Based on a Somerset Maugham novella set in Fascist Italy during the late 1930s, "Up at the Villa" meticulously portrays an expatriate community going to seed, where the pursuit of indolent pleasure supersedes any concern over impending world calamity.
Kristin Scott Thomas plays a sophisticated but curiously naive widow caught up in this insular milieu with the kind of cool passion that has become her trademark. Her journey of self-
discovery is the focal point of this impeccably realized period film geared for adult audiences.
Combining a comedy of manners with sudden death, dangerous liaisons and a tincture of political intrigue, "Villa" should enjoy success with that audience. But it is unlikely to move outside of the specialty market since, not unlike the characters it portrays, the film has an inclination to look away when sex or bloodshed appears. As with other works by Philip and Belinda Haas -- whose films include "Angels and Insects" and "The Music of Chance" -- "Villa" is coolly cerebral even when passions run hot.
The Haases -- he directs and she writes as well as edits -- view human beings as a vaguely exotic species, capable of behavior that fascinates and repels in equal measure. But the characters here, no matter how vividly played, tend toward such overly familiar types as the penniless English widow, the rakish American playboy (Sean Penn) and the social butterfly (Anne Bancroft) with a high title and low morals.
Scott Thomas plays Mary Panton, living off the kindness of friends in the expat community of 1938 Florence. She has borrowed a breathtaking villa for an indeterminate period of time -- which translates as until she finds a suitably wealthy husband.
The movie's first dress ball has barely finished before that problem is apparently solved. Sir Edgar Swift (James Fox), a friend since her childhood, comes calling with a stiff but proper proposal of marriage. While Princess San Ferdinando (Bancroft) pragmatically urges this union, she nonetheless sets Mary up at her next party with Rowley Flint (Penn), a married American who carries a certain reputation with women.
At the same party, Mary also receives the attentions of a hard-hearted Fascist officer (Massimo Ghini). But, inconceivably, she ends up that night, on an impulse, with an impoverished Austrian refugee (Jeremy Davies).
Not understanding the rules of this society's games, the refugee confuses Mary's sexual slumming for true love and shows up in her bedroom the following night. Following her ignominious rejection of him, he attempts a rape. A gun -- belonging to Sir Edgar -- is produced and it discharges. The young man has committed suicide. Turning to Rowley for help, she disposes of the body. But the next day, Rowley is imprisoned and she must resort to theft and blackmail to extricate him from jail.
Most of Maugham's story transfers smoothly from page to screen with a couple of exceptions. The details of Rowley's detention and the possession of Sir Edgar's gun are vague. And the introduction into the story of Lucky Leadbetter (Derek Jacobi), a witty, cynical outsider among the expats, is poorly handled and, in the end, his character is all too extraneous.
But Thomas brilliantly carries the movie, playing the roller coaster of emotions -- one moment tender and the next virtually heartless -- with enough delicate nuances that she never loses the audience's empathy. And Bancroft glories in a role that invites carefully calibrated histrionics.
Other actors aren't so lucky. Neither Penn nor Davies looks entirely comfortable in these period roles. Penn in particular appears so straitjacketed that no real character emerges from his ingratiating smile and smart clothes. Fox and Jacobi are essentially rehashing roles they've played elsewhere, and better.
Maurizio Calvesi's cinematography and Paul Brown's production design catch a sinister darkness amid Florence's ageless beauty and haunting statuary. And period details are perfectly evoked down to the dowdy fashions -- also by Brown -- that so poorly flatter the feminine form.
UP AT THE VILLA
USA Films
October Films and Intermedia Films presents a Mirage/Stanley Buchthal production
Producer: Geoff Stier
Director: Philip Haas
Writer: Brenda Haas
Based on a novella by: W. Somerset Maugham
Executive producers: Sydney Pollack, Arnon Milchan, Stanley Buchthal
Co-executive producers: Guy East, Nigel Sinclair
Director of photography: Maurizio Calvesi
Production and costume designer: Paul Brown
Music: Pino Donaggio
Co-producer: David Brown
Editor: Belinda Haas
Color/stereo
Cast:
Mary Panton: Kristin Scott Thomas
Rowley Flint: Sean Penn
Princess San Ferdinando: Anne Bancroft
Sir Edgar Swift: James Fox
Karl Richter: Jeremy Davies
Lucky Leadbetter: Derek Jacobi
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Kristin Scott Thomas plays a sophisticated but curiously naive widow caught up in this insular milieu with the kind of cool passion that has become her trademark. Her journey of self-
discovery is the focal point of this impeccably realized period film geared for adult audiences.
