honorablekate
can someone please help me i missed the last view moments and i don't want to pay money to see the whole film again. i got to just where they are in the train carriage and she says 'what about that drink now?' and smiles. what happens after that? is there anymore dialogue or action? surely it doesn't just end there? i was a bit bored in the film and kept hoping it would get better. i love Kristen Scott Thomas does anyone remember the UK TV series she was in about some nuns? i am wanting to know the name. Sean Penn was brilliant Madonna eat your heart out! everybody else in fact the film a bit predictable, it was a 'spot a star cast'. the ending took me by surprise i really thought she had burnt her boats.....if you are a fan of any of the stars its worth watching.
Claudio Carvalho
In 1938, Mary Panton is a broken young British widow living in Florence. Sir Edgar Swift (James Fox), a prominent Englishman indicated to be governor in India, proposes her to get married with him. The proximity with World War II makes persons living in this city tense, and Sir Edgar lends a gun to Mary, for her safety, while is traveling on business. Mary's best friend in Florence is the Italian Princess San Ferdinando (Anne Bancroft), a woman who loves gossips. One day, Mary goes with their friends to a restaurant, where she meets Rowley Flint (Sean Penn), a man with bad reputation, and she gets upset with him. On her way back home, she almost kills Karl Richter (Jeremy Davies), the violinist of restaurant where she was. The she realizes that he is indeed an Austrian refugee leaving Florence on the next day and a very sensible man. She has an affair him. But Karl falls in love with her and decides not to leave Florence anymore. Mary explains him that she just wanted one night stand with him and Karl, feeling rejected, commits suicide with Sir Edgar's gun. From now on, Mary Panton has to lie, betray and blackmail, trying to survive to the situation raised by this murder. This romance is a good movie. Anne Bancroft has an outstanding performance, and Sean Penn, Kristin Scott Thomas, James Fox and Jeremy Davies has a great acting, as usual. The story is amoral, having ingredients of romance and suspense. The greatest problem, in my point of view, is the lack of chemistry between the characters of Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn. Somehow they do not fit each other, but maybe this is the intention of the novel. I have not read the book. However, it is a good entertainment. My vote is seven.
Theo Robertson
UP AT THE VILLA fooled me into thinking I`d be watching something similar to GOSFORD PARK . The film opens at a ballroom in 1930s Italy which is populated by vulgar Americans and uptight upper class Brits , but in truth UP AT THE VILLA plays out far more like a Merchant -Ivory production which is very bad news because it`s a very slow , and I do mean very slow romantic drama with some of the romance being very unlikely . If you like slow romantic dramas you might like this movie . I didn`t
gsoares
I watched this movie last night, on pay-per-view. It is boring, pointless. Yet it´s got a beautiful art direction, very well executed in all, but just drags on at times.The book by W. Somerset Maugham is not great, the movie could not be either.But what caught my attention the most was the "professionalism" of Sean Penn. Being a huge fan of him, and having read loads of his independent-minded, bold-against-the-system interviews, it is kind of comforting to see him work plainly for the money, or as someone said earlier, acting as a big dude. You come to the conclusion that "Well, even the just and mighty have to put bread on the table".Still I voted it 6, as being worth the watch. But not renting or paying for it like I did... wait till TNT features it for free and with lots of commercials, so you can zap around for something better!!!
AD
