In the Back Row

with Allison McKinley © 2003

Film: Under the Tuscan Sun
(Touchstone Pictures, Buena Vista Distributing)

Allison's review in ten words or less: Un-Movie of the Year.

It was with great expectations that I went to see Under the Tuscan Sun, and with even greater disappointment that I left the cinema with nothing more to show for it than sticky shoes and popcorn crumbs in my pocket. As soon as I sat down to write this review, a scene from Lewis Carroll's "Through The Looking Glass" came to mind.

'They gave it me,' Humpty Dumpty continued thoughtfully, as he crossed one knee over the other and clasped his hands round it, 'they gave it me -- for an un-birthday present.'

'I beg your pardon?' Alice said with a puzzled air.

'I'm not offended,' said Humpty Dumpty.

'I mean, what is an un-birthday present?'

'A present given when it isn't your birthday, of course.'

If I had considered the first two and last two letters of the title, I should have expected Under the Tuscan Sun to be the un-movie of the decade. It very nearly is. Though it continues to do reasonably well at the American box office against stiff Oscar-season competition (coming in ninth again last week, earning over $7 million), fueled solely by the acting performance of Diane Lane I would suspect, this movie could have been so much more.

With the supporting talents of Sandra Oh and Scotland-born Lindsay Duncan, direction by Audrey Wells, a screenplay based upon Francis Mayes' novel, and resplendent Italian hunk Raoul Bova, we apparently have the proper ingredients for the chick-flick entree of all time. But we don't. We end up with a low-calorie side dish that wouldn't get a nibble at a Weight-Watchers' convention.

From the beginning, Under the Tuscan Sun moved with the nervous pace of the newly-divorced Frances, keeping the viewer as distant as she would have kept her greasy ex-husband (had he been in the movie). Even in the love scene with her gorgeous new Italian man, the camera angle is low and shot through furniture. This technique can be exciting when used properly, but under Wells' direction was more like trying to see your dinner date through an over-large centerpiece on your restaurant table.

I'm sure that I am not alone in comparing Under the Tuscan Sun to another un-movie in which Diane Lane appeared only last year, Unfaithful (co-starring Richard Gere). Her shining performance earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She deserved to win. In Unfaithful, you could watch Ms. Lane with the sound turned off and still sense every nuance of her joy, lust, guilt, sorrow, hunger, anger, delight and self-loathing as these emotions dance across her charming face, while she both enjoys and hates her illicit affair. It would have been nice if we had been given just one chance to get to know Frances Mayes as well.

If we are to believe the story as told by director Audrey Wells, this is the life of Frances Mayes: Her husband divorces her and, since this is California where they had no-fault divorces long before they had no-fault automobile insurance--and even though he cheated on her--he wants to keep the house and collect alimony. Frances has two gay girlfriends who suddenly discover that they are going to have a baby (?), so they give her their tickets to a tour of the Italian countryside. Against her better judgment, she goes on the excursion where the touring gays, depicted as mindlessly happy schoolchildren, help to uplift her sagging spirits. On a whim, Frances buys a ramshackle villa, interviews local contractors, greets her pregnant friend (Sandra Oh) when she shows up again, meets a local aging Diva, has sex with a wonderful man, makes a wish, gets her wish, and finds a sort of limited happiness in her new life. Director and writer Audrey Wells would have fared better had she relied more on Frances Mayes' novel.

How is it that a film such as Unfaithful, principally shot on back lots and inside a studio, can be more appealing in every way than a film shot in Tuscany? How can you film anywhere in the Italian countryside without producing stunning visuals? Cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson of Tuscan Sun has to his credit Glitter, Fried Green Tomatoes and Little Women. He is certainly no newcomer to a position behind the lens. Peter Biziou of Unfaithful has filmed The Road to Wellville, Life of Brian, 9 1/2 weeks and The Truman Show. Both men are experienced in their craft.

So, what went wrong?

I think the answer might be sitting right square in the lap of the director and screenplay writer Audrey Wells. Though Ms. Wells has several writing credits to her name, at 43 years of age she is a newcomer to directing. Her only other credit is the 1999 film Guinevere (starring Sarah Polley, Gina Gershon, Stephen Rea and Sandra Oh) which she also wrote and produced. That was a spectacular little film.

Expect good things from this director in the future. She has not yet hit her stride, and Tuscan Sun may have been too big for her. We will have to call this her un-birthday present to us and try not to be offended.

One can only imagine what Under the Tuscan Sun would have become in the capable hands of Unfaithful director Adrian Lyne (Lolita, Indecent Proposal, Fatal Attraction, 9 1/2 weeks). I guarantee that when Frances jumped into the sack with her Italian lover Marcello the furniture would not have gotten in the way!

A Long and Arduous Journey

Diane Lane is America's best-kept secret, the Stealth Bomber of actresses, waiting to explode across the screen in a blaze of glory. Her time has just not yet come. When we look at her film-acting history, we may just have to consider her un-lucky.

I have loved Ms. Lane since I first saw her as the young mother of a uniquely-handicapped child in the movie Jack (co-starring Brian Kerwin and Robin Williams). She has always displayed a natural charm and beauty that make me feel as if I am watching my best friend on screen.

Diane first appeared on the stage at the age of six. After many successful performances off and on Broadway, she was "discovered" by director George Roy Hill, and played the young lead in his movie A Little Romance, opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Sir Laurence Olivier recognized Ms. Lane's talent immediately, saying that she was "the new Grace Kelly". Her face graced the cover of nearly every national magazine, and then her fifteen minutes of fame quickly faded.

Working her way from one little film to another, Diane was barely surviving the Hollywood Movie Mill. By 1984, she had appeared in ten more films. It was no other luminary than famed uber-director Francis Ford Coppola who saw her work and chose her to star in his "teen flicks" Streets of Fire and Rumble Fish. These movies revived her flagging career.

Film #13: Not superstitious? Diane Lane is.

The ever-controversial Robert Evans--famed producer who had taken a nearly-bankrupt Paramount Studios and made it one of the most successful and profitable studios in movie-making history--had an idea for a film about a famous Harlem nightclub. He enlisted the aid of Francis Ford Coppola (with whom he had made The Godfather and Godfather II) as director and co-writer, and The Cotton Club was born. And with it, many careers nearly died.

Diane Lane and Richard Gere co-starred in The Cotton Club. Mr. Gere was already a big enough name to survive the disaster. Diane Lane was not. In 1984, at the age of nineteen, the veteran of thirteen films retired. The Cotton Club also cost Robert Evans his position as head of Paramount Studios.

In 1987, Diane started her comeback, but it was a long and winding road littered with easily-forgotten films such as Lady Beware, The Big Town, Lonesome Dove (TV miniseries), Love Dream, Vital Signs, Descending Angel... a list too long and too painful to mention in full. Ms. Lane has never played second-fiddle. She has always starred in the 44 movies in which she has appeared, and is only now beginning to receive the recognition she deserves, with such recent hits as Perfect Storm (co-starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg), Hardball (with the ever-delicious Keanu Reeves), and Glass House (co-starring Stellan Skarsgard, who turned in a smashing performance in Good Will Hunting, LeeLee Sobieski and Bruce Dern).

If you are a Diane Lane fan, which I am, Under the Tuscan Sun is a must-see, even though you may leave disappointed. Otherwise, save your money and curl up with a good book.