The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

As some of you may know the 37-year old Tennessee Williams had an affair with 15-year-old boy, who was orphaned in the war, and likely had been forced into male prostitution in Rome in the late 1940s. He and the likes of Gore Vidal were there because post war Italy had a specific market for that.

Williams' biographers and Williams himself tell us that the basis for Roman Spring is Williams own experience as an older man with a young boy. This film though is really difficult to watch once you know its roots because the 14 year old is turned into a mid-20s year old predator, inverting the relationship's predation.

The movie was not the best and Martinez has always been a little weak in his films... (I could not except the fact that he was the the other guy to Diane Lane in "Unfaithful" over Richard Gere... I'm not gay or anything but Richard Gere is much more appealing than Martinez)... That being said... I'm 30 years old... and I hope my wife is that sexy and looks that good when she is over 60 years of age. Mirren was downright sexy and so appealing for a woman her age. I'm a huge fan of hers. God bless her and her continued sexiness. Her measurements have barely changed in over 40 years. How does she do it. Has she had plastic surgery or boob enhancements? Does anyone know any info about her?

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

Since the other users have provided details, ad nauseam, I will only say that Mirren seems to be channeling Vivien Leigh at times, especially in the last half. Many mannerisms are nearly identical to Leigh's actions in the 1961 studio version.

Also, strangely enough, I prefer the sound stage artifice of the 1960s. This cable movie was actually filmed on location, but in muted, boring colors. The 1961 feature has the wonderful Technicolor hues.

I found the actor portraying The Young Man/stalker to be far more sexy than Martinez's Paolo, even though he eats food off the ground, urinates in public, hacks up phlegm and never speaks.

Bancroft is fine, although I would have loved to have seen Sophia Loren take a stab at it.

And will you cable movie directors STOP overusing the "atmospheric" smoke machines?!! It looks like your entire film crew was smoking cigarettes during the interior scenes.

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.