AT THE MOVIES WITH KASEY BUTCHER
One of my dreams in life is to travel. This can be pretty expensive, however. Luckily, on a blustery day in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I can hop in my car, drive down to the movie theater and travel to Paris, Rome, Geneva, or Tuscany for about two hours with out getting jet lag. I get to see all the beautiful, enchanting parts of the globe with out seeing the dirty and depressing aspects of these parts. For this reason, I love movies that are filmed on location. I think it’s like adding an extra character to the film that adds so much without complicating the plot.
Recently, I traveled to Italy with Diane Lane (Unfaithful) in Under the Tuscan Sun. In the film, Lane plays Frances, a newly divorced and depressed writer / literature critic. She’s living in an apartment building full of other depressed divorcees. Her best friends want her out of the rut she’s stuck in A.S.A.P., so they offer her a ticket for a tour of Tuscany. At first Frances refuses, but one night after listening to the lawyer next door crying, she decides that maybe she does need a little change of pace. Once in Italy, however, Frances comes across a run down villa and buys it after receiving a sign (actually, a bird pooped on her head, but it’s a long story) and deciding that she couldn’t go back “home.” The confused woman finds herself trying to learn Polish while in Italy thanks to the foreign carpenters she hires to help remodel her new home. The house in the beautiful Italian countryside, surrounded by fields of red poppies fails to make Frances happy. She is lonely. It is only after she stops looking so hard for love in her life that she finds it all around her.
On top of loving movies set in foreign countries, I also love movies narrated by writers. It adds a certain aestheticism to the picture that makes a good story beautiful. Where as you or I might describe a grape as purple and sweet, Frances describes it as “the violet sweetness [breaking] open in my mouth. I have never tasted anything so essential in my life as this grape on this morning. It even smells purple.”
The acting in this movie is also a major plus. Lane’s delivery is so natural and easy. It’s delightful. Sandra Oh (Last Night) is very funny as Frances’s best friend, Patty. Raoul Bova (La Finestra di Fronte) isn’t very likable, but he is very (very very) cute so I can forgive him. The ensemble cast of quirky characters is both comical and endearing.
Cinematography-wise, this movie is lovely. It’s extraordinary to see the dingy, decrepit house turn into little less than a grand chateau. The use of light and color brings this transformation to life in an impressive way.
In short, a touching story, good acting, some cute Italian boys, and beautiful cinematography made this trip Under the Tuscan Sun a delight.
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