lasttimeisaw
The seismic importance of doing nothing in a new environment, preferably, a picturesque one, brings the quartet of four British women together from the inclement and dreary London in 1920s, to a whole month vacation in San Salvatore, Italy. Mrs. Lottie Wilkins (Lawrence) is the eager enabler, who relentlessly eggs on Mrs. Rose Arbuthnot (Richardson) to be her traveling companion and share the 60 pound rent from the proprietor George Briggs (Kitchen). Later, they are joined by another two guests the gorgeous socialite Caroline Dester (Walker) and the grumpy elderly widow Ms. Fisher (Plowright). This four women each has their very distinctive characteristics, Lottie is married to a steady but unimaginative lawyer Mellersh (Molina), whose business intuition and practicality always precede romantic consideration in their torpid marriage. But Lottie is an irrepressible happy-go-lucky, as she often states, she can see inside of a person, socially clumsy and frivolous, nevertheless, she never represses to be herself and is a perpetual transporter of mirth and cheerfulness no matter how inarticulate she is. Rose is a more levelheaded type, but also entrapped in a stagnant marriage with Frederick (Broadbent), a swinging novelist, as she laments, "I bore him, and it is impossible to un-bore a person?", sexually- oppressed, her life needs to be reinvigorated. Caroline, is a young woman who owns everything, beauty, social status, wealth and countless suitors, yet, she is fundamentally disturbed by the emptiness of all of them, she needs time and space to think and un-think, a rich girl's blues. Finally Ms. Fisher, whose dame aura is a deterrent to cheap sympathy, piercingly ruminates her co-existence with solitude and battles the reliance on her walking stick. Directed by Newell before his career vertex FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (1994, 7/10), the film is comfortably confident with its ethereal location and simply storyline, most of the time nothing is happening, it is just 4 women enjoys their holiday with occasional and harmless bickering, cozily accompanied by some gleeful references of cultural discrepancy, embellishing with the straightforward Italian farce in the background. Then comes the high point when Mellersh, George and Frederick are all joined in the same room, a whiff of budding romance, awkward encounter and rekindled passion all materialise in the final act, but Newell maintains a firm hand not to let it slip into a chaotic fuss, instead, the vacation ends in a dignified fashion with which everyone seems to be content although as the ending implies, there is another story when they are back in London. A journey can rarely alter one's entire path-of-life, but it is a remedial getaway everyone needs (although a pretext is that you can afford it, with your nest egg sometimes), and it is a film in urgent demand of a BluRay upgrade, for all its stunning scenery and fine performances.Plowright won a Golden Globe and is Oscar-nominated for her mighty assurance and resounding thespian background, but can one buy her about-turn completely in the end? Not for me. The unheralded Polly Walker, is captivating to behold by her force of personality, evades any pretension one can reasonably expect judging by her character's background, and indeed she is the one generates more pathos among them all. Miranda Richardson, this versatile British actress, who is still under-appreciated although being twice Oscar-nominated, establishes adequate poignancy with subtlety while drawing a veil over her certain scene-stealing revelation, which syncs flawlessly with Josie Lawrence's adorable imprudence. In the gent department, as clearly in the supporting category, only Molina's expressive formality registers a strong impression. After all, ENCHANTED APRIL is not just a must-see for Anglophiles, it also has a unique weightless charm renders itself distinctive, you should give it a try, and hopefully, with a BluRay version in the near-future.
rlujay
Enchanted April is a tone poem, an impressionist painting, a masterpiece of conveying a message with few words. It has been one of my 10 favorite films since it came out. I continue to wait, albeit less patiently, for the film to come out in DVD format. Apparently, I am not alone.If parent company Amazon's listings are correct, there are many people who want this title in DVD format. Many people want to go to Italy with this cast and this script. Many people want to keep a permanent copy of this film in their libraries. The cast is spectacular, the cinematography and direction impeccable. The film is a definite keeper. Many have already asked. Please add our names to the list.
L. Denis Brown
Two thirds of nearly 2,000 IMDb users who have voted on this film have rated it at 8, 9 or 10 and one user reports wearing out six videotapes (Was this a record, or merely a faulty VCR?). Although the film is primarily intended as a period piece it clearly has a quite unusual fascination. But for some reason I imagined it as largely whimsy and until recently never felt the urge to watch it. My mind was changed by Elizbeth Von Arnim's original book. My wife loves reading but her sight no longer allows her to read much so she borrowed it in talking book form. Such books are usually irritating to a companion who is busy with other things, but I gradually came to appreciate that this one was seductively soothing, although in no way syrupy, and was also very well written. I realised my wife would enjoy watching the film, and so decided to buy her the videotape. I am now very glad that I did, and would certainly recommend its purchase to anyone else who appreciates a quiet reflective work with no fireworks but with well constructed character development and a very successful pre-Mussolini Italian atmosphere. The story is set in the immediate post WW1 period and starts with two married London ladies who decide to pool their savings and enjoy a holiday together, away from their families, in a rented villa in Italy. Force of circumstances lead to this couple being joined by two others with very different characters and backgrounds. Its theme is essentially no more than the interactions that take place as their holiday progresses, not only between these four very disparate mature ladies, but also with the occasional male visitor. If you want action, thrills, dramatic sex scenes, natural or man-made disasters, or Harlequin style romances this would not be the film for you. But IMDb users have collectively and very emphatically demonstrated that none of these are necessary for a film to prove highly rewarding to watch, and if you care to give it a try you may, as I did, come to rank it among your much loved films.It is fairly rare for me to watch a film of a book with which I am already familiar. In many cases I find this takes some of the pleasure away from watching the film, but here there is such a strong visual appeal in the setting that I actually found my pleasure augmented by the anticipation of seeing the next segment of the book, effectively unrolled before my eyes. (Perhaps Italy itself has some part in this, the last time I had this experience was when I was watching tales from Boccaccio's Decameron on TV.) Generally films of books tend to increase the dramatic level of the original work to ensure that the filmed version has an even wider appeal, but here if anything it is reduced in order to keep the viewers attention on the gradual character development rather than on any background events. This works very well, although changes from the book are few and basically the film remains true to the original story. Great credit is due to the Director, Mike Newell, and all members of the cast, particularly those well known British Actresses who play the four principal ladies.
