| Enchanted April (1991) | |
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Rating: 7.4/10 (4841 votes) Director: Mike Newell Writer: Elizabeth von Arnim (novel), Peter Barnes Stars: Josie Lawrence, Miranda Richardson, Alfred Molina, Neville Phillips Runtime: 95 min Rated: PG Genre: Drama Released: 5 Apr 1992 |
| Plot: This slow-paced gem is about the civilizing influence of Italy on beleaguered Londoners both male and female and has its own civilizing influence on the viewer. It's almost like taking a ... | |
My mother introduced me to this gem of a movie, for which I will be eternally grateful. Sometimes I will forget it even exists for a year at a time, but I always come back to it, and it never fails to, for lack of a better word, utterly and completely enchant me.
The movie (based on the similarly wonderful 1922 novel by Elizabeth von Arnim) tells the magical story of two middle-aged London housewives who decide that what they desperately need is to escape their grey lives. To do this they rent an Italian villa in spring, nestled among flowering trees and blooming gardens. However, in order to afford it, they have to advertise for two other ladies to join them in their little paradise. Within the foursome very different personalities meet and have to learn to live together – luckily, San Salvatore soon begins to work its magic on them.
Lottie might be the first one open to the atmosphere, but it quickly soaks into the other women’s skins as well. Even old Mrs. Fisher stops pontificating and starts painting, and after a while, the men start arriving. Each couple has a distinct relationship, fraught with history, and the husbands aren’t particularly sympathetic to begin with. The movie treats its characters with subtle humour, endless sympathy and finds the beauty in even most mundane.
Not that beauty doesn’t abound in more obvious ways, too. The scenery is simply stunning, gardens and trees win full bloom, blessed by never-ending sunny days and gentle mediterranean nights, and the characters amble through the landscape in lovely period frocks.
As my ramblings (and the rating) have made obvious, I adore this movie to pieces. It’s 90 minutes of sunshine and bliss, a fairy tale of discovering oneself, of finding friendship and love and being set free by it. As a fairy tale it has no claim on being realistic, but for anyone looking to escape but unable to acquire a villa in Italy, this will do very nicely…
A magical escape
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Enchanted April (1991)
Summary
Few movies are more beautifully shot and more lovingly told than this gem. It’s based on a book from 1922 and was made in 1991, but I can’t imagine it’ll ever feel dated. Four women escape their dreary lives to Italy to find happiness – and themselves in the process. By dint of doing so, they also discover unlikely friendships and a “tub of love”, as Lottie describes San Salvatore’s magic.