Combining a comedy of manners with sudden death, dangerous liaisons and a tincture of political intrigue, "Villa" should enjoy success with that audience. But it is unlikely to move outside of the specialty market since, not unlike the characters it portrays, the film has an inclination to look away when sex or bloodshed appears. As with other works by Philip and Belinda Haas -- whose films include "Angels and Insects" and "The Music of Chance" -- "Villa" is coolly cerebral even when passions run hot.
The Haases -- he directs and she writes as well as edits -- view human beings as a vaguely exotic species, capable of behavior that fascinates and repels in equal measure. But the characters here, no matter how vividly played, tend toward such overly familiar types as the penniless English widow, the rakish American playboy (Sean Penn) and the social butterfly (Anne Bancroft) with a high title and low morals.
Scott Thomas plays Mary Panton, living off the kindness of friends in the expat community of 1938 Florence. She has borrowed a breathtaking villa for an indeterminate period of time -- which translates as until she finds a suitably wealthy husband.
The movie's first dress ball has barely finished before that problem is apparently solved. Sir Edgar Swift (James Fox), a friend since her childhood, comes calling with a stiff but proper proposal of marriage. While Princess San Ferdinando (Bancroft) pragmatically urges this union, she nonetheless sets Mary up at her next party with Rowley Flint (Penn), a married American who carries a certain reputation with women.
At the same party, Mary also receives the attentions of a hard-hearted Fascist officer (Massimo Ghini). But, inconceivably, she ends up that night, on an impulse, with an impoverished Austrian refugee (Jeremy Davies).
Not understanding the rules of this society's games, the refugee confuses Mary's sexual slumming for true love and shows up in her bedroom the following night. Following her ignominious rejection of him, he attempts a rape. A gun -- belonging to Sir Edgar -- is produced and it discharges. The young man has committed suicide. Turning to Rowley for help, she disposes of the body. But the next day, Rowley is imprisoned and she must resort to theft and blackmail to extricate him from jail.
Most of Maugham's story transfers smoothly from page to screen with a couple of exceptions. The details of Rowley's detention and the possession of Sir Edgar's gun are vague. And the introduction into the story of Lucky Leadbetter (Derek Jacobi), a witty, cynical outsider among the expats, is poorly handled and, in the end, his character is all too extraneous.
But Thomas brilliantly carries the movie, playing the roller coaster of emotions -- one moment tender and the next virtually heartless -- with enough delicate nuances that she never loses the audience's empathy. And Bancroft glories in a role that invites carefully calibrated histrionics.
Other actors aren't so lucky. Neither Penn nor Davies looks entirely comfortable in these period roles. Penn in particular appears so straitjacketed that no real character emerges from his ingratiating smile and smart clothes. Fox and Jacobi are essentially rehashing roles they've played elsewhere, and better.
Maurizio Calvesi's cinematography and Paul Brown's production design catch a sinister darkness amid Florence's ageless beauty and haunting statuary. And period details are perfectly evoked down to the dowdy fashions -- also by Brown -- that so poorly flatter the feminine form.
UP AT THE VILLA
USA Films
October Films and Intermedia Films presents a Mirage/Stanley Buchthal production
Producer: Geoff Stier
Director: Philip Haas
Writer: Brenda Haas
Based on a novella by: W. Somerset Maugham
Executive producers: Sydney Pollack, Arnon Milchan, Stanley Buchthal
Co-executive producers: Guy East, Nigel Sinclair
Director of photography: Maurizio Calvesi
Production and costume designer: Paul Brown
Music: Pino Donaggio
Co-producer: David Brown
Editor: Belinda Haas
Color/stereo
Cast:
Mary Panton: Kristin Scott Thomas
Rowley Flint: Sean Penn
Princess San Ferdinando: Anne Bancroft
Sir Edgar Swift: James Fox
Karl Richter: Jeremy Davies
Lucky Leadbetter: Derek Jacobi
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 4/28/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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