The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

Rating:
Summary: "Now I know the meaning of addiction."
Review: After bad reviews begin rolling in for her role as Juliet, aging actress, Karen Stone (Helen Mirren) retreats to Rome with her wealthy husband (Brian Dennehy). Rome is supposed to be a refuge, but Karen soon finds herself facing life alone without the solid protection of her husband. As a wealthy widow in Rome, she becomes the prey of a shady Italian Contessa (Anne Bancroft) who specializes in providing beautiful young men to older, lonely wealthy American women. The Contessa introduces Karen to the beautiful--but petulant--Paolo (French heartthrob, Oliver Martinez).

The original, excellent 1961 film "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" stars Vivian Leigh, and I approached this re-make version with skepticism. When remakes are made of already-excellent films, the remakes tend to be a disappointment. I am happy to say that this remake was not a disappointment--in fact, the remake exceeds the original. While the remake version is faithful to the original film, it also expands upon the story--making it much richer. This newer version explores the physical relationship between Karen and Paolo, and there is some nudity involved. The casting of the three main characters in the film is perfect--Anne Bancroft is the wily, mean-spirited, grasping Contessa. The contrast between her real life and the face she shows to society is shocking. Oliver Martinez as Paolo is perfect in this role. He's pretty boy-Paolo--and he'd prefer to not think about the nitty-gritty financial details underneath his role with Karen. Unfortunately, financial considerations are a reality for both Paolo and the Contessa. When Paolo starts telling his ridiculous, fictional stories, Martinez actually manages to act the role with an insincerity that is astonishing. But it is the exquisite Helen Mirren as Karen Stone who steals the film. Karen's humiliation increases as the affair deepens, and she struggles to maintain some sort of dignity and some sort of balance in the relationship. Karen begins using more and more make-up in desperate attempts to keep Paolo interested. When Karen and Paolo are in public, passer-bys look at the couple with ridicule. The sets are luscious, and Mirren's costumes are spectatular. The only complaint I have is the rotten accents (Mirren and Chris, the playwright)--if you can't do an accent properly--don't do one at all). This version of "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" was a delight and fans of the original should not be displeased--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: Masking Appearances of what is real and not.......
Review: I truly enjoyed this movie. It is about an aging and recent widow who gets exploited. She is well-known in America. She is living in Italy, in seculsion out of the public limelight. She gets introduced to a handsome man, played by Olivier Martinez. He is a giggilo.

What is unique about this movie is that with her most lasting lover, Martinez, he initially tries to come up with a story to also, like the rest, take her for her money. She knows that it "happened" before and tries not to focus so much attention on this man's story and looks at his handsome appearance, time he is spending with her, especially physically and emotionally, and to some degree feels some security.

They date like lovers. She tries hard at looking much younger than her actual age. He tells her she is beautiful. He also playes mind games. In the end, this Italian giggilo tries again to ask for money and she tells him in so few words that she knows he is playing her for her money.

There were some parts that presented the depth of each character so well and convincingly. For instance, Martinez doesn't leave this new found love. He could have left but doesn't. It is almost as he is in love with her personal qualities as a person, as a woman.

She also is becoming more involved. But in the end, the climax takes a different turn. Maybe Martinez was not such an opportunist afterall; maybe he also wanted the companionship, the friendship of this vulnerable woman.

I recommend this movie............Worth the view!

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Interpretation of Tennessee Williams' Tale
Review: It is reassuring to know that Amazon.com has placed the DVD version of the made-for-television movie THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE on the wait list for its release in March of this year. For those fortunate enough to have viewed this film last fall the queue to own this high quality version of a novel by Tennessee Williams starts here. For this reviewer this version is superior to the movie made years ago for theater audiences.

