My House in Umbria

Rating:
Summary: Maggie Smith is exquisite
Review: "My House In Umbria" is a beautifully filmed, well-written, and wonderfully acted film. Is it original in its plot? Not really. Is it exceptional in every way? No. There is one element that lifts this film above the norm: Maggie Smith. Dame Maggie is always brilliant, but in "My House In Umbria", she is positively radiant, mesmerizing, and completely unforgettable. Every nuance, every thought of her character shows on her exquisitely expressive face. If you are a fan of great acting, you love Maggie Smith already. This is one of her greatest roles on film. She makes this a must-see.

Rating:
Summary: "The somber side of things does not appeal to me."
Review: I am a fan of writer William Trevor, so when I saw that a film was going to be made of another of his books (there's also a film of his book "Felicia's Journey"), I contained my delight and waited for the film to appear on DVD.

"My House in Umbria" is the story of a late-middle-aged English woman, Mrs. Emily Delahunty (Maggie Smith) who lives in a glorious palatial home in Umbria, Italy. She's a writer of romance novels, and shares the house with a man named Quinty who seems to be both her confidante and manservant. One day she takes the train, and as she sits in the compartment, she soaks in the impressions she has of her fellow passengers. Tragically, a bomb explodes and kills most of the train compartments passengers. Mrs. Delahunty survives--along with a retired British general (Ronnie Barker), a young German man, Werner, and a pale, silent child, Aimee.

As Mrs. Delahunty recuperates in hospital, she is overwhelmed by sympathy for the other victims, and so she invites them to her home until things are sorted out and the police investigation is concluded.

I was really afraid that this film might be another of those awful imports that emphasize the eccentricity of the English, but the fact that the film is based on a Trevor novel, gave me hope for something a little more substantial. I was not disappointed. Maggie Smith as Mrs. Delahunty is magnificent. When Aimee's uncle, Tom Riversmith comes from America to take the child home, he dismisses Mrs. Delahunty cruelly as an old, gossipy drunk, but she's so much more than that. Mrs. Delahunty's memories of a far-from-perfect childhood serve to make her understanding, patient, and tolerant of all who stay at her home. Mr. Riversmith underestimates her, and he is the smaller person because of his judgment.

This film could certainly be included in a list of the film industry's love affair with Italy ("Enchanted April", "Under the Tuscan Sun", "Where Angels Fear to Tread"), for the scenery is spectacular and quite breathtaking. If you like the film, I also heartily recommend the book by William Trevor. It's called "Two Lives", and "My House in Umbria" is one of the two novellas in the book. The book is more substantial than the film, of course,--as is usually the case,--and the story delves much more into Mrs. Delahunty's past--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: "The somber side of things does not appeal to me."
Review: I am a fan of writer William Trevor, so when I saw that a film was going to be made of another of his books (there's also a film of his book "Felicia's Journey"), I contained my delight and waited for the film to appear on DVD.

"My House in Umbria" is the story of a late-middle-aged English woman, Mrs. Emily Delahunty (Maggie Smith) who lives in a glorious palatial home in Umbria, Italy. She's a writer of romance novels, and shares the house with a man named Quinty who seems to be both her confidante and manservant. One day she takes the train, and as she sits in the compartment, she soaks in the impressions she has of her fellow passengers. Tragically, a bomb explodes and kills most of the train compartments passengers. Mrs. Delahunty survives--along with a retired British general (Ronnie Barker), a young German man, Werner, and a pale, silent child, Aimee.

As Mrs. Delahunty recuperates in hospital, she is overwhelmed by sympathy for the other victims, and so she invites them to her home until things are sorted out and the police investigation is concluded.

I was really afraid that this film might be another of those awful imports that emphasize the eccentricity of the English, but the fact that the film is based on a Trevor novel, gave me hope for something a little more substantial. I was not disappointed. Maggie Smith as Mrs. Delahunty is magnificent. When Aimee's uncle, Tom Riversmith comes from America to take the child home, he dismisses Mrs. Delahunty cruelly as an old, gossipy drunk, but she's so much more than that. Mrs. Delahunty's memories of a far-from-perfect childhood serve to make her understanding, patient, and tolerant of all who stay at her home. Mr. Riversmith underestimates her, and he is the smaller person because of his judgment.

