This is an understated romanctic film. This is probably down to the competent directing from Eastwood, and the exceptional acting ability of Streep, which she executes without much effort - at least it appears that way! Streep's character, Francesca, who is somewhat of a dreamer, was in search of an illusionary life, which was unobtainable, mainly because it only existed inside her head of fantasies. Indeed, the fantasy of the romance is only her interpretation of it via her journals. In reality, her romantic interlude would have turned sour because it would not live up to her expectations in everyday life, just as her idea of the American way of life didn't, being married to an ordinary farming lad.
As an Italian homemaker, Francesca is stereotyped from the start as the opera loving romantic, cooking breakfast for a largely unappreciative family in a mundane world, which she once viewed through rose tinted spectacles, whilst daydreaming back home in Italy.
The film's message is that romance can be deceptive, in that it misleads women into mundane lives that bear no reality to what they have been taught about it. But, women who crave romance, should demand it, and not be afraid to ask for it, or to admit to liking it for that matter. This is what Francesca should have done with her husband.
