Up at the Villa

I liked this film but not as much as I had expected to do. I've loved every performance I've seen by Kristen Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, so I had great expectations of their being together. Somehow that didn't work. Maybe Penn was miscast or maybe the character wasn't written well enough....am not sure. Maybe the actors didn't care about each other, which seems reasonable and their lack of chemistry came across on screen.I pondered just why I found the film lacking, besides the rather unconvincing romance between the two stars. I think that a big problem is that the story is so dated. Sure, others have written of that era and much earlier times, in which the plight of women was dire. Women, especially of Mary (Thomas' character)social rank were really in trouble if they didn't have a man to support them. Mary, a widow, whose ex-husband drank away all their money is offered a proposal of marriage from a much older, but very eligible man...a diplomat who is on his way to a high position in India. He is kind and obviously loves her but is dreadfully dull and terribly stuffy. Perhaps casting a more attractive actor in this role would have made her decision to consider his proposal seriously more credible. I found her protestations of love and affection for him to be really a stretch.Then there is the rich, married American playboy -- enter Sean Penn, the polar opposite of the English diplomat. The only thing they have in common is money. Penn's character is married but cares little for that bond, has a reputation for womanizing and cares little for the conventions of the time. This sounds like something Penn could pull off with his hands tied behind his back but again, somehow, the charisma that he has projected in other films just isn't here. Perhaps the faul is in the script--we really don't know if this is a good guy who deserves the affection of dear Mary or if he is just another player. If that had been clarified we might care more about him and Mary's choice. He makes it clear that his marriage is loveless and that they lead separate lives, but we don't know why he remains married. He gives a few speeches about leading with your feelings and living for the moment, and promises her that he can't promise "forever" but that they "will have fun." Oh, run, Mary, run! Surely there is someone better for you than either of these two guys.Again, I think the problem is that today's audiences know too much to fall for this dilemma.Kristen Scott Thomas does a terrific job of making this woman and her actions credible. I was quite moved by her encounter with the Austrian refugee, an act which was purely motivated but which got her into a tub of trouble. The Penn character does show virtue in helping her out of that jam...but again, Penn seems to score high on the notes of honor and anger but low on those of true love. He has told her, after only chatting with her for five minutes, that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Oh, please....can't you do better than that?I think that we, in this time period are more used to characters being fully rounded out which may be why this film is so unsatisfying. These people are stereotypes: the beautiful,innocent victim woman, the bad but brave playboy, the stuffy diplomat, the friendly gay chum, the aging dowager (played grandly by Ann Bancroft) who has married for money herself and the poor Austrian refugee. Again, due to the beuty of Florence, the wonderful performance of Kristen Scott Thomas, and an interesting period of time, this makes for a film worth seeing.

I disagree with most professional reviews. This film shows each character true to the story line. It doesn't have the heavy clues of the usual American film. I like being considered an adult so I don't mind thinking. The four main leads are as near perfect in their roles as they have ever played. Sean Penn is adult at last. Anne Baxter IS a countess. Kristen deserved an Oscar for English patient and that wouldn't even cover how good she is in this totally well played role. Fox is so stuffy he is almost a caricature but you believe that this is exactly the way he would decide.

I hesitated purchasing this DVD and paid an exorbitant price for this “new” copy. While it may be newly recorded, it can’t be an original. I’ve recorded better video quality from on air TV programs. The picture is quite grainy. This seller should not be allowed to infer that this is an original.The movie itself however, is fine especially for anyone interested in travel to Italy.

This is a favorite of ours; we like the actors so much and also the backdrop of the approaching war in Europe. So glad we could purchase it.

I like this movie and would recommend it to other people. I have many movies that I would like to sell and wish I knew how to do it.

The movie arrived in the time promised. I am a huge fan of Sean Penn and he didn't disappoint with his outstanding work in the film.

"Up at the Villa," This romantic period drama is set in gorgeous, pre-World War II, Tuscany, Florence and Siena, Italy, as Benito Mussolini and his Fascists are coming to power. It was based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, and stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Mary Panton, a beautiful, 35-ish, penniless English widow forced by circumstance to consider the proposal of an aging diplomat, Sir Edgar Swift, played by James Fox ( The Remains of the Day (Special Edition) ). When, at one of the dinner parties thrown by Princess San Ferdinando (Anne Bancroft,  The Miracle Worker ), Mary's seated next to Rowley Flint, a brash, rich and married young American (Sean Penn, an Oscar winner for  Milk ), a dangerous chain of events starts to unfold. At any rate, Mary is eventually left to remember a passionate night in the company of Austrian refugee Karl Richter, played by Jeremy Davies,  Spanking the Monkey ; and must cover up an inconvenient, likely to be scandalous death.The location photography is fine, and cars, interiors, clothes, conversation, and drinking habits are all appropriate to the era, and well done. It all must have cost a pretty packet. Furthermore, the menace of coming fascism, and war, has been made palpable. Scott Thomas is as good as ever: I for one have admired her since  Four Weddings and a Funeral , and  The English Patient . Furthermore, this must be considered an all-star cast, and there are some good supporting players around, too: Derek Jacobi, I, Claudius , as Lucky Leadbetter, and Dudley Sutton,  Lovejoy: The Complete Collection , as Harold Atkinson. In fact, personnel are distinguished before, and behind the camera. David Brown produced, with credit given to Sydney Lumet as executive producer, and Arnon Milchan as associate producer, and all three of these men have made some very good movies.Yet somehow, things didn't turn out very well here. Scott Thomas and Fox have no chemistry, but they aren't supposed to. However, Scott Thomas and Penn have no chemistry, and Penn acts as if his entire face has been Botoxed, leaving him unable to move a facial muscle. He also, although he has been introduced as an American, speaks with an extremely strange midlantic accent. Jeremy Davies is just not particularly convincing as Karl, and Scott Thomas has no chemistry with him, either. Anne Bancroft tends to overact as the English princess when, just off the top of my head, there is that trio of English Dames that could have played the part, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, or Maggie Smith. Who cast this thing, anyway? Beautiful scenery. Acceptable history. Yet, good people before and behind the camera somehow conspired to make this film, which feels as if it should have been released direct to video.

Interesting movie

I did - to a certain extent - enjoy this version of Somerset Maugham's book despite flaws. I did not like Kristin Scott-Thomas as Mary - she was very "brittle" and as one other reviewer said - there was absolutely no chemistry between her and Sean Penn - a main element of the story being the sympathy between the two main protagonists.I also did not feel that the actor playing the Austrian refugee hat the right kind of "sex appeal" - again definitely no chemistry between the two actors - quite necessary to seduce a cool British lady into doing something extravagant and quite foreign to her nature !A pity as this is a very enjoyable story if presented properly.

Beautifully filmed, easy storyline...good Interesting evening viewing.

Great film, and wonderful chemistry between the lead actors

Read the book and enjoyed, saw the film and loved it - that very rare thing, a film that is even better than the book

slow moving and lacking in interest . Dark and depressing start and i didnt continue with it