My House in Umbria (2003)

An unlikely group of people find solace and friendship after being thrown together in the wake of a terrorist attack.

Director:

Richard Loncraine

Writers:

William Trevor (novel), Hugh Whitemore (teleplay)

Stars:

Maggie Smith, Ronnie Barker, Chris Cooper

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 4 wins & 25 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maggie Smith	...	Mrs. Delahunty
Ronnie Barker	...	General
Chris Cooper	...	Thomas Riversmith
Benno Fürmann	...	Werner
Giancarlo Giannini	...	Inspector Girotti
Timothy Spall	...	Quinty
Libero De Rienzo	...	Doctor Innocenti
Emmy Clarke	...	Aimee
Cecilia Dazzi	...	Rosa Crevelli
Anna Longhi	...	Signora Barcini
Deirdre Harrison	...	Phyllis
Silvia De Santis	...	Madeleine
Alison Cameron Adam	...	General's Daughter (as Alison Adam)
Lynn Swanson	...	Francine Riversmith
Taddeo Harbutt	...	Young General

Storyline

After surviving a gruesome terrorist attack on an Italian train line, romance novelist Mrs. Emily Delahunty (Dame Maggie Smith) opens up her home and solitary life to a trio of stranded survivors. She soon forms friendships with each, but develops a special attachment to the young orphan Aimee (Emmy Clarke). So when Aimee's distant uncle arrives to retrieve her, Emily strives to convince the cold, mourning man that Umbria is Aimee's rightful home.

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Plot Keywords:

villa | girl | carpenter | ant | american | 

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Taglines:

Every survivor has a story. (US one-sheet)

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mrs. Emily Delahunty's (Dame Maggie Smith's) car is an Alfa Romeo 6C-2500, produced between 1947 and 1953. It is a five-seat touring car popular with affluent post-war customers interested in a sporty yet comfortable vehicle.

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Quotes

Mrs. Emily Delahunty: In the garden, delphiniums were in flower. Through scented twilight, the girl in the white dress walked with a step as light as a morning cobweb. That evening she hadn't a care in the world.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Misty
Music by Erroll Garner
Lyrics by Johnny Burke

User Reviews

Maggie Smith redeems flawed film about redemption

The HBO TV movie "My House in Umbria" should be seen primarily for the complex and layered performance of divine Maggie Smith. As romance novelist Emily Delahunty, she projects an image of refinement and elegance that conceals a deeper, darker self. That self is revealed slowly, and we find hidden within a character that is not only at variance with Miss Delahunty's adopted persona, but also very different from the prim and proper ladies Maggie Smith habitually plays on the silver screen. We see that Miss Smith is capable even of being seductive and slatternly, most unlike her many repressed and spinsterish roles.

Maggie Smith has the kind of mesmerizing voice and marvelous diction that would enable her to entertain film audiences by reading the proverbial telephone book. I am reminded of Glenda Jackson's (virtual) one-woman show in "Stevie" and Joanne Woodward's voice-over of "The Age of Innocence".

The rest of the characters in "My House in Umbria" are, alas, a motley crew, sketched in only very lightly, merely second bananas to Maggie Smith's central figure. The time of the story is difficult to pin down based on the clothes and motor cars, but one imagines it takes place during the 1970s, the era of the Bader-Meinhof gang in Germany and the Red Brigades in Italy. The denouement is a little too pat, but the journey is still well worth our while.

One of the key questions raised in the film is what anger would drive a human being to commit an act of terror. But it becomes quickly apparent that political terrorism is not the only kind of "man's inhumanity to man" that is intended here. The focus is, rather, on innocence shattered and destroyed, the cruelty visited by individuals upon each other, the sense of guilt that it engenders, and the possibility of forgiveness and redemption that always, always exists if we "seize the day" and allow ourselves to be happy.

Details

Official Sites:

HBO [United States]

Country:

UK Italy USA

Language:

English Italian German Latin

Release Date:

25 May 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mi casa en Umbria

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,324,900

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Films, Canine Films, Panorama Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1