Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

A writer impulsively buys a villa in Tuscany in order to change her life.

Director:

Audrey Wells

Writers:

Frances Mayes (book), Audrey Wells (screen story)

Stars:

Diane Lane, Raoul Bova, Sandra Oh

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diane Lane	...	Frances
Sandra Oh	...	Patti
Lindsay Duncan	...	Katherine
Raoul Bova	...	Marcello
Vincent Riotta	...	Martini
Mario Monicelli	...	Old Man with Flowers
Roberto Nobile	...	Placido
Anita Zagaria	...	Fiorella
Evelina Gori	...	Nona Cardinale
Giulia Steigerwalt	...	Chiara
Pawel Szajda	...	Pawel
Valentine Pelka	...	Jerzy
Sasa Vulicevic	...	Zbignew
Massimo Sarchielli	...	Nino
Claudia Gerini	...	Signora Raguzzi

Storyline

Frances Mayes is a San Francisco-based literature professor, literary reviewer and author, who is struggling in writing her latest book. Her outwardly perfect and stable life takes an unexpected turn when her husband files for divorce. He wants to marry the woman with whom he is having an affair. Frances supported her husband financially as he was writing his own book, and he sues her for alimony despite her financial difficulties. And he wants to keep the house. Frances eventually accepts her best friend Patti's offer of a vacation, a gay tour of Tuscany which Patti and her lesbian partner Grace originally purchased for themselves before Patti found out that she is pregnant. The gift is a means to escape dealing with the divorce, from which Patti feels Frances may never recover emotionally without some intervention. Feeling that Patti's assessment may be correct in that she has too much emotional baggage ever to return to San Francisco, Frances, while in Tuscany, impulsively ditches ...

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Plot Keywords:

villa | writer | book | vacation | author | 

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Taglines:

Life offers you a thousand chances ... all you have to do is take one.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language

Details

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English Italian Polish French Spanish German

Release Date:

26 September 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bajo el sol de Toscana

Filming Locations:

Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,751,425, 28 September 2003, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$43,610,723, 5 February 2004

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$58,878,723

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Timnick Films, Blue Gardenia Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kate Walsh plays the significant other of Sandra Oh; both went on to play doctors in Grey's Anatomy (2005).

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Goofs

When Frances is calling Patti from the phone booth right before it rains, her hair changes from behind her ear/pulled back neatly to in front of her ear/slightly messy

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Quotes

Patti: There's something strange about these trees. It's like they know.
Frances: And they know that we know that they know.
Patti: They're creepy. Creepy Italian trees. Of course, the baby's going to like them cause it's going to be a creepy Italian baby who goes around saying things like 'Ciao mama' and doing that weird backward hand wave thing. Life is strange.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.79 (2011)

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Soundtracks

I've Never Been in Love Before
Written by Frank Loesser
Performed by Alan Broadbent (as The Alan Broadbent Trio)
Courtesy of Concord Records

User Reviews

Italian for beginners...

Something very strange happened on the way to make this film. It appears as though director and adapter, Audrey Wells, threw the original text away only to create her own trip to Tuscany. With the help of her gorgeous star, Ms. Wells found backing for this pastiche she ended up presenting to us, which bears almost no resemblance to the original book by Frances Mayes.

This is a movie full of cliches: The lonely and naive American tourist that would stay in Italy, the Latin lover, the good lesbian friend, and last, but not least, the eccentric Brit living in the small town!

The best thing this film offers is the radiant Diane Lane, who is just gorgeous enough to make us forget the story and what is she doing in the mess she is in. Also, Lindsay Duncan, another great British actress doing a crude interpretation of her own "La Dolce Vita" some 44 years later.

This is a typical "date film" which will be enjoyed by those people that didn't read the book.