Product: Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Rating: 2.0
Book Fans Beware
The imagery in this movie is fantastic (obviously, since it was filmed in Tuscany), however I can't really recommend anything else about it. For some reason the writers of this film strayed so far from the original story as penned by Frances Maye that it is almost a completely different story. Which is sad, by the way, because the true story is so charming and would have been superb on film. Frances Maye's book, Under the Tuscan Sun, is the true story of how she and her husband Ed buy a run-down villa in Tuscany. The book recounts the adventures Frances and Ed have together while remodeling the house. Other than the part about buying a house in Tuscany, there's really not much else in the movie that even comes close to the book. Ed doesn't even appear in the film until literally the last three minutes. Instead of a happily married and successful writer, Maye is portrayed as a depressed divorcee who is only able to come out of her funk after having a one-night stand with a suave Italian named Marcello (what were you people thinking?). And for some strange reason, there's this bizarre homosexual motif that runs through the entire first half-hour of the movie. Why in the world did the writers have Frances discover the villa on a gay romantic tour of Italy, when the real story would have been so much better? I guess my advice to you is read the book, skip the movie. Or better yet, read the book then go and see A Year in Provence, which is much better.