Under the Tuscan Sun
Sep 4th, 2003, 07:19 AM
#22
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The movie is enough different from the book, that they post a notice in the credits that it is a fictionalization of the book.
The Italian cooking still appears in the movie. Don't go hungry
Keith
The Italian cooking still appears in the movie. Don't go hungry
Keith
Sep 5th, 2003, 11:46 AM
#23
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How on earth did I miss the Year in Provence series?! We're frequent watchers of A&E too. I'll have to search for it.
Perhaps since the previews show Diane Lane doing home improvement on an Italian home, there is enough similarity from the book to pass the title police.
Perhaps since the previews show Diane Lane doing home improvement on an Italian home, there is enough similarity from the book to pass the title police.
Sep 5th, 2003, 02:40 PM
#24
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hlphillips2: I bought my tapes of A Year in Provence at amazon.com. Thought I would pass it on in case you are interested in purchasing them. I have no idea when they originally ran on TV, but preferred having them so I could watch them whenever I wish, rather than waiting and hoping they might do reruns on PBS/A&E.
Mar 2nd, 2004, 06:26 AM
#25
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Koshka: In your reply you said:
"In the book, the author is happily married to another American (both from SF/Bay Area)..."
Have you finished Bella Tuscany yet? Didn't you love the "surprise" wedding at the end?! One of my favorite scenes from the books.
As for the movie, I saw it last night on DVD. It was a cute romantic comedy, involving a somewhat ditzy American and a succession of love affairs and heartbreaks. I enjoyed it, in the same sense I enjoyed "You've Got Mail"...with some incredible scenery thrown in.
But the books were the narrative of a love affair with Tuscany itself...its culture, the house and its surrounding land. It seems to me they could have made a good movie...somewhat in the vein of "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse" and "Baby Boom". The books certainly contained a enough anecdotes: funny, heartbreaking, insightful, artistic...to fill up the screen for 80 minutes. What a shame to have left out the moment they discovered the murals on the dining room walls, covered by years of whitewash...the ancient Etruscan road leading to town...and the "Madonna of the Cat Hole". And the surprise at the end of Bella Tuscany could have been dynamite on the screen.
I just never understood the necessity of leaving out the real romance portrayed in the books. I wonder if A&E or Masterpiece Theater will eventually take these books and do them justice on film.
"In the book, the author is happily married to another American (both from SF/Bay Area)..."
Have you finished Bella Tuscany yet? Didn't you love the "surprise" wedding at the end?! One of my favorite scenes from the books.
As for the movie, I saw it last night on DVD. It was a cute romantic comedy, involving a somewhat ditzy American and a succession of love affairs and heartbreaks. I enjoyed it, in the same sense I enjoyed "You've Got Mail"...with some incredible scenery thrown in.
But the books were the narrative of a love affair with Tuscany itself...its culture, the house and its surrounding land. It seems to me they could have made a good movie...somewhat in the vein of "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse" and "Baby Boom". The books certainly contained a enough anecdotes: funny, heartbreaking, insightful, artistic...to fill up the screen for 80 minutes. What a shame to have left out the moment they discovered the murals on the dining room walls, covered by years of whitewash...the ancient Etruscan road leading to town...and the "Madonna of the Cat Hole". And the surprise at the end of Bella Tuscany could have been dynamite on the screen.
I just never understood the necessity of leaving out the real romance portrayed in the books. I wonder if A&E or Masterpiece Theater will eventually take these books and do them justice on film.
Mar 2nd, 2004, 07:02 AM
#26
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The movie , despite that was very different from the book, was very entertaining, I really enjoyed it..
The book, at times was a little boring...
I did not care about A Year in Provence, I haven't see the tv series...
But I believe that the author exagerated his troubles with the workers..
I go to Provence every time that I travel to Europe..My first cousin lives there,and i have spent many summers at her house as a teen..
I never saw workers acting that way..My cousin and the people that I knew, never had any problems with them either..
The book, at times was a little boring...
I did not care about A Year in Provence, I haven't see the tv series...
But I believe that the author exagerated his troubles with the workers..
I go to Provence every time that I travel to Europe..My first cousin lives there,and i have spent many summers at her house as a teen..
I never saw workers acting that way..My cousin and the people that I knew, never had any problems with them either..
Mar 2nd, 2004, 07:28 AM
#27
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Me, too. I was sadly disappointed in "Provence". His fiction novels are light and funny, however, in the P.G. Wodehouse vein. "Hotel Pastis" was hysterical.
I realized after posting that, with the movies I listed, I'd left the impression I thought "..Tuscan Sun" was rightly treated as a comedy. Not so. Humor, yes. But I would like to have seen something more along the lines of "Chocolat" with gorgeous, sensuous street scenes and beautiful food, architecture and art...kind of "Ivory and Merchant" buy a house in Italy!
I realized after posting that, with the movies I listed, I'd left the impression I thought "..Tuscan Sun" was rightly treated as a comedy. Not so. Humor, yes. But I would like to have seen something more along the lines of "Chocolat" with gorgeous, sensuous street scenes and beautiful food, architecture and art...kind of "Ivory and Merchant" buy a house in Italy!
