I’ve never actually done a review like this before. But… no better time to start, I suppose. 

So, I went crazy a few weeks ago and set a bunch of movies on TV to record to the DVR, specifically old movies that I’ve never seen before but I hear people talk about all the time. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), then, was one of them. 

Okay, I’m just gonna keep this short and to the point. This movie was not perfect… but, I still loved it. 

I already knew the movie was based on a book before I watched it, because it was mentioned in the description… but, even so, I could have guessed that it was based on a book pretty quickly without the heads-up. I say that because the storyline was very well thought out and, although it seemed kind of like it in the beginning, it didn’t follow the typical roadmap for the type of tale that it was. 

Which leads me to describe a little more on the kind of story it actually is. The description I first read on my DVR said, “devastated by her philandering husband, a successful woman moves to Italy, buys a villa and befriends a married man.” Yeah, that’s actually a pretty terrible description, and it also kind of gave away a tidbit in the movie that wasn’t revealed until nearly the end (befriends a married man…). So, here’s my short, all you need to know description: a woman has a semi-mid-life crisis after getting a divorce and decides ‘what the hell’ when faced with the random opportunity to buy a villa in Italy. And then events unfold so on and so forth from there. 

So, what did I like about the film? Like I mentioned earlier, it was based on a book, well told, and… it had those little quirks. You know, like… well, Frances (our main character) found a broken faucet in her newly bought home. Or, at least, it was broken… but then it became quirky and started to leak whenever positive events occured. It came to represent more than just poor plumbing. And then there was an old man who Frances would watch as he put a new boquet of flowers in the pot outside for (I assumed) his late wife every morning. I like those little quirks, and I always love them when they’re added to books… and just as much, then, when they’re incorporated into movies as well. They just add to the story and give it more depth, like there’s more than one story to the… well, the story. 

And, also… I knew the whole movie was based on a book and everything, but I guess I didn’t put two and two together when I read that it was a book by Frances Mayes and that the main character’s name was… also Frances. Yeah, it was a memoir, and typical me didn’t figure that one out until the very end. But, anyway, more reason for you to enjoy the movie if you’re a memoir kind of person! 

So, all in all, I’d definitely recommend you to watch this movie the next chance you get. And, if I had to give it a star rating… I’d give it 4/5. It wasn’t perfect, though, so not a full 5… but still good enough to like it and give it a chance. And maybe I’m a little biased because Frances was a writer and I’m kind of a sucker for movies about writers… but, who cares, it was good and worth it. 

Let me know if you’ve seen Under the Tuscan Sun… or if you plan to in the near or distant future! 

-iKari 🎬