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| March 2005 | SITE MAP SEARCH |
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My House In Umbria cast: Maggie Smith, Chris Cooper, Giancarlo Giannini, Ronnie Barker, and Timothy Spall director: Richard Loncraine 99 minutes (12) 2003 widescreen ratio 16:9 Momentum DVD Region 2 retail RATING: 4/10 reviewed by Gary Couzens |
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Emily Delahunty (Maggie Smith) is a romantic novelist living in Italy. One day she
takes a train, which is blown up by a bomb. She invites her fellow survivors to convalesce
at her house in Umbria. They are an elderly British general (Ronnie Barker, coming out
of retirement in a straight role), Werner, a young German (Benno Furmann) and a young
American girl, Aimee (Emmy Clarke), who has been orphaned by the blast. Soon afterwards,
Aimee's cold uncle (Chris Cooper) arrives, and a few secrets will be out before long... Based on a novella by William Trevor (which I haven't read), My House In Umbria was made for Home Box Office but given a cinema release. It has all the elements of a Merchant Ivory production: a literary source, a cast full of distinguished names, and plenty of lush photography of the Italian countryside. But unfortunately these don't add up to an engaging film. My House in Umbria proceeds at a glacial pace and never establishes a grip. Richard Loncraine pulls off an excellent stylised bomb-blast sequence, but the heat and torpor seem to have leaked into the celluloid of this film. Frankly, it's a bore. It certainly looks pretty on DVD though, with an anamorphic transfer in the original ratio of 1.78:1. It sounds fine too, in Dolby digital 5.1 with the surround channels filled with Claudio Capponi's music score. The only extra is the trailer.
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