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| Under the Tuscan Sun DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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Under the Tuscan Sun
(Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
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| DVD Release Date:
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February 3, 2004
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| Length:
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113 mins.
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| Rated:
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PG-13
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| Format:
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Widescreen (1.85:1) - Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions
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| Audio:
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Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, French Language Track
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| Subtitles:
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Spanish, English Captions
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| Extras:
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Deleted Scenes, "Tuscany 101" Making-Of Featurette, Audio Commentary with Director Audrey Wells
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The centerpiece of Under the Tuscan Sun is Italy. This is only fitting, since the film's main ingredient, like most Italian dishes, is cheese. Now I understand this is a "chick flick" per se, but even my wife admitted - cheese. Is this necessarily a bad thing? I guess not really. The movie was a moderate success, and I'll give it credit for not being so predictable - but there was just something about it. So I guess it had to be the cheese.
In Under the Tuscan Sun, loosely based on the best-selling memoir by Frances Mayes, Diane Lane stars as a jilted wife who accepts a trip to Tuscany where she ends up hopping off her tour bus on a whim and buying a 300-year old villa. While there, she meets new friends, finds new romance and works to restore the villa, signifying the restoration of her own failed life. Sure, parts of the story were romantic - even charming - and the locations in the film were often breathtaking, making me almost wish my wife would leave me so I could head off to Tuscany to start anew - but, it was the stuff in between that failed for me. There's not really one thing I can say that failed as a whole (besides Sandra Oh's character). Instead, it was more a bunch of moments in the story that, when put together, really put me off. Or, maybe I'm just cynical.
All that being said, the film's two stars do shine in this film. First Diane Lane, who I've admired since I first saw her in The Outsiders. Sure, she's a bit older now, but she's still a great actress and not too bad looking either. Second, there's Italy. What a beautiful country. Travel agents should start using this movie to promote travel to that country. Honorable mention should go to the eclectic cast of characters (except Sandra Oh) who round out the film. While secondary characters, they manage to each bring something unique that saves the movie from being a complete waste.
For the DVD release, we only get a few features. First, there's a commentary by director Audrey Wells. I'll give credit that this was actually an interesting commentary. She goes over the movie and points out a lot of things that I wouldn't have know otherwise. Examples include how she had wanted to make a movie about a jilted wife, and actually merged a story she was working on with the premise of the book - and how some of the secondary characters are actually well-known Italian actors. This was probably the most interesting for me. As I said, I enjoyed these performances, and learning a bit more about the people behind them was a treat. The commentary starts out strong, but I found it slowed by the end. I guess the director used all her good anecdotes in the beginning and just ran out of material. Still, a worthwhile listen if your interested in some stories from behind the camera. I would have liked a commentary by Diane Lane, but there was none here.
Next, there's a brief featurette about the making of Under the Tuscan Sun. Not a lot of material here besides the usual interviews with the cast and director. Although there's a brief clip the real-life Frances Mayes who wrote the book, it wasn't enough. It's her life depicted in the movie - the least we could have gotten was a look at where her life has gone since, but instead we get a brief sound byte that doesn't amount to much.
Finally, there are three deleted scenes which didn't really add to or take away from the movie. Unfortunately, there's no commentary or introduction to indicate why the scenes were left on the cutting room floor.
I had higher hopes for Under the Tuscan Sun and ended up a bit disappointed. Diane Lane was great - and I have a sudden urge to visit the boot country - but unfortunately, the story and the film's direction just didn't do it for me. Read the book instead.
| The Movie: |
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4/10 |
| The Extras: |
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4/10 |
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