In Under the Tuscan Sun, Diane Lane does for romance what she did for adultery in Unfaithful.
She makes every moment of it immediate, inescapable and unforgettable.
Lane is an actress who tempers her powerful emotional performances with intelligence, spirit and sensitivity.
Under the Tuscan Sun, opening in Edmonton today, is based loosely on the best-selling book by Frances Mayes, who told how the lush Italian province of Tuscany enthralled her.
When Mayes bought and renovated an old home in Tuscany, it completely rejuvenated her.
That experience and Mayes's name are all that filmmaker Audrey Wells borrowed when she set out to bring Under the Tuscan Sun to the screen.
Wells created a love story for the fictitious Frances Mayes (Lane), who now becomes a San Francisco professor of literary criticism.
Until a bitter, vengeful author spills the beans, Mayes is blissfully ignorant that her husband is cheating on her. Broken and disillusioned by the divorce, Mayes lets her lesbian friend Patti (Sandra Oh) talk her into taking a "gay'' tour of Tuscany.
No pressure in this one for Frances, who can concentrate on the beautiful scenery, fabulous food and soothing wines.
The tour almost seems to work as Patti promised until Frances sees and buys an old home ripe for renovation, which even Frances can see is a metaphor for her life.
Wells' genius is that she surrounds Frances with a wonderful collection of eccentric, erotic and exotic characters.
There's Marcello (Raoul Bova), the handsome, seductive younger Italian man who finds Frances irresistible.
No stretch here at all, given how sensuous and luminous Lane is.
Then there's Martini (Vincent Riotta), the kind, understanding, much-married real estate agent who finds Frances the house and is equally determined to help her find a new lust for life.
In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the film, Frances breaks down in front of Martini, explaining how empty and purposeless her life seems.
He asks her not to be so sad or he may just have to break his marriage vows and seduce her himself.
It's just one of so many warm, wistfully sweet moments in a move that refuses to apologize for being sentimental, melodramatic and unabashedly romantic.
When Frances becomes an unwilling matchmaker between a shy village girl and a Polish labourer, the movie sparkles with a youthful Romeo and Juliet story that proves to be absolutely essential to the message of the film.
The same is true of the unexpected arrival of a very pregnant Patti at the newly restored villa. Oh is a tremendous comedienne, but she is also a fine dramatic actress who finds both humour and pathos in the situation, which goes a long way to solving both of the women's dilemmas.
And as the British expatriate who thinks she is in a Fellini movie, Lindsay Duncan has three truly memorable and poignant moments.
Under the Tuscan Sun is reminiscent of the classic romantic movies of the 1950s where it was not just allowed but expected that audiences would lose their hearts to the heroine as she attempts to find hers.
(This film is rated PG)
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