Jul 7th, 2004, 07:05 PM
#28
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I just watched this movie for the first time tonight, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Italy is so gorgeous............ (and I think Diane Lane is terrific.) I also loved "A Year In Provence," watched it when it was originally shown. Have not read the books. So I had nothing to compare/ criticize. Just take them as they are......... and totally enjoyed them.
Jul 7th, 2004, 07:20 PM
#29
Bonnie, I agree with you. I always think of it as a differnt book. For instance, the Year in Provence is miscast. John Law is Terrible as Mayle, tho wonderful as "Morse" and the acTress, forget her name, is always gooD but played Mayle's wife as an iritATING BITICH.
Jul 7th, 2004, 07:48 PM
#31
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I am sad to say that John Law died about a year or so ago.
And yes, Inspector Morse was the best!
I loved Robbie Coltrane in Cracker, wish they would make some more, but since he is a Harry Potter actor now, guess tv is not so important~
And yes, Inspector Morse was the best!
I loved Robbie Coltrane in Cracker, wish they would make some more, but since he is a Harry Potter actor now, guess tv is not so important~
Jul 7th, 2004, 08:01 PM
#33
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Scarlett, you are right about John Thaw, of course. Should have said "was"...... I am going to buy that whole "Inspector Morse" series for my home library! Robbie Coltrane is a terrific actor, and I do hope we'll see him in a "Cracker" again, but I'm not holding my breath.
Jul 8th, 2004, 12:28 PM
#35
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just a bit of trivia for the true fodorite on the board. My cousin Giulia bernardini is a prominently featured extra on the bus scene right next to Diane Lane and also mentionned several times as the most excellent private guide that she is in Rome!
Aug 24th, 2004, 10:10 AM
#36
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My daughter gave "Under the Tuscan Sun" to my mother as a Christmas present in 1999. Mom read 20 pages and HATED it...."no plot", she said. I picked it up and read it straight through, finishing it on a Sat. morning at 11 am, picked it up that afternoon at 1 pm and read it again! It became (next to Cinque Terre) my primary reason for going to Italy last fall. Though Mayes develops some contortionist sentence construction so convoluted I had to re-read a number of passages mutiple times and STILL could not quite grasp what she was TRYING to say (and she's a literary professor at SF State???) I was completely enamoured of the picture she paints of Italy.
We spent 3 days in Cortona as part of a 23 day trip and thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually FOUND Bramisole (the house) on my own at the end of the 3rd day...well...in truth, through the help of an elderly man whom I met walking down this wonderful old tree-canopied parkway after having admitted defeat and was on my way back to the hotel. It turned out he was the retired head of the Univ. of Georgia's language & tech center, interestingly located at Cortona, and, even more interestingly, partially funded by Apple Computer. Needless to say he was more than quite excited to find I was the person at Apple who delivered their funding.
In any event, the movie, I'm sad to say, excepting certain parts like the Polish stone-cutters, the scene of the Greek-cross church in Cortona and the steaming toilet, had absolutely NOTHING to do with the book. Hollywood. * sneers looking southward *
We spent 3 days in Cortona as part of a 23 day trip and thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually FOUND Bramisole (the house) on my own at the end of the 3rd day...well...in truth, through the help of an elderly man whom I met walking down this wonderful old tree-canopied parkway after having admitted defeat and was on my way back to the hotel. It turned out he was the retired head of the Univ. of Georgia's language & tech center, interestingly located at Cortona, and, even more interestingly, partially funded by Apple Computer. Needless to say he was more than quite excited to find I was the person at Apple who delivered their funding.
In any event, the movie, I'm sad to say, excepting certain parts like the Polish stone-cutters, the scene of the Greek-cross church in Cortona and the steaming toilet, had absolutely NOTHING to do with the book. Hollywood. * sneers looking southward *
Aug 24th, 2004, 01:28 PM
#37
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I have not seen the movie but attempted to read the book for a book club and could not get through it ... I guess I prefer straight fiction to this. Also I have not been to Italy and am not a big cook so I couldn't get swept away in some of the details. I am planning to read it again when I get back from Italy in late October and see if my opinion of the book changes.
Aug 24th, 2004, 01:45 PM
#38
After reading this book I could not wait to read Bella Tuscany and (be still my heart) In Tuscany I could see pictures of the renovated villa and grounds. I recommended it to all my friends who also fell in love with the books and some were fortunate enough to actually rent a villa in Cortona near Bramasol. The film was a great disappointment and except for renovating a villa in Tuscany
had nothing vaguely familiar to the book.
had nothing vaguely familiar to the book.
Aug 24th, 2004, 01:58 PM
#39
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<i>We spent 3 days in Cortona as part of a 23 day trip and thoroughly enjoyed it.</i>
Ramblero, I understand. We chose to visit Cortona, aside from the Mayes' connection, a few years ago. While we were only going to spend a few hours there, before continuing on to Arezzo, we ended up enjoying it so much that we stayed the entire afternoon, until the evening passeggiata.
I don't know if you recall it, but a statue I found rather moving was at the tip of the public gardens. It was an angel cradling a dead soldier.
Ramblero, I understand. We chose to visit Cortona, aside from the Mayes' connection, a few years ago. While we were only going to spend a few hours there, before continuing on to Arezzo, we ended up enjoying it so much that we stayed the entire afternoon, until the evening passeggiata.
I don't know if you recall it, but a statue I found rather moving was at the tip of the public gardens. It was an angel cradling a dead soldier.
