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UP AT THE VILLA Send This Review to a Friend
Sean Penn as the mysterious reputed womanizer Rowley Flint and Kristin Scott Thomas as the vulnerable Mary Panton never get to sleep with each other before "Up at the Villa" ends, but the electricity between them makes them sizzling would-be lovers. And who knows what will happen to Rowley and Mary when the lights have gone on and the audience goes home? The minute we see their eyes meet and the camera moves in for respective close-ups, anything looks possible. All this is by way of saying that Penn is sexy and provocative in this change-of-pace role, and Scott Thomas, looking more beautiful than ever facing her perpetual suitor, the camera, gives a stunning, wide-ranging dramatic performance.
The stars are in the expert hands of director Philip Haas and screenwriter Belinda Haas in their film based on a novella by W. Somerset Maugham. The story has been intelligently fleshed out with a tense, historically logical background of fascism in Italy in 1938 on the eve of World War II, the backdrop against which a tale of romance, violence and a woman's choices plays out in grand style. The scene is Florence, where there was a strong concentration of English ex-patriots. The Tuscany settings themselves are so glorious as to make one race to the nearest travel agent and make a booking. The look of the film, with the photography directed by Maurizio Calvesi, is an added reason for seeing "Up at the Villa." Not that you need more reasons with this engrossing story and collection of fine performances.
Mary, who is broke after being widowed following a turbulent marriage, is guest at a knockout of a villa. Sir Edgar Swift, played with reserve and correctness by James Fox, wants to marry her and take her away to India where he is to govern Bengal. She doesn't love him, but the prospect of a financially and socially secure marriage to an older man devoted to her is tempting. Certainly that's the advice of Princess San Ferdinando, a showy role for Anne Bancroft, who makes the princess funny, gossipy, worldly, yet nursing emptiness masked by her witty veneer. There is one scene in which the mask comes off tellingly if ever so briefly. Bancroft certainly merits a best supporting actress nomination.
The minute Rowley enters the scene Mary's willingness to settle comes under challenge although she is loathe to admit it, even to herself. The casting of Penn is an inspired choice. His work here suggests that he would also make a great Gatsby. An event that develops with a poor, troubled Austrian refugee, played to perfection by Jeremy Davies, who triggers Mary's sympathy, changes everything for her in an entirely unexpected and tragic way. There is a fine incidental performance by Derek Jacobi, foppishly convivial, as one of the expatriate hangers-on, and a properly menacing portrayal of a fascist official by Massimo Ghini.
The writing is smart, the direction stylish. Mr. and Mrs. Haas collaborated in "Angels and Insects" and "The Music of Chance," among other works. Their "Up at the Villa" is a film overflowing with atmosphere and tension, alleviated by occasional humor, and it offers an auspicious occasion for watching charismatic stars at their best in roles that respect our intelligence. A U.S.A. Films release.
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