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UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN Send This Review to a Friend
Any film that has Diane Lane, the scenery of Tuscany and a side trip along the Amalfi Drive to Positano can't be all bad. "Under the Tuscan Sun," written and directed by Audrey Wells based on Frances Mayes's book, is a tale of emotional recovery that includes the remodeling of a villa and a brief but hot affair with a handsome Italian named Marcello. But there are enough side plots for a few other movies and Lane has much to overcome.
The launching pad for the trip to Italy by Frances (Lane), an author and book reviewer, is her divorce after discovering that her husband is in love with a younger woman. Community property law takes its toll on her, but when he buys out her share of their house with the money of his new love, Frances has the wherewithal to do something for herself. Her lesbian girlfriend Patti (Sandra Oh) gives her a ticket for a gay tour to Italy, and on route she spots a run-down villa with which she falls in love and in a rash moment decides to buy it and do the required renovations. Her life also requires renovation and her new surroundings set her on course.
The picture becomes corny as she has to deal with Polish contractors, help a young couple who want to marry against family wishes and assist her lesbian friend, now pregnant but having been abandoned by her lesbian companion after their commitment to become parents. She also befriends Lindsay Duncan as the flamboyant, aging Katherine, who was once discovered by Fellini and dresses and acts as if she were Anita Ekberg in "La Dolce Vita."
Raoul Bova plays the handsome Italian hunk with whom Frances sleeps to break her sexual and romantic starvation, but when she cancels a date when Patti arrives, Marcello quickly roves elsewhere and Frances berates herself. Diane Lane is delightful to watch as she does what she can with her appealing acting to rescue the film from its excesses and cliches. But "Under the Tuscan Sun," while dispensing some pleasure, wilts in the story department. A Touchstone Pictures release.
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