Day 22 - Under The Tuscan Sun
First Impressions:
Diane Lane made "Under The Tuscan Sun" worth watching.
Diversity! Rather than the usual all-white cast (maybe a token black/gay bff), we have Sandra Oh as Frances' best friend and half of a lesbian couple. The gay best friend trope is not entirely applicable here since Sandra Oh's character encounters her own drama when her partner leaves her while she is pregnant. There was also an East Indian waiter. I think there were Middle Eastern sales people in "The 40 Year Old Virigin".
Personal Reflections:
"Even though I'm old, my heart still aches."
Like "As Good As It Gets", I was confused as to whom Frances would be with by the end of the movie, but unlike "As Good As It Gets", that was the point. (If this was a murder mystery I would have been disappointed because it's the equivalent of someone you have never seen being the murderer.) The point is that you don't need to run around chasing ladybugs; you should wait for them to come to you. Like ladybugs, love is flighty. I thought she would go for the married lawyer, then the literary Polish worker, then Marcello, the hot Italian guy she kisses to stave off the advances of some other hot Italians. I appreciated the change - your perfect match doesn't always have to be someone you work with, or the best friend who has secretly pined after you, which you become aware of only after snorting wishing dust.
There are always Marcellos - the intense ones we wish could commit, but can't. They aren't always assholes like Glenn Guglia either. Sometimes they are just Italian. Marcello is not punished for breaking our heroine's heart, which is the more realistic outcome. Though, in Italy a fifty year old man hitting on chicks appears to be the norm.
Meanwhile, in "Left Sole(s)" Glenn, fifty-three years old, moves to Italy where his penchant for young girls, white suits, and gull-wing doors is culturally applauded. Unfortunately, the year is 2008. Glenn has sold his neighbors in the villa mortgage-backed security bonds. The stock market has plummeted leaving Glenn a penniless pariah for losing his neighbors' retirement funds. He flees his villa for Cortona where he is unknown. There, the only women who pay him any attention are young and looking for rich husbands, which he seems to be. Glenn tries to seduce Katherine so he can gain some security whilst scoring some 'grade A top choice meat' on the side, however, Katherine tells him he's too old for her! Glenn is a thirsty man indeed. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. End scene.
Love happens at any age: Pawel and Chiara are young love. Frances is in between and the grandma with the Ecuadorian pen pal is elderly love. No matter age or geography: Love hurts. The story of Pawel and Chiara is one of "meant to be" versus "security". Chiara's parents are concerned with security but Pawel and Chiara are Noah and Allie; can't tell them nothing. Chalk another tally in the "meant to be" column.
The character I find most compelling is Katherine, the actress. She wasn't particularly worried about getting married or finding a man, content to indulge in sensory pleasures whether it be rubbing a baby duckling along her decolletage or being painted nearly nude by a young Italian man. Frances is enchanted by her, slowly changing her style of dress and hair to mirror Katherine's. Katherine is the Samantha of "Under The Tuscan Sun" where Frances is the Carrie. Katherine is a literal feminine mystique whereas Katherine is Betty Friedan's "Feminine Mystique" - a woman borne into a cultural paradigm of domestication who finds herself deeply unsatisfied.
As Frances embraces her inner-Samantha, with trepidation, she becomes happier. The journey of actualization is scary and I suspect the book goes into greater depth. Throwing on a sexy white dress would transform the main character in a conventional rom-com, but here it leads to Frances throwing love out the window entirely, reverting to her former self. And here's where things get cheesy: the ladybug metaphor becomes the literal mechanism that leads her to a writer who is her one-true-love. I would argue that Frances does not attain the mystique of Katherine. She has evolved but not to Katherine's unabashedly hedonistic levels; Frances finds her own balance between the two.
Now the big revelation: this is the first movie on the list written by a woman. Source material: Frances Mayes. Written, produced, and directed by: Audrey Wells.
Rom-Com Tropes:
1. Ends with a wedding.
2. The main character is a writer. So many characters are in the profession of print that I have no choice but to categorize it as trope.
3. Italian men can't commit to one woman mi scusi!
Soundtrack:
Nothing of note.
