From the studio that brought you SWEET HOME ALABAMA comes the extraordinary romantic comedy starring Academy Award(R) nominee Diane Lane (2002 Best Actress, UNFAITHFUL). Based on the #1 New York Times best-selling book, UN... more »DER THE TUSCAN SUN follows San Francisco writer Frances Mayes (Lane) to Italy as a good friend offers her a special gift -- 10 days in Tuscany. Once there, she is captivated by its beauty and warmth, and impulsively buys an aging, but very charming, villa. Fully embracing new friends and local color, she finds herself immersed in a life-changing adventure filled with enough unexpected surprises, laughter, friendship, and romance to restore her new home -- and her belief in second chances.« less
Strong potential only to be wrecked by a common theme.
Lorna W. (lornadoonecookie) Reviewed on 3/16/2016...
This was a great movie about rebuilding your life after a breakup. Diane Lane is excellent in the main role and the courage and strength she finds within herself is inspiring.
1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Barbara M. Reviewed on 8/15/2014...
I enjoyed the movie and agree that the morality is not something to applaud.
However I personally took the movie as a warning to women in particular to avoid this type
relationship because of the heartbreak one is likely to endure.
As a male friend of mine once said, sadly most men are not naturally loyal, they learn it from bonding with their wife and children. Whereas women tend to naturally be loyal and don't have to have the learning process that men go through.
Do women realize this? if not they should learn it from movies like this. The presentation of the disloyalty the man displays can be looked at as a precautionary lesson and thereby the actions in the movie can be seen as redeemable.
1 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.
Angie Kathleen L. from OREM, UT Reviewed on 10/4/2012...
I enjoyed the acting and the lush scenes of Italy. I did not appreciate the lack of a moral guidance system. In this movie leaving a spouse or long term-relationship was considered bad but short-term relationships were just for fun and convenience until one moved on. A little more stability and strength of character would have made the move more enduring...but I'm moving on.
1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Lin C. from IONIA, MI Reviewed on 10/3/2010...
I had seen in the past and was well worth a second time around.
1 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Kirsten S. from BENTON, KY Reviewed on 11/7/2009...
I absolutely love this movie! The theme of the story is one that everyone can take to heart. No matter where you are in your life, it's not too late to start over, and you could have exactly what you want without realizing it.
2 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Movie Reviews
The best chick flick in a long time!
Meg Lightbown | Caribou, Maine | 04/13/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am peturbed that Amazon would spotlight two bad reviews. This was an awesome movie that kept me watching it from beginning to end. I haven't read the book, but after watching that movie, I do intend to. It's amazing how uplifting this spirited movie was. Diane Lane was supurb without coming across as trying too much. We never get to see her husband "Tom" who screwed her over royally in the divorce, which I think was a good decision. The movie stays in the present looking ahead to the future with a sense of hope and promise. Pick up this movie for an excellent movie night - even if you're not a chick!"
Loved and Beloved by All
MICHAEL ACUNA | Southern California United States | 09/30/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"What starts out as an Italian "Money Pit" with all the attendant broken pipes, crumbling walls and incompetent handymen makes a turn for the better about a third of the way through: a more emotionally centered and revealing movie,"Under the Tuscan Sun."
The luminescent Diane Lane stars as Frances, an intelligent, loving women with close and committed friends who finds herself in a situation that many people do: with a mate who has fallen out of love, wants a divorce as well as possession of a much loved and painstakingly renovated house, this one in San Francisco. After the divorce Frances goes to Tuscany on a lark, falls in love with a villa there, buys it and proceeds to renovate it. The villa then is the physical manifestation of the shedding of her old life and marriage and the hope for the renovation and rehabilitation of her love life as well as her life in general.
That she probably places too much faith in the physical to solve the emotional does not detract at all from the guts and hope that it takes to do so. And Lane is so psychically centered and open as Frances that you cannot help but be moved by her situation.
There are some silly plot lines and performances that I wish weren't, but with a central performance as attractive and genuinely loving and feminine as Lane's, "Under The Tuscan Sun" is as warm and inviting as bread just out of the oven."
Misses the Mark
Hikin Den | California | 09/29/2006
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Bottom Line: If you loved or even liked the book, this movie will most likely be a great disappointment to you! As another reviewer rightly assessed, obviously the screenwriter could not make enough of the book as it stood (no fault of the book) and therefore made liberal changes of great magnitude to the point where the two have little more in common than a villa in Tuscany. The film does not capture the spirit of the book, which is that Frances and her best friend Ed are so comfortable in their mutual love and lives together that their joie de vivre naturally extends to the villa, transforming it from a shambles to a beautiful piece of antiquity, as well as to their new surroundings in Italy (the town and people of Cortona). To their great joy and surprise, Italy embraces them as well. The book has nothing to do with the Diane Lane character, who spends most of the film looking for love in the wrong places (or crying over love lost due to poor choices), while restoration of the villa and discovery of her new surroundings become a dim backdrop to her own shallow escapades and the problems of her girlfriend (both figments of the screenwriter's imagination). What a shame that such a beautifully written book got lost in this poorly written and acted film."
Tuscany never looked lovelier
Kona | Emerald City | 09/27/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This visual feast of a romantic comedy stars the lovely and earthy Diane Lane as Frances, who sets off for a Tuscan vacation after her divorce. Once there, she falls in love with the place, buys a broken-down villa, and proceeds to merrily fix it up, with the help of all the usual village stereotypes. She is longing for love and finds it, as well as peace and happiness.
This is the quintessential chick-flick about a plucky heroine who can do anything and is surrounded by loveable characters. What separates this film from the ordinary romantic comedy is Diane Lane's strong screen presence and her talent; she is utterly believable as the spunky, lusty, modern woman with stars in her eyes. The exquisite location photography could well start a boom in Tuscan tourism. Heartily recommended."
The biggest surprise of the year! This film is a marvel!
Rene Barton | New York, N.Y. | 10/03/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"We'll I'm not usually one to go to see comedy-romance films but my girlfriend insisted and I was persuaded by the fact that Diane Lane (one of my favorite actresses) was starring in it. Honestly, this is a very good movie. It is one of the best surprises of the year. The film is edited in a way that never makes it seem boring or long-winded and the film is very (I mean very) entertaining, with some great dialog and some excellent comedy and well-timed laughs. A few times I was uncontrollably laughing it was so funny. The acting was amazing with Diane Lane giving one of her best performances in the lead role as Frances Mayes. The film looked great and had an excellent soundtrack as well. I recommend this film very much indeed, even to guys because it isn't cliched and slushy in the same way other romantic films are. It sure makes a great date movie - Under The Tuscan Sun is a marvel!"