Mrs. Stone is an aging actress and devoted wife of a man who, after his wife's rather pathetic last bow on Broadway as Juliet, takes her to Rome to escape the critics and the public. She is a woman of means and when her husband dies suddenly of a heart attack she finds herself alone in a way she has never known. She decides to remain in Rome rather than returning to America. Though an actress by profession she is rather shy by nature and a vulnerable woman who stares a bit too long in the mirror that reminds her of her fading glamour. In attempting to 'adjust' to her new expatriate status she mingles and meets a lecherous 'Contessa' who loathes Americans (silently) for her postwar lack of money. Actually the Contessa makes her living by manipulating the wealthy visiting Americans, particularly lonely wealthy women who need succor. She 'arranges' dates with handsome Italian gigolos, encourages her men to make the women fall in love, and then perpetrates schemes to capture their money.

Mrs Stone is thus squired by legions of handsome men and eventually meets the one young gigolo with whom she can fall in love/lust. They have an extended affair until the obvious need for big money takes importance and Mrs Stone is left alone, injured, and feeling foolish. All during the story there is a disheveled beggar who stalks her and when she at last is left out in the cold, she invites the beggar up to her rooms for...and that is where Tennessee Williams leaves the ending to us!

Helen Mirren is wholly believable as Mrs Stone. She holds a flawless American accent, carries herself as the actress she is, and becomes as beautiful as any creature can become when love walks beside her. The costumer for the film provides spectacular gowns for her character and she carries them off with aplomb. The sleazy Contessa is played to a fare-thee-well by Anne Bancroft: you can almost smell her rags and wigs and evil breath. Mrs Stone's lover is Olivier Martinez and he burns up the screen with his sexuality and nobility of demeanor. Even the beggar is given the importance to be acted by Rodrigo Santoro who again proves that words are completely unnecessary when defining a sex symbol garbed even in filth. He is magic.

The settings are magnificent, the ironies between the wealthy and the poor are stated in just the right way, and all of Tennessee Williams' trademark characteristic symbols are in place. This is a superb film and an absolutely stunning performance by Helen Mirren. Get on the order list now and prepare for a pure delight in drama.

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Interpretation of Tennessee Williams' Tale
Review: It is reassuring to know that Amazon.com has placed the DVD version of the made-for-television movie THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE on the wait list for its release in March of this year. For those fortunate enough to have viewed this film last fall the queue to own this high quality version of a novel by Tennessee Williams starts here. For this reviewer this version is superior to the movie made years ago for theater audiences.

Mrs. Stone is an aging actress and devoted wife of a man who, after his wife's rather pathetic last bow on Broadway as Juliet, takes her to Rome to escape the critics and the public. She is a woman of means and when her husband dies suddenly of a heart attack she finds herself alone in a way she has never known. She decides to remain in Rome rather than returning to America. Though an actress by profession she is rather shy by nature and a vulnerable woman who stares a bit too long in the mirror that reminds her of her fading glamour. In attempting to 'adjust' to her new expatriate status she mingles and meets a lecherous 'Contessa' who loathes Americans (silently) for her postwar lack of money. Actually the Contessa makes her living by manipulating the wealthy visiting Americans, particularly lonely wealthy women who need succor. She 'arranges' dates with handsome Italian gigolos, encourages her men to make the women fall in love, and then perpetrates schemes to capture their money.

Mrs Stone is thus squired by legions of handsome men and eventually meets the one young gigolo with whom she can fall in love/lust. They have an extended affair until the obvious need for big money takes importance and Mrs Stone is left alone, injured, and feeling foolish. All during the story there is a disheveled beggar who stalks her and when she at last is left out in the cold, she invites the beggar up to her rooms for...and that is where Tennessee Williams leaves the ending to us!

Helen Mirren is wholly believable as Mrs Stone. She holds a flawless American accent, carries herself as the actress she is, and becomes as beautiful as any creature can become when love walks beside her. The costumer for the film provides spectacular gowns for her character and she carries them off with aplomb. The sleazy Contessa is played to a fare-thee-well by Anne Bancroft: you can almost smell her rags and wigs and evil breath. Mrs Stone's lover is Olivier Martinez and he burns up the screen with his sexuality and nobility of demeanor. Even the beggar is given the importance to be acted by Rodrigo Santoro who again proves that words are completely unnecessary when defining a sex symbol garbed even in filth. He is magic.

