What's new
Coming attractions: month-by-month Australian release dates, links to our reviews and official sites
Like us on facebook
Contents of Festivale Bookroom and Technology Bytes, Pictorial Guide to Melbourne and Victoria.
See also:
Must Love Dogs
A Reel Life film section
Summer 2004
Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) movie review
New Life in the Old World
Writer and reviewer Frances is blind-sided by a writer to whom she gave a poor review. His revelation that her husband is unfaithful propels her into a new life -- at first, warehoused in a building of furnished apartments for divorcees and then, renovating and living in a small Tuscan villa and becoming involved in the lives of her neighbours and renovators.
Under the Tuscan Sun, narrated by Frances, is a story of regrowth. Frances begins her story shocked by an unfaithful husband who ends up with the house and asks for alimony. She is stunned into a withdrawn life punctuated by the crying of the man in the next apartment, but enlightened by the concern of lesbian friends Patti and Grace (Sandra Oh and Kate Walsh).
Movie poster, Under the Tuscan Sun
The Only Thing More Surprising Than The Chance She's Taking...Is Where It's Taking Her
When they send her on a gay trip through Tuscany, Frances' friends cannot expect that they will receive a phone call telling them that she has bought a slightly decrepit villa and plans to do it up.
For Frances the writer, her new home offers insights into the lives of those around her -- the Polish workmen, the olive farmers who teach her to harvest the fruit, Placido the estate agent, and Katherine (Lindsay Duncan), once an actress for Fellini who lives her life as fully as possible.
This film is a glimpse into lives other than Frances', which gives it added depth. We follow Frances in her first tentative steps back into a love life, just as we watch the first blossoming of the love between the farmer's daughter and the young Polish labourer.
Under the Tuscan Sun is delightful and heartwarming, a promise that recovery is a matter of stepping back into life, and that there is richness waiting for those who are generous enough to share their lives, and in the lives of others. Recommended.
|
Like us on facebook  |
by Ali Kayn |
Just the facts:Title: Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) The Players: Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Duncan, Official website: IMDb entry For session times of current films, use the cinema listings on the Movie links page. For scheduled release dates, see the coming attractions section. For more information about this movie, check out the internet movie database. |
Published in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 
Filed: 1-Feb-2004 