Film Reviews

Under The Tuscan Sun

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Diane Lane
• Details: US / 115 mins / (15PG).

An excellent actress, Diane Lane is sold a little short in this forcible adaptation of Frances Mayes's bestselling memoir, which has been downgraded into a one-size-fits-all chick flick with little bite. Lane plays Frances, a freshly divorced wife who is finding it difficult to come to terms with the breakdown of her marriage. Egged on by her friend, Patti (Sandra Oh), our girl goes to Italy in the company of a group of gay men. It's there, under, ahem, the Tuscan sun that she spies a romantic, albeit rundown, villa and purchases it on a whim. Of course, she's no idea what she's letting herself in for and her quaint neighbours (rough translation: walking cliches) aren't exactly prepared for her. And will she ever find love again? Well, what do you think? Really.

A Hollywood glamour code of a movie, Under The Tuscan Sun takes its intriguing literary travelogue premise and ravages it with unnecessary sentiment and handy plot devices. Any sense of real drama is lost almost as soon as the central premise is established, and though the sheer force of Lane's ability occasionally threatens to rescue the movie, it soon becomes clear that there's little anyone could do with the material that's been churned out here. Cranking up the melodrama and romantic stereotypes, there's no sense of real drama and even Lane ends up discarded. Still, the Italian countryside has rarely looked as splendid.

Review by Garreth Murphy