The settings are magnificent, the ironies between the wealthy and the poor are stated in just the right way, and all of Tennessee Williams' trademark characteristic symbols are in place. This is a superb film and an absolutely stunning performance by Helen Mirren. Get on the order list now and prepare for a pure delight in drama.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo! to Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez.
Review: Oh my, can Tennessee Williams write! I remember seeing the original film version "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" (1962) starring Vivian Leigh and Warren Beatty. The 1962 version was quite interesting because it had cast middle-aged Vivian Leigh (Gone With The Wind [1939]) and she played the role so believable. But I could not watch the film all the way through because of Warren Beatty. So I never saw the ending of the film and it is embarrassing to watch.
So when I found the 2002 version at Blockbuster Video, I couldn't wait to take it home to see it. Helen Mirren's performance is top-notch. Her acting and facial expressions are perfect. You can tell what she's thinking. Olivier Martinez is perfectly cast as well.(...) These two actors will draw you in to the storyline. Again so perfectly cast together. They work well together.
The very end of the film,I said "Bravo!". Bravo to the great acting in this film and the way it was made.
I will probably watch this version again.

Incidentally, Anne Bancroft plays the heavy (the Madame role) in this one, of course we all remember Anne Bancroft played a role, similar to Helen Mirren's, in The Graduate, where Dustin Hoffman played the "May" in the May-December romance and Anne Bancroft played the "December" as "Mrs. Robinson."
DVD includes interviews with Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo! to Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez.
Review: Oh my, can Tennessee Williams write! I remmeber seeing the original film version "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" (1962) starring Vivian Leigh and Warren Beatty. The 1962 version was quite interesting because it had cast middle-aged Vivian Leigh (Gone With The Wind [1939]) and she played the role so believable. But I could not watch the film all the way through because of Warren Beatty. So I never saw the ending of the film and it is embarrassing to watch.
So when I found the 2002 version at Blockbuster Video, I couldn't wait to take it home to see it. Helen Mirren's performance is top-notch. Her acting and facial expressions are perfect. You can tell what she's thinking. Olivier Martinez is perfectly cast as well.(...) These two actors will draw you in to the storyline. Again so perfectly cast together. They work well together.
The very end of the film,I said "Bravo!".
I will probably watch this version again.

Incidentally, Anne Bancroft plays the heavy (the Madame role) in this one, of course we all remember Anne Bancroft played a role, similar to Helen Mirren's, in The Graduate, where Dustin Hoffman played the "May" in the May-December romance and Anne Bancroft played the "December" as "Mrs. Robinson."
DVD includes interviews with Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez.

Rating:
Summary: Spring Can Last a Lifetime
Review: This film might bring back a little spring to your step while appealing to that sense of adventure we all stuff away as we get older.

The story was originally a novel by the great Tennessee Williams and it contains all of the tragic passion that Williams became a master of putting into words. Mrs. Stone is played by Helen Mirren as the ever tragic but beautiful lady aging in grace. With a career that begins to betray her, Mrs. Stone, travels to Italy with her stable but not very vigorous husband (Brian Dennehy) and falls in love with her surroundings. Tragically her ailing husband passes away and Mrs. Stone is left to contemplate her future as an aging widow with an ache for life and love. She returns to Italy only to be seduced by such beautiful evil due to her vulnerability. Anne Bancroft is exceptional as a countess (really a poor madam) who "befriends" Mrs. Stone. Eventually Mrs. Stone finds a new life, so she thinks, in the seduction of youth as found in a gorgeous gigolo (Olivier Martinez).

Helen Mirren is wonderful in this role as an aging but still absolutely vibrant widow. She makes the aging process look tireless and inspires a mature but youthful look at the world. Anne Bancroft is cunning and calculated as the Italian madam looking out for her own interests. What can anyone say about the extraordinary beauty of Olivier Martinez cast perfectly in his role as every rich and lonely woman's nightmare? Tennessee Williams has created a brilliant look into the brutal act of trying to age gracefully showing how the vulnerability of vanity can lead towards a horrible season. The backdrop of Italy adds a flavor that only encourages the characters into unknown passions. This film will leave you wondering if narcissism or maturity will rule in the rites of a glorious Italian spring.