This film could certainly be included in a list of the film industry's love affair with Italy ("Enchanted April", "Under the Tuscan Sun", "Where Angels Fear to Tread"), for the scenery is spectacular and quite breathtaking. If you like the film, I also heartily recommend the book by William Trevor. It's called "Two Lives", and "My House in Umbria" is one of the two novellas in the book. The book is more substantial than the film, of course,--as is usually the case,--and the story delves much more into Mrs. Delahunty's past--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: Still undecided [Warning: Includes Spoilers]
Review: I am a great Maggie Smith fan, so when I found this movie, I had to see it. I must say, in my opinion I would classify it as an "Artsy-Fartsy" movie... but in spite of that, I LOVED IT. To a certain degree, I think everyone can identify with a life full of pains and sorrows, and still being able to help out others when they are in need. This is the description of true humanity... to see past your own pains, and lend a hand to someone else. The only thing in my opinion that makes this unsuitable for pre-teens, other than excessive alcohol consumption to mask emotional pain, is that there is a quick flash of Mrs Delahuntys upper torso, at one point.

Rating:
Summary: Touching!
Review: I am a great Maggie Smith fan, so when I found this movie, I had to see it. I must say, in my opinion I would classify it as an "Artsy-Fartsy" movie... but in spite of that, I LOVED IT. To a certain degree, I think everyone can identify with a life full of pains and sorrows, and still being able to help out others when they are in need. This is the description of true humanity... to see past your own pains, and lend a hand to someone else. The only thing in my opinion that makes this unsuitable for pre-teens, other than excessive alcohol consumption to mask emotional pain, is that there is a quick flash of Mrs Delahuntys upper torso, at one point.

Rating:
Summary: Still undecided [Warning: Includes Spoilers]
Review: I am still undecided on this one.

I really like Dame Maggie Smith. Initially I liked the woman she was cast as - especially the internal dialogue she had as she assessed people around her (in the intuitive, and perhaps at times, overly imaginative nature of a writer). However, I found her character grew irritating as the movie progressed. She kept pursuing Chris Cooper's character. The ruder he was to her, the more she followed him. Suddenly her intuition evaporates and she seems pathetic.

There was so much more warmth and interest in the moments when she interacted with the other characters - especially the elderly gentleman who had lost his daughter. But these relationships were cut short by her increasing (and - to me - eventually irrational) obsession with River-Smith (the Chris Cooper character). The scene with him in his bedroom did not really make sense to me. Are you really going to begin to undress with someone who is being so dramatically hateful to you - no matter how drunk you are?

My favorite part of the story surrounded the German man. I truly liked his character. I was shocked when he turned out to be linked to the bombing. But there was such a grace in how Dame Maggie's character was able to forgive him. And such sorrow in him as he tried to help the little girl (whose parents he realized he had taken from her).

That bizarre element was the one redeeming thing for me from the movie. How easy it is to hate people you don't know. How it becomes conceivable to forgive people once you know them, once you eat with them, and they build a garden with you.

Rating:
Summary: Annoyingly Bad
Review: I had high hopes for this movie, having fallen in love with "Under A Tuscan Sun" and hoping that "My House In Umbria" would be similar.

I couldn't have been further from the truth. Quite frankly, I hated this movie. I thought Maggie Smith was pompous and incredibly annoying, particularly in her pursuit of the American which didn't seem to fit anywhere into the movie.

If it's Italy you're craving do yourself a favor and rent "Under A Tuscan Sun".

Rating:
Summary: A mesmerizing performance by Dame Maggie Smith
Review: I have put off watching "My House in Umbria" because having seen the trailers I assumed it was similar to "A Room With a View" or "My House in Tuscany." That was because the trailers emphasized the cast and the location rather than the plot. So when I finally watched this 2003 film made for HBO I was rather surprised to discover what "My House in Umbria" is all about.

The film is based on William Trevor's 1991 short novel. The house in Umbria belongs to Emily Delahunty (Maggie Smith), an aging romance novlist who boards a train for a shopping trip to Milan. She finds a seat in a crowded compartment where she joins an American family with a young daughter who likes to ask questions, a pair of young German lovers who are busy enjoying each other, and a retired English general and his family. Then a bomb goes off.

