My House in Umbria

Rating:
Summary: Send this movie to Umbria and move on with your life.
Review: I watched this on reccommendation from a friend.
It was awful.
So predictable.
So ant-climactic.
So mind numbingly dull.
Avoid this film at all costs.

Rating:
Summary: HBO classic
Review: If you are a fan of Maggie Smith then you must not miss this special film. This Beautiful Heartfelt story was a welcome switch for me in contrast to all the violence on HBO as of late. An easy-going movie with beautiful scenery will be a nice addition to your collection.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment in Umbria
Review: My friend and I were very disappointed with this DVD when we watched it last night. The whole movie was a mass of incongruities and unlikely events. The movie tale begins when a terrorist bomb blows up in a railway carriage, killing four, slightly injuring three, and leaving one physically unscathed (although suffering from a poorly acted amnesia by the child in the movie). Is it likely that a bomb intended to blow a plane out of the sky would only slightly injure three people and leave one totally untouched, while killing four, when it goes off accidentally in an enclosed railway carriage? Very unlikely.
The group that goes to Maggie Smith's (Emily Delahunty's) house after their brief hospitalization seem wooden enough to be sleepwalkers. There is no chemistry between the characters. The little girl, Aimee (or Amy) has no endearing traits that would lead Maggie Smith's character to become deeply attached to her in two days. In fact, the child doesn't act at all in this movie. There are also threads that lead nowhere, people whose relationships just don't jell, and character behaviour that makes no sense. For example, one scene has Maggie Smith's character forcing an unwilling guest to listen to her story of her unfortunate past. Why would Maggie Smith's character suddenly start unburdening herself of her childhood trauma to a wooden, unfriendly, and totally unlikeable visiting American?
Another example of unlikely events is the sudden presenting of the Emily Delahunty character as being a lush. This is not at all apparent at first and then is suddenly thrust upon us as she doesn't appear in any later scenes without a glass in her hand. She starts out the movie as an intelligent, sensitive, sober woman and finishes as a stumbling lush. Very strange and incongruous. And why would someone with such a huge drinking problem that she starts at 9 a.m. suddenly be suitable to look after a traumatized child?
There are also ideas that are never fully explored, like the child's artwork after her accident, her sudden recovery of her speech, the relationship between Quinty and the maid, and so on.
All in all, a very disappointing movie that I don't recommend unless you just like looking at beautiful Italian scenery.

Rating:
Summary: awful
Review: one of the worst films i ever saw......were we supposed to sympathize with the Maggie Smith Character?.....i was sympothizing with the Cooper having to suffer her drunken ramblings......the ending was laughable.....were we supposed to be happy that the child was left in the care of this mad drunkerd?....dear o dear......!

Rating:
Summary: Dark & Loathsome!
Review: This movie is a CHEAP knock-off of Enchanted April. Enchanted April is an uplifting, feel-good movie, one of our favorites. "My House.." has its moments, but for the most part has some VERY DARK undercurrents and images that cast a pall over the entire movie. It leaves you feeling depressed and icky! It is like the EVIL TWIN to Enchanted April which I highly recommend to men as well as Chicks! Guys will love Enchanted April. Shame on My House in Umbria for such a sordid copy catting of Enchanted April.

Rating:
Summary: Very touching
Review: This movie is very touching. It may not be the most surprising or action packed of movies, but it can touch you if you let it. So many people, all touched by the same tragedy, having to come together, and share and learn and grow together. I think you'll enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Very touching
Review: This movie is very touching. It may not be the most surprising or action packed of movies, but it can touch you if you let it. So many people, all touched by the same tragedy, having to come together, and share and learn and grow together. I think you'll enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Maggie's Showcase--For Better or Worse
Review: Writer Alan Bennett has been quoted as saying that we're "lucky to be living in her time." He was talking about Maggie Smith.

Bennett's observation seems a tad bittersweet. Yes, we're lucky to be living in her time because she's fabulous, but also because, unless we happen to catch her live on the West End stage, we aren't likely to see her in much of a leading part, ever. In fact, the noteworthy films in which this two-time Oscar winner has played the principal role basically consist of this made-for-HBO endeavor and *The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie* (1969).

The upshot is that *My House in Umbria* has a tremendous weight to bear--that of a legendary actress's best screen vehicle in thirty-five years. It seems a little unfair to judge it based on whether it's worthy of such a distinction, and I can't help wondering whether this accounts for some of this rather plotless film's, shall we say, generous critical reviews.

Still, the more times I see it--and it speaks volumes when I'm able to watch a movie more than once--the more I appreciate its leisurely, picturesque style, and the more uplifted I feel by its timely and refreshing theme: that of injured survivors being "set free" by their enjoyment of nature and each other.

And, ultimately, I begin to think of this movie as a vehicle worthy of its star, and as one in the recent string of high-quality HBO films that have been so good I've almost wanted to send the company a fan letter. Go, HBO.



Rating:
Summary: We should all learn to forgive
Review: You can read some of the other reviews to get more of the gist of the plot, but I just want to add that this movie is well worth seeing. This movie should move you. Dame Maggie Smith,portraying an aging romance novelist, is elegant, understated, and honest. She shows in her anguish the depths of her depression as she senses old age coming upon her and her appeal as a woman all but snuffed out. The girl (I don't have her name on hand, unfortunately) who played the child who had lost both her parents in the bomb blast and was still in the early stages of recovery when her uncle wanted to uproot her from her new home in Umbria, was breathtakingly luminous. The young actress plays the part with such sincerity. She does not have much of a speaking role, but she becomes by way of the intermingling of the characters, the focal point of the movie. Her interaction with Mrs. Delahonte (sp?)(Maggie Smith) and with Werner, the young German, is deeply moving.As Mrs. Delahonte (sp?) becomes deeply attached to the young girl and it appears that this relationship will be tragically severed, you realize that the notion of family and emotional bonding is never defined by blood ties alone. The relationship between Mrs. Delahonte and the young girl is beautifully portrayed. This movie is timeless in its message: we all should forgive because we all have something for which we need to be forgiven.