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Summer's Lease
Molly Pargeter is a forty-something wife and mother of three girls, who leads a stable but dull life in 1980s West London. She feels overweight and there is no passion in her relationship with her husband Hugh, who is secretly seeing another woman. For most of her life she has found escape in detective novels and books on art, especially about the fifteenth century Italian fresco painter Piero Della Francesca. Then in a newspaper's small ads Molly sees the details of a villa in Tuscany, Italy to let and after travelling to Italy to view the villa "La Felicita" she decides to take it for the family's August holiday.
| Release : | 1989 |
| Rating : | 7.6 |
| Studio : | |
| Crew : | Writer, |
| Cast : | Leslie Phillips John Gielgud Annette Crosbie Susan Fleetwood Rosemary Leach |
| Genre : | Drama Mystery TV Movie |
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Reviews
Absolutely brilliant
A brilliant film that helped define a genre
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
This worthy PBS series is now available on DVD. I watched it back when it was on PBS and have now enjoyed watching it a second time. I remember when I first saw it, I wondered who Susan Fleetwood (Molly) was. I discovered that she was Mick Fleetwood's sister (of Fleetwood Mac fame) and sadly passed on only six years after this series was made. It is an extremely evocative mystery set in the most spectacular place. Just the scenery is enough, not to mention the fabulous house. The only thing I wish is that I understood the mystery better and what Sandra's and Buck's roles were in the water commission thing and why one of the characters was hiding out and had to die!
This drama was superbly cast, especially John Gielgud as Molly's philandering father. However Molly's journey of self discovery was underdeveloped as was the eventual climactic meeting with the mysterious "T. Buckland Kettering".The scenery of Tuscany is beautiful enough, but the acting does fall down in some places. For anyone wanting to appreciate Mortimer's classic, I suggest you read the book.
Intriguing story about an English family who rent a villa in Tuscany for the summer. Strange things are afoot and the mother/housewife of the family plays amateur sleuth. But it's done in such a very subtle manner--in the typical English manner. There is also a very stated undertone of marital unease that the wife and husband play to perfection. John Gielgud is TERRIFIC as the wife's father--he plays a socialist writer singularly preoccupied with shocking his family by his carefree attitude of love and sexuality--all this despite his advancing years.
My only wish here is that more people would get to see this wonderful BBC mini-series set in the hillsides of tuscany. Unfortunately, it has not been released for distribution and there is some doubt whether a tape will ever be made available. An English housewife leases a country home in Italy for the summer. The family experiences the beauty of northern Italy and Molly (the mother) also becomes involved in a mystery to unravel. The countryside, including old church frescoes by Giotto takes center stage much of the time, but Sir John Gielgud's character blazes up the screen as the protagonist's eccentric (and randy) father-in-law. His hijinks with an old flame who has happened to settle into the region provide some of the best barrel laughs I can recall from any film. There is also the story of a dull marriage going through a renewal of sorts, as the husband starts to see more deeply into his wife's nature. All the characters are colorful and exquisitely drawn. If it should come up for a pbs replay, don't miss it!
