances and the overall tone of the film.
Okay. No question about it. This is a chick flick. There’s romance. There are tears. There are broken hearts. There are mended hearts. There are beautiful people. There are exquisitely beautiful settings in Tuscany, Florence and Rome. And despite its scripted flaws, “Under the Tuscan Sun” is the fairy tale that speaks to the hopeful romantic in us all.
Diane Lane: Frances Mayes
Raoul Bova: Marcello
Sandra Oh: Patti
Vincent Riotta: Senor Martini
Written and directed by Audrey Wells based on a book by Frances Mayes. Touchstone Pictures. Rated PG-13. (113 min.)
