The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003) (TV)

Director:

Robert Allan Ackerman

Writers:

Martin Sherman (writer)
Tennessee Williams (novella)

Release Date:

4 May 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A failing star is faced with a life-style change when her rich husband suddenly dies while they are en route to Italy...

Plot Keywords:

Gigolo | Aging | May December Romance | Companion | Actress

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 10 nominations

Cast

Helen Mirren	...	Karen Stone
Olivier Martinez	...	Paolo di Lio
Anne Bancroft	...	Contessa
Rodrigo Santoro	...	Young Man
Brian Dennehy	...	Tom Stone
Roger Allam	...	Christopher
Victor Alfieri	...	Lorenzo
Suzanne Bertish	...	Julia
Jane Bertish	...	Karen's Secretary
Tara Lynne O'Neill	...	Angel Hunter
Salvatore Lazzaro	...	Barber
Sara James	...	Hairdresser
Riccardo Sardonè	...	Marco (as Riccardo Sadroné)
Dona Granata	...	Mama Pepisco
Aldo Signoretti	...	Papa Pepisco

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

Israel:108 min | USA:114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Showtime Networks

Trivia:

'Ann Bancroft (I)''s last live action film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Paolo takes off his shirt in the car, the blue tattoo on his chest shows through the makeup intended to conceal it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards (2004) (TV)

step back

If there is a treatment of the Tennesse Williams novella better than the 1961 Jose Quintero film version, this is not it. Handicapped by mediocre direction by Robert Allan Ackerman, even stalwarts like Helen Mirren and Anne Bancroft emerge scathed in what is essentially a generic reading of intimacy and cruelty.

Williams novella continues his themes of sexual power play, with the former actress Karen Stone representing the liberation of a sexually repressed older women by the hustler Paolo, a younger man, at a price. Since the relationship is based on economics and inequality, it is therefore doomed to fail. However, Karen is presented as the morally weaker person, since Paolo may have the most to gain but Karen has the most to lose. And the figure of The Young Man, a street urchin who follows her around, is clearly a symbol of death and of Karen's fate.

The teleplay by Martin Sherman introduces Karen as married to Tom (Brian Dennehy in the movie's best performance), who has a weak heart - perhaps because he is overweight - and apologies to her for their lack of sex life. She responds 'If I wanted to act like an animal, I would have married an animal'. It is only after Tom dies, when Karen decides to 'linger' and 'drift' in Rome that she is seized upon by the Iago-like Contessa (Bancroft) who introduces her to Paolo (Olivier Martinez) as one in a series of 'marcetta'. Karen is also given a friend in gay playwright Christopher (Roger Allam - who copies Tennessee Williams southern drawl and evil cackle), a Williams figure who throws bon mots like 'I haven't seen such bravery since Dunkirk' regarding Karen's attempt to play Juliet on Broadway. Christopher has his own marcetta, which draws an analogy of Karen as an aging gay man.

Sherman gives Karen one funny line to answer Christopher's question 'Can nothing tempt you back on to the stage' in 'Only amnesia'. Karen talks of beauty being a 'godly license' and her license being revoked, describing her awakening and desire for Paolo as a 'drug' to which she is addicted. The Young Man (Rodrigo Santoro) shows Karen his penis under the pretext of urinating, and a flashback device is used to frame The Young Man's view of Karen on her rooftop. However regrettably Sherman also uses 'Rome wasn't built in a day'.

Ackerman makes reference to Vivien Leigh by having Mirren styled to copy her, particularly in her early haughtiness and a later red-brown hairstyle. Mirren is the better actress, but Leigh was better at portraying a neurotic, so that Mirren's repeated scenes of self-revulsion over her imagined decay body are clearly delusionary in light of Mirren's preserved body. Mirren's best moment may be the on-stage giggle of her Juliet, and her last - her welcoming smile when she faces The Young Man at the end. Bancroft is funny in her coarseness and showing the Contessa's sour contempt for Karen, but Martinez never succeeds in stealing our empathy away from Mirren. Although Martinez' beautiful mouth is rationale enough for her infatuation with him, Santoro is a much more romantic figure, with an even better mouth!

Ackerman uses a faux-Hitchcockian melodramatic music score by composer John Altman that often fights the dialog, expressionist camera and slow-motion, and an overload ticking clock for the end. But he also cross-cuts between Paolo having a face massage and Karen having her hair dyed, black and white home movies of Karen and Paolo with them arguing, and has a brief close-up of Mirren's eyes when Karen is listening to Paolo, knowing that he is lying to her.