It is sweet, corny and over romanticised. At first you think another CINEMA PARADISO or LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL as we enter the eyes of a young boy, Luca, in the sweet serenity of Florence from 1934 to 1945. Surrounding him are a bunch of some eccentric and snobbish elderly women from England. To add further spice we have two Yankee women, the loud obnoxious and very rich Elsa, (Cher hamming it up) and the lesbian Georgi, (another fine performance from Lily). They claim Florence as their home and who wouldn't with an overabundance of romance, art and pasta. But along come the Fascist Black Shirts as they disrupt the tea party for our ladies and round them up as prisoners of war. To the rescue comes Luca, now grown up with testosterone levels to burn. All this, believe it or not, is based on director Zeffirelli's memoirs. I wonder if back then he had an orchestra following him around playing the emotional manipulative music? When Zeffirelli goes for the wide shots he is safe because of the beautiful scenery and set designs. It is when he orchestrates a dialogue driven scene that he falls flat on his face, giving us disjointed cuts and too much time on the leadi ng actresses, (mostly Cher), instead of telling a story in where the emotions are aimed. Working your way through this film gets a little clumsy but emotionally you understand where its heart lays.
Review of Tea with Mussolini
