Under the Tuscan Sun: Movie & DVD Review (2003)

(Originally published 2003)

In "Unfaithful," Diane Lane played a repressed American housewife brought to sexual release and liberation with the help of a French dealer in rare books. No quiet reading time there, but I think we all learned how well the French can turn the pages.

Now, in "Under the Tuscan Sun," she plays a repressed American divorcee brought to sexual release and liberation by an Italian café owner, who knows, shall we say, a few things about steaming one’s latte.

For me, this clinches it.

Lane's career, which reaches back to 1979's "A Little Romance," in which she played a teenager who flees Paris with her boyfriend with the sole intention of kissing him under Venice's Bridge of Sighs, has become a series of General Foods International Coffee commercials.

Most actresses would sag beneath the schmaltz, but not Lane. Her nervy performance was the main reason to see "Unfaithful," scoring her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and her turn in "Tuscan Sun" confirms what Hollywood realized with Lane’s comeback film, 1999’s “A Walk on the Moon”--she's a gifted actress, one of the best working today.

As directed by Audrey Wells from her own script, "Under the Tuscan Sun" is a romantic fantasy cum dramatic travelogue. Inspired by Frances Mayes' popular book, it’s pure formula, for sure, but in the best sense of the word.

Indeed, in this case, there’s truth to be had in the formula, not to mention a crisp wit, enormously likable stock characters, and gorgeous, postcard-ready views of Tuscany serving as the backdrop. Yes, the movie is slight, but it’s slight by way of Versace.

In the film, Lane is Frances, a recently divorced San Franciscan book reviewer whose closest friends, a lesbian couple expecting their first child, offer her the gift of Tuscany. “It’s a gay tour of Tuscany,” says Patti (Sandra Oh). “Relax. You won’t get hit on.”

And Frances doesn’t, at least not initially. Besides, what she finds in Tuscany is something potentially more valuable--the rewards of impulse shopping.

Drawn to a certain Tuscan villa in need of work, Frances decides to buy it, hoping that rebuilding the house also will rebuild the damage her former husband did to her self-esteem. Hiring a team of horny Polish craftsmen certainly helps and Frances, emboldened if overwhelmed by the task at hand, immerses herself in the remodeling effort, making fast friends along the way while being reminded of an important lesson: beauty attracts kindness.

It also attracts plenty of Italian men, including the smoldering Marcello (Raoul Bovia), who literally sweeps Frances off her feet and into his bed just when she needs it most. But at what cost Marcello? And is a man really what Frances needs?

Those who know the book shouldn’t expect to find it here--the changes are numerous.

However, the changes also are a necessity; without them, audiences would have been left with a poetic discourse in how growing oregano, mastering the preparation of local Tuscan cuisine and repairing a 300-year-old house can help to change your life.

Some of that is retained here for flavor—the poetry of Mayes’ prose, for instance, is delivered in the glorious form of Tuscany itself—but in order to make her film work, Wells needed a dramatic arc. She gives us one in her version of Frances, with Lane’s winning, beautifully measured performance effortlessly stealing our affection and grounding the film’s contrivances along the way.

Grade: B+