The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

I am old enough to remember when Vivien Leigh starred in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. Although I was a fan of Ms Leigh, I remember that I was quite unimpressed with the film. It was not particularly well-received. It was not one of Ms. Leigh's greatest roles. It is not a classic. This version of Roman Spring starring Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez harkens back to the original novella by Tennessee Williams. The setting is returned to post-war Italy, and the story is told with great passion and drama. The plight of the Contessa and Paulo is much more understandable in that setting. The greatest difference is in the performance of Helen Mirren. In Mirren's capable hands, Karen Stone is shown as a woman who has known love but never real passion. In spite of her intelligence and common sense, Karen cannot resist Paulo, and her life changes irrevocably. In Mirren's performance, the transformation of Karen Stone is revealed in her actions, her clothes, and every nuance of face and voice. I think Tennessee Williams would approve.

This beautifully costumed and photographed update of the 1961 film is vibrant, honest, and wonderfully acted. Helen Mirren's performance as the aging actress is at times playful, as when she brushes off an old "friend" with a lie about having a tumor, and heart-breaking as when her eyes travel from the perfect body of her lover to her own arms and then breaks down. Unlike most Tennessee Williams' works, "Stone" relies more on silences than on dialogue. Mirren registers every step in Karen's journey from humiliated actress to grieving widow to woman in love to woman scorned. Anne Bancroft, as the Countess, is also dead-on. Her arch manipulation of Karen conceals a passionate outrage at her own poverty that pours out with devastating effect in the film's final moments. Martinez and Santoro as the two young men are also effective.

Tenesee Williams is marvelous, but this is really awful.I am a huge Mirren fan but she is miscast as an ageing fading "beauty".Olivier is' way too old at pushing 40 to be a young gigilo and I have real problems with his "acting" and not just in this movie.I have seen all his early French movies as well as his newer ventures into English.There is a harsh cold arrogance within him that yells male macho pig that lacks any depth or finer feelings.He seems always so stiff and unnatural,his acting is really wooden.( The scene where he lifts his hand to hit Helen/Karen had me in stitches ) The Santoro chap without uttering a word, was truly mesmerising and far more of a breathtaking hunk,one wonders what all the fuss over OM is really all about.The entire movie was wooden and forced.I truly loathed it.I am old enough to remember the original which was not that brilliant either, but knocked the socks of this sad re-make.I felt sorry for Mirren selling her huge talent up the river in this bilge and OM needs roles wherein he is and acts his 40 rather than this 'nonsense in this, and Unfaithful, of being a cheeky 23 year old which he patently is not.he looks his age.He seems very arrogant vain cold in all his movies..the French press call him the "Mannequin who wants to act".. which may be a bit harsh as they loathe him for his misogyinist treatment of their divine la Binoche..but grains of truth maybe.Given that I do admit as a TW fan this is the hardest story to get right on screen it seems..or maybe no-one can get the 'casting just right? Borrow it it is harmless viewing, but do not waste money buying DVD

A couple of Oscar winning Best Actresses star in this Showtime version of the Tennessee Williams novella The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone. Unlike in the big screen film, Tennessee Williams himself is in the story played under a pseudonym as an acid tongued southern fried playwright viper by Roger Allam. We all need a gay confidante in the line of work Anne Bancroft is in, supplying boy toys for the rich, horny and bored. Unlike the 1963 version, it is clear she caters to the male as well as the female.

One of those is Helen Mirren taking over the part done so well in 1963 by Vivien Leigh whose own life was tragically close to character Karen Stone. Mirren after a happy marriage that has seen a wane in the carnal embarks on a new quest for that after the death of husband Brian Dennehy. It's how she ends up with Olivier Martinez, a callow and spoiled youth who wants his women to treat him in a lifestyle he's gotten used to.

Having just seen Behind The Candelabra which is another story about an unequal sexual relationship in terms of power, it's given me a fresh insight into The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone. Even the best of gigolos should have a day job to fall back on.

Just as in the original the ending with the ever present and silent young street kid played by Rodrigo Santoro proves to Mirren that she can get what really wants without as much maintenance charge.

An intelligent and multi-layered treatment of the 1961 film classic from Tennessee Williams. Helen Mirren gives one of her best performances. All the casting works well. The pacing and cinematography is beautiful. John Altman's music is brooding and portends of the emptiness and tragic self-discovery that Mrs. Stone will ultimately find herself facing. Nice job Showtime. Please consider a DVD offering.