Product: Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Rating: 5.0
Expressive Movie, Memorable Acting and A+ Bonuses
I adore all things Italian and I admire the work of Diane Lane, so it was pretty much a done deal that I would also enjoy this movie.I saw it when it hit the theaters and enjoyed its peaceful, serene, "writer-ly" tone. I enjoyed witnessing the changes within Frances as she goes from "Respected Reviewer, College Professor" to "Camp Divorce Camper" to "Tourist" to "Doing Something Completely Insane Simply Because There is Nothing Left to Do" to "Re-focusing" to "Loving Community Member, Whole and Ready."I enjoyed the montage of characters echoing the montage of Tuscany in backgrounds, in people, in food -Yet the second time around, via DVD at home, ohhhhhh - even more magnificent.I don't think there is a single poor performance among any of the actors. So many fresh faces (to me, because so many cast members are Italian) so much emotion, fire, passion.I watched the movie and then watched it with the commentary of Audrey Wells, the Writer/Director. She adapted Frances Mayes memoir beautifully - it met with Frances Mayes' approval - not only that, I felt like Wells was an artist wanting to tell a multi-layered, richly textured story.Subtleties, too, such as the lighting changing in the Villa from darker to lighter throughout the film, to one of the supporting characters actually being named Chiara (the very name taken from "chiarascuoro" - a painting technique involving moving from the darkness to the light.The deleted scenes were treasures, too - so glad they were on the DVD as well.I adore this film - the scenery delights, the variety of characters and languages. The interwoven bits of wisdom from Federico Fellini, all beautifully choreographed into a film I know I will watch over and over and over again.