Most of the people in the compartment are killed by the blast. Along with Emily one member from each group surives the explosion and end up in the same hospital with varying degrees of wounds, both physical and psychological. Eventually Emily takes the other survivors back to her house in Umbria, where she and her faithful servant Quinty (Timothy Spall) continue to minister to their needs. But what has happened intrudes on this peaceful environment, first when an Italian police inspector (Giancarlo Giannini) shows up as part of the investigation of the bomb and then when Thomas Riversmith (Chris Cooper) arrives to claim his relative.

The character of Emily Delahunty is more compelling that the story. Played with a rather uncharacteristic restraint by Smith, she is a novelist who cannot help but see stories in the people she has taken into her home. I do not mean this in the sense that she wants to exploit their tragedy by writing a story but rather that her writer's imagination is always filing in the gaps regarding the lives of her visitors. A word or a look is enough for Emily to imagine the rest, spinning out the narrative in her mind. Based on these imaginings, whose accuracy is always in question, she reacts accordingly, and the question is whether she is healing herself at the same time she is trying so hard to heal these others.

Both Hugh Whitemore's script and director Richard Loncraine's do what they can to showcase Smith's performance. This dame Dame Maggie is not puling out all the stops but showing the importance of small things, like a quick glanced or a carefully nuances word. The police inspector and Riversmith both represent challenges to the way Emily sees the world, but out hearts if not out minds are with her efforts.

Rating:
Summary: Maggie Smith's most delightful role.
Review: I rented this film, because I wanted to see Maggie Smith's performance, and the landscapes. I wasn't expecting it to touch me, and I assumed it to be a light comedy like Under The Tuscan Sun Or Tea With Musolini kind of films. It's a simple story of unconditional love and dealing with ones demons and shadows from the past. Maggie Smith did a great job at revealing her character's inner layers and I was very simpathetic towards her, and understood why she was so eccentric and self-absorbing. She's misunderstood by most people except the little girl whom she had connected to in many ways. Ultimately, she uses all her life experiences and pain and the people around her as material for her novels. It's amazing to realize that her character is a real survivor of hardship and struggle. By the time Chris Cooper resent the little girl back to Maggie Smith to live with her in Umbria, the joy and happiness finally eclipsed the past. It was wonderful to see Smith in a wonderful role so opposite from her super-slob role in Gosford Park. I was so touched by the ending scene, and I think this is going to be one of my all time favorite Maggie Smith films.

Rating:
Summary: CAN'T WAIT FOR THE DVD
Review: I saw this lovely film on HBO, and it's to their immense credit that this film was seen at all. This film would never be released by a major studio these days. They are only concerned with huge blockbuster movies, yet anyone who cares about a strong, emotional story, set in gorgeous Umbria and starring Maggie Smith shouldn't miss this gem.

Maggie Smith stars as an aging romance novelist living in splendid isolation in her villa in the Umbrian countryside. On a shopping trip, the train she's traveling on is bombed by terrorists. When the dust is settled, Smith, and several of the travelers who shared her compartment, are in the hospital, including a little girl who has lost her parents. Smith generously offers her home as a refuge for the survivors to recuperate.

The traumatized little girl can't speak. Smith's heart goes out to her, and she does her best to make her as comfortable as possible. Smith's rather bohemian character, as well as her fondness for cocktails makes her a slightly madcap, tipsy hostess. Rather lonely of late, this unexpected intrusion in her life makes her feel needed. There's a young man with a secret to hide, and an older pensioner who round out the group. Then the little girl's uptight uncle (played with unstated eloquence by Chris Cooper) comes to take custody of his brother's orphaned daughter.

Smith is devasted by his coldness, his disapproval, and senses that he simply is taking the girl out of a sense of duty to his brother.

I won't give anymore of the plot away. Dame Maggie won a well-deserved Emmy for her superb portrayal of a middle-aged spinster, lonely for love, and with her own tragic past, who finds a purpose in her life in the aftermath of tragedy. The script is superb, the Italian settings and the gorgeous period costumes as well as fine work from a strong cast, make this a memorble viewing experience.

Nobody captures loneliness as truthfully as Dame Maggie. She's been doing it throughout her long career, as Rod Taylor's assistant in the bloated VIPs, as the headstrong teacher in THE PRME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, as the actress nominated for an Oscar in CALIFORNIA SUITE, and countless other memorable screen portraits. Highly recommended.