My House in Umbria

The movie was wonderful. 'My House in Umbria' was like a fresh breath of Italian countryside air, or taking a bite into a delicious pie in a terrace in Italy. The sites were breathtaking, even if they were seen from my television. The story was understandable and intriguing. The characters were fun. Mrs. Delahunty, a romantic novelist, with her numerous names and vibrant personality; i found myself wanting to be like her - minus the excessive drinking and smoking. There were also the many friends she had made on a train which had been in an accident. These strangers put together in Mrs.Delahunty's villa. Werner, the general, and Aimee (a young face who was very captivating on screen), and Quinty. All these characters truly made the film. BUT the only stain in the wonderful fabric that is this movie was Chris Cooper's character, Mr. Tom River-something. I found him rather pompus but a necessary element in the movie. I can't find more words to describe the movie. The scenes of Italian cities and towns were wonderful. oh, and mrs.delahunty's thoughts were well illustrated on screen. All in all i truly liked the movie. I think this movie will delight many people.

I reserve 10 out of ten for "Tea With Mussolini". Dame Maggie gives another outstanding performance as a writer who encounters a bomb on a train. It was a way to introduce the 4 main characters (not including the fabulous Quinty) who we come to love. The clever voice overs weave a beautiful thread (by Maggie of course) tieing together a story of mutual care and affection. Mrs Delahunty loves a drink or 15 and her hospitality extends to anyone within her reach. Has she become a lonely old lady who just wants company in her secluded villa? Does it really matter that there may be a dark secret amongst her guests? No! The outside dinner scene the night before the girl Aimee was due to leave was stunning. I so hoped she wouldn't go and that the "family" would stay together........

I'd wath this again and again and will add it to my extensive collection. GO DAME MAGGIE!

This film would immediately appeal to anyone addicted to Maggie Smith and the idyllic Italian countryside of Umbria, but it has unexpected delights to offer in its unassuming, almost art-house, flavour, and the low-key, but affecting, performances of excellent actors Timothy Spall and Ronnie Barker. Chris Cooper is rather wooden, but his academic, unemotional character casts a strong contrast to the hapless vagaries of Maggie Smith's Emily Delahuntey, and therefore works well.

Suspension of disbelief is required for the over-imaginative plot, almost out of one of Emily's romance novels. But the pleasure of such a film is simple, and simple pleasures can entertain as much as the richer, more complex enjoyment of films it might be compared with such as 'Tea With Mussolini' (which, of course, is a much fuller film in terms of plot, characters, script, and drama). 'Enchanted April' also comes to mind as another film where the Italian countryside is almost a character of the film and much more than a backdrop.

A very pleasant interlude for a winter's afternoon, or Spring evening, and Maggie Smith is as mannered and original as ever. I especially loved her flowing clothes, which suited her and her character very well.

This is quiet gem of a film. The storyline is basic, almost simplistic, but the direction allows the actors to add value where it counts.

Maggie Smith is delightful as the aged authoress, with a penchant for Grappa who, after a bomb explodes on a train, offer the survivors of her compartment, recuperation at her home in Umbria.

The Italian countryside is simply magnificent, the photography of Maggie Smith's villa and its surrounds(or should I say Mrs Delahunter's villa) gives a beautiful feeling of a somewhat tired place of residence for a somewhat tired individual, who has been there and done that but in a rather upper class British way. There are the usual disparate individuals coming to terms (or not?) with their their problems and then we have the police inspector, trying to suss whether any of the 'guests' can help. Unfortunately this aspect of the film, particularly the dealings with the police inspector, adds little and if anything detracts from the story. It is a necessary component but I feel could have been integrated better.

The supporting cast, particularly Ronnie Barker and Timothy Spall, add to the ambiance of the film and its quiet charm.

Why only seven out of ten? The direction I think is a little too light in that if it were not for the calibre of the actors, this might have been a poor 'B' Movie, but perhaps that is what the Director intended by letting good acting raise the film beyond its basic storyline.

This is now shown on TV, so give yourselves a treat, forget being a film reviewer and just soak up the acting and the atmosphere. If it is not on your local TV, it is worth renting for a night - just make sure you and you partner(it is essential that you and your partner watch this together) have a nice chilled glass of a sparkling Italian wine and indulge in quiet, but thoroughly pleasant entertainment.

The HBO TV movie "My House in Umbria" should be seen primarily for the complex and layered performance of divine Maggie Smith. As romance novelist Emily Delahunty, she projects an image of refinement and elegance that conceals a deeper, darker self. That self is revealed slowly, and we find hidden within a character that is not only at variance with Miss Delahunty's adopted persona, but also very different from the prim and proper ladies Maggie Smith habitually plays on the silver screen. We see that Miss Smith is capable even of being seductive and slatternly, most unlike her many repressed and spinsterish roles.

Maggie Smith has the kind of mesmerizing voice and marvelous diction that would enable her to entertain film audiences by reading the proverbial telephone book. I am reminded of Glenda Jackson's (virtual) one-woman show in "Stevie" and Joanne Woodward's voice-over of "The Age of Innocence".

The rest of the characters in "My House in Umbria" are, alas, a motley crew, sketched in only very lightly, merely second bananas to Maggie Smith's central figure. The time of the story is difficult to pin down based on the clothes and motor cars, but one imagines it takes place during the 1970s, the era of the Bader-Meinhof gang in Germany and the Red Brigades in Italy. The denouement is a little too pat, but the journey is still well worth our while.

One of the key questions raised in the film is what anger would drive a human being to commit an act of terror. But it becomes quickly apparent that political terrorism is not the only kind of "man's inhumanity to man" that is intended here. The focus is, rather, on innocence shattered and destroyed, the cruelty visited by individuals upon each other, the sense of guilt that it engenders, and the possibility of forgiveness and redemption that always, always exists if we "seize the day" and allow ourselves to be happy.