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Thanks for the memories!

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Just watched this on TV stuffed with unwanted ad breaks which still could not ruin this excellent film. Maggie Smith is tremendous as always and is ably supported by Ronnie Barker who disappears into his character in the way he does when doing comedy , Timothy Spall and the beautiful Emily Clarke who has grown into a gorgeous young woman. The whole thing is held together by a truly beautiful setting in an Italian villa which has made up my mind to visit Italy in the not too distant future. It evokes a feeling of peace and contentment in spite of the violence which throws all these characters together. It seems a great pity that more people are not aware of this wonderful piece of drama and acting by the ensemble cast.

It is interesting that Chris Cooper should show up in this glossy HBO production (as an uptight American college professor) – he was later to play a leading role in "Adaptation", Charlie Kaufman's brilliant and quirky take on the perils of adapting fine literary properties to the silver screen. What seems to have happened here is that two veteran TV hacks, Richard Loncraine and Hugh Whitemore have got hold of an elegiac novella by the fine Anglo-Irish author William Trevor and turned it into something suitable for Sunday night HBO TV audiences. I was going to say "mush", but that would do a disservice to the cast, who are excellent, and the great location shooting. Definitely though, this film is less that the sum of its parts and much of the poignancy of Trevor's novella has been lost. Yet apart from the final scenes the producers have stuck fairly closely to Trevor's storyline, and Maggie Smith in particular manages to create a character, Emily Delahunty, at least recognizable from the novel, a vibrant but rather hollowed out survivor of a tough and colourful life.It is 1987 (according to the novella, anyway – the film is a bit vaguer about time) and Mrs Delahunty "56 years old" lives in Umbria where she lets out rooms in her magnificent country villa and churns out "Romance novels" a la Barbara Cartland. She is unlucky enough to be caught in a bomb explosion on the Roma-Milano express which kills several passengers in her compartment (though no-one else). Recovering in hospital she invites the survivors back to her villa, where she (and they) are looked after by her staff, including her general factotum, an eccentric Irishman called Quinty (Timothy Spall. The survivors are an elderly English gent, called the General (Ronnie Barker), a young German man with severe burns, Werner (Otlar in the book and played here by Benno Furmann) and Aimee (Emmy Clarke), a beautiful eight year old, who is physically unharmed but unable to speak after her parents have died in the explosion. The healing effects of the landscape and good living restore the spirits of the survivors but then Aimee's uptight pill of an uncle (Chris Cooper) arrives to take her back to America. Mrs Delahunty, haunted both by dreams of her own past and other things, tries desperately to keep Aimee. In the meantime the Italian plod, in the person of Inspector Girotti (Giancarlo Gianini) is investigating the bomb blast, and the finger of suspicion is pointing at Werner.I won't reveal the ending but pretty obviously it is at variance with the book's. If it had followed the book, this would have been a minor gem. As it was made, it is indeed further evidence of the perils of the adaptation of literary properties to film. The acting's faultless, the scenery lovely, but the ending's a cop-out.

I will not attempt to summarize the plot - only to express my gratitude for giving Dame Maggie a meaty role - I dangled upon her every word and expression. And thank God for a movie with characters over the age of 30. Thanks for giving those of us who love Italy a free vacation.Now tell me, those of you who have criticisms - would you or would you not (if this were real) like to spend a week or even a year with Mrs. Delahunty in her villa? I don't think her prescient dreams, meddling, snooping, rambling reminiscences nor her grappa drinking would bore me a bit. In fact I would join in with wine, gin and tonic and grappa and even a (gasp) cigarette!A slow Umbrian repast each evening under the candle-lit wisterias -- ahh now that is savoring life. And this movie teaches other lessons of life as well if you choose to listen.

Emily (Maggie Smith) writes romance novels, fairly successfully. Although British by birth, she lives in Umbria, Italy in a big and beautiful house/mansion. When traveling one day on a train, she finds herself in a compartment with some nice folks, among them, a lovely little girl. All of a sudden, a bomb explodes. Emily survives, as does Amy, the young girl, an older retired officer, and a young German man. After their stays in the hospital, Emily welcomes all of these survivors to continue their recovery at her house. Amy, very traumatized by the events, does not speak, yet she clings to Emily. Everything is going along quite nicely when, out of the blue, they learn Amy has an uncle in America. Will he come to get her? This is a most unusual story but a very fine one. Smith is superb as the aging writer and the rest of the cast is wonderful, too. The scenery in Italy is loveliness indeed and makes for a very beautiful movie. The script is elegant but not stuffy. All in all, if you loved Under the Tuscan Sun or Enchanted April, you will enjoy this film, yes. But, even if you have never taken a videotrip to Italy, you will be happy you carried this film home from the video store or library. It is enchanting fare with an extraordinary tale of human relationships.