Product: Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Rating: 2.0
This is what it takes to recover from the pain of divorce?
The scenery was beautiful! The parts about the renovation of the villa were both interesting and funny! Diane Lane is luminous in the role of Frances!Okay, now that I have that out of the way, let me tell you what I really think -- this movie was about as deep as a raindrop. It couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a travel log or a two-hankie chick flick.It really goaded me that ''Frances'', in order to recover from the heartbreak of divorce, discerned that the only thing she really needed to do in order to repair the damage to her poor heart was have sex with some guy she barely knew. It wasn't about renovating the villa; it wasn't about making friends with her new neighbors; it wasn't even about being the rock-in-a-storm buddy for her pregnant lesbian friend -- it was MOSTLY about attracting a man long enough to have sex with him. "Yes! Yes! I've still GOT IT!" she announces ecstatically to the picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary that decorates her bed. As if the BVM should be expected to warmly congratulate Frances on her promiscuity.I would have admired "Frances" and the screenwriters if the renovation of the house could have served as a metaphor by taking what was old and crumbling and worn out (Frances' life with her unfaithful ex) and turning it, despite its flaws, into something improved and lovely, with all the cracks and flaws seamlessly plastered into a whole piece again. It was sitting right there, waiting for them. Instead, what we as the viewers got was just another sad little tale about how a woman ain't nothin' if she ain't got herself a man, even if she has friends who love her and an Italian villa to drool over.