JOHN IRVIN
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB.
United Kingdom/USA, 1995. Anuline, Miramax. Screenplay by Trevor Bentham, based on the story by H.E. Bates. Cinematography by Pasqualino de Santis. Produced by Robert Fox. Music by Nicola Piovani. Production Design by Gianni Giovagnoni. Costume Design by Lia Francesca Morandini. Film Editing by Peter Tanner. Golden Globe Awards 1995. Toronto International Film Festival 1995.
Sweet romantic film, beautifully photographed and excellently adapted from the novella by H.E. Bates. Vanessa Redgrave plays a single tourist revisiting her favourite resort in Lake Como, one she often frequented as a young woman while her father was still alive. She meets a handsome ex-Major (Edward Fox), but finds his attention soon being dragged away by the arrival of an Italian family, whose delicious American governess (Uma Thurman) is more than just an eyeful. Of course, this doesn’t mean Redgrave doesn’t enjoy a little attention of her own from the young men, in her case an Italian suitor (Alessandro Gassman, Vittorio’s grandson). Nothing too substantial, but it’s such a marvelous, light delicacy, and Redgrave is at the absolute peak of her deliciously natural form.
