A great vehicle for Maggie Smith in a quintessential survivor movie, "My House in Umbria" delineates her flowering as an "earth mother" among the victims of a train bombing. It's gorgeously filmed and her house is beautifully appointed, a testament to her success as a novelist of romantic tales and a positive view of life that has helped her earn her living. She's well supported by the rest of the cast, including young Amy, but I found Amy's uncle, played by Chris Cooper, to be a total dud. Yes, he's supposed to be crass and unfeeling, but I kept hoping for a shade of redemptive charm in his personality, and was disappointed up until the very end, when he finally gave in to higher wisdom, and fortunately didn't show up on the screen. (I found his lack of facial and vocal expression like a martian Harrison Ford shot through with botox...). On the opposite spectrum of facial expressiveness was the veteran actor Giancarlo Giannini, whose craggy face and voice carried the much-needed intensity of Italy needed to match the setting. He was necessary to offset the overly English or American weight of the cast, even with the one German.
"Umbria" reminded me of both "Tea with Mussolini" and "Enchanted April," both of which starred Joan Plowright in a similarly benevolent role. Joan is more "salt of the earth," whereas Maggie is the "pepper," the two giving tremendous spice to whatever they act in. Here Maggie is allowed some glamour( a different silk outfit in each scene, beautifully coiffed hair), but she didn't flinch when she had to be knocked about after the bomb explosion.
I can see that like Judi Dench and Joan Plowright, actresses of Maggie Smith's calibre are in constant search of good directors and good scripts -- vehicles with humor, dignity and some adventure for their rich humanity. These are hard to come by. "Umbria" would have been perfect but for the unfortunate casting of the uncle.
Of four ****, three-and-half because of the casting flaw.
"Umbria" reminded me of both "Tea with Mussolini" and "Enchanted April," both of which starred Joan Plowright in a similarly benevolent role. Joan is more "salt of the earth," whereas Maggie is the "pepper," the two giving tremendous spice to whatever they act in. Here Maggie is allowed some glamour( a different silk outfit in each scene, beautifully coiffed hair), but she didn't flinch when she had to be knocked about after the bomb explosion.
I can see that like Judi Dench and Joan Plowright, actresses of Maggie Smith's calibre are in constant search of good directors and good scripts -- vehicles with humor, dignity and some adventure for their rich humanity. These are hard to come by. "Umbria" would have been perfect but for the unfortunate casting of the uncle.
Of four ****, three-and-half because of the casting flaw.