Una Pasión En Florencia

It's the late 1930s around Florence. Sir Edgar Swift (James Fox) is the distinguished governor of Bengal who has come to court the widow Mary Panton (Kristin Scott Thomas). She loved her husband as he turned into a drunken gambler who squandered all of their money. Sir Swift proposes to her and she promises an answer upon his return. He leaves her with a gun as he fears a deteriorating security situation. She is hounded by Lucky Leadbetter (Derek Jacobi) who is after fresh-faced English young men. Princess San Ferdinando (Anne Bancroft) is a woman who had many flings and lots of connections. She introduces Mary to playboy Rowley Flint (Sean Penn) at a dinner party. Italian fascist Beppino Leopardi doesn't like Rowley. She rejects Rowley's advances and kicks him out of her car. She almost runs over Karl Richter (Jeremy Davies) who was a bad musician at the party. He's a refugee escaping the Nazis after organizing resistance as a student in Austria. She invites him back to her villa and they spend the night together. Leopardi imposes new restrictions on the foreign presence. Karl becomes unruly and Mary pulls out the gun. Karl takes it away and shoots himself with it. Rowley helps her dispose of the body.

Sean Penn somehow doesn't fit this time and this story. He never disappears into this role. He sticks out in this period piece like a sore thumb. Also the story lacks tension. There is some limited tension with Leopardi but that's resolved well before the end. The romance doesn't have any intensity. This should be a lot better. I do like Jeremy Davies' performance in a minor role.

I was intrigued when this film showed up on the day's TV roster and even more intrigued when I found out who the cast are and read a quick synopsis of the story. Most of the reviewers here, at IMDB, have made the movie sound dreadful. I found it hard to believe that anything with Sean Penn and Kristin Scott Thomas would be awful and had to check out the film for myself. My conclusion -- it is quite good, engaging, and definitely worth watching.

The lead actors as well as most of the supporting cast are rather wonderful. Though, I wish that someone slightly more dashing and not so limp played the role of the Austrian student, even if the stumbling manner and sudden onset of neurosis are required of the part. The scenery is inviting; the sets are great; the variety of accents is interesting; some of the extras are a bit shaky. The film is not so much about the setting, the era, or the social/political/economic spheres, though all of these have a firm bearing on the events and characters. It is chiefly about human actions under pressure of circumstances, about relationships, flights of fancy, slip-ups, weaknesses, trust and emotional maneuvering. "Up at the Villa" addresses these topics as good as any other period film.

I recommend this movie to those who, like I, enjoyed more than one of the following:

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Gosford Park

Howards End

Country Life

The Wings of the Dove

A Room with a View

The Remains of the Day

I was stunned by Kristin Scott Thomas when I first saw her in The Tenth Man (co-starring with Derek Jacobi in that movie too) many years ago. I've tried to catch as many movies with her as possible since then, but she's just never been as good, not even in The English Patient. Much of her material has been extremely dull, incl. Random Hearts and yes, this one, Up At the Villa. The premise of this movie isn't bad, but for some reason it fails to create that engrossing magic that makes all the difference. Kristin's character is too timid and irrational (except for in the end). Jeremy Davies as the poor refugee is not exactly bad, but there's still something totally wrong with his role.

Bancroft is flawless, but can't save the movie. Sean Penn is actually good. I don't like most of his roles in other movies - never have -, but he played a different, more complex and realistic yet rogue-ish character here than the hysterical ones he usually embraces (for God knows what reason), and I thought this actually worked. Still, his and Kristin's characters were just too different to make their romantic tension really believable.

I will give the movie credit for its entire political dimension, though, which wasn't in the original book that this movie is based on. It's rare to see this; in most cases it's the film that leaves out the book's political content.

I rate this movie a 5 out of 10.

The only reason to see UP AT THE VILLA is the performances by a wonderful cast. Kristen Scott Thomas does a good job as a poor widow who is being courted by many different men. The most interesting is the amazing Sean Penn- yet again taking on an interesting role. The story is bland and sometimes painfully boring, but Thomas and Penn make this worth seeing.

If you like stories about the British upper class and their foibles abroad, you'll enjoy"Up At the Villa." (What a rotten title!) Edward Fox is the perfect gentleman (isn't he always?) Sean Penn is the perfect cad. (Isn't he always?) And Anne Bancroft notches up yet another role as the faded bitch. (Doesn't she do anything else these days?) It's a pretty straight and predictable love story/murder who done it, except we know all along that the victim "done it" to himself. It's in something the same genre as "Tea With Mussolini" with lovely shots of Florence and a faithful recreation of fascist Italy.