Diane Lane made "Under The Tuscan Sun" worth watching.
Diversity! Rather than the usual all-white cast (maybe a token black/gay bff), we have Sandra Oh as Frances' best friend and half of a lesbian couple. The gay best friend trope is not entirely applicable here since Sandra Oh's character encounters her own drama when her partner leaves her while she is pregnant. There was also an East Indian waiter. I think there were Middle Eastern sales people in "The 40 Year Old Virigin".
Personal Reflections:
"Even though I'm old, my heart still aches."
Like "As Good As It Gets", I was confused as to whom Frances would be with by the end of the movie, but unlike "As Good As It Gets", that was the point. (If this was a murder mystery I would have been disappointed because it's the equivalent of someone you have never seen being the murderer.) The point is that you don't need to run around chasing ladybugs; you should wait for them to come to you. Like ladybugs, love is flighty. I thought she would go for the married lawyer, then the literary Polish worker, then Marcello, the hot Italian guy she kisses to stave off the advances of some other hot Italians. I appreciated the change - your perfect match doesn't always have to be someone you work with, or the best friend who has secretly pined after you, which you become aware of only after snorting wishing dust.
There are always Marcellos - the intense ones we wish could commit, but can't. They aren't always assholes like Glenn Guglia either. Sometimes they are just Italian. Marcello is not punished for breaking our heroine's heart, which is the more realistic outcome. Though, in Italy a fifty year old man hitting on chicks appears to be the norm.
Meanwhile, in "Left Sole(s)" Glenn, fifty-three years old, moves to Italy where his penchant for young girls, white suits, and gull-wing doors is culturally applauded. Unfortunately, the year is 2008. Glenn has sold his neighbors in the villa mortgage-backed security bonds. The stock market has plummeted leaving Glenn a penniless pariah for losing his neighbors' retirement funds. He flees his villa for Cortona where he is unknown. There, the only women who pay him any attention are young and looking for rich husbands, which he seems to be. Glenn tries to seduce Katherine so he can gain some security whilst scoring some 'grade A top choice meat' on the side, however, Katherine tells him he's too old for her! Glenn is a thirsty man indeed. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. End scene.
Love happens at any age: Pawel and Chiara are young love. Frances is in between and the grandma with the Ecuadorian pen pal is elderly love. No matter age or geography: Love hurts. The story of Pawel and Chiara is one of "meant to be" versus "security". Chiara's parents are concerned with security but Pawel and Chiara are Noah and Allie; can't tell them nothing. Chalk another tally in the "meant to be" column.
The character I find most compelling is Katherine, the actress. She wasn't particularly worried about getting married or finding a man, content to indulge in sensory pleasures whether it be rubbing a baby duckling along her decolletage or being painted nearly nude by a young Italian man. Frances is enchanted by her, slowly changing her style of dress and hair to mirror Katherine's. Katherine is the Samantha of "Under The Tuscan Sun" where Frances is the Carrie. Katherine is a literal feminine mystique whereas Katherine is Betty Friedan's "Feminine Mystique" - a woman borne into a cultural paradigm of domestication who finds herself deeply unsatisfied.
As Frances embraces her inner-Samantha, with trepidation, she becomes happier. The journey of actualization is scary and I suspect the book goes into greater depth. Throwing on a sexy white dress would transform the main character in a conventional rom-com, but here it leads to Frances throwing love out the window entirely, reverting to her former self. And here's where things get cheesy: the ladybug metaphor becomes the literal mechanism that leads her to a writer who is her one-true-love. I would argue that Frances does not attain the mystique of Katherine. She has evolved but not to Katherine's unabashedly hedonistic levels; Frances finds her own balance between the two.
Now the big revelation: this is the first movie on the list written by a woman. Source material: Frances Mayes. Written, produced, and directed by: Audrey Wells.
Rom-Com Tropes:
1. Ends with a wedding.
2. The main character is a writer. So many characters are in the profession of print that I have no choice but to categorize it as trope.
3. Italian men can't commit to one woman mi scusi!
Soundtrack:
Nothing of note.
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