We all have had breakups & each one of us have dealt with it in our own special ways.Some of us eat bucketloads of icecream while others try to drown their sorrows over several bottles of vodka.Yours truly prefers retail therapy(no relevance to this review, but it explains the size of my closet & vanity).Frances Mayes, writer of the book ’Under the Tuscan Sun’ handled her heartbreak by travelling to Tuscan & making a crazy decision.
Frances Mayes(Diane Lane) is a successful author, but her world soon shatters as she finds out that her husband has been cheating on her with a younger woman.To make matters worse, the mistress is pregnant with Frances’s hubby’s child while Frances was never allowed to get pregnant due to her husband’s intolerance towards having a traditional American family life.To top it all, Frances loses her house(for which she’s paid through several loans while her husband was yet job hunting) for the simple reason that the mistress requested the house due to it being in a neighbourhood with lots of schools.Homeless & penniless, she’s forced to live in a shabby apartment building whose tenants include a crying man whose wife has recently divorced him and many others who have committed suicide due to their life partners abandoning their marriage vows.Frances reaches the height of depression when she gets writer’s block.While thinking that the only way to pay her ex-husband’s divorce settlement is by helping her new neighbours with their suicide notes, her best friend Patti(Sandra Oh) suggests she take some time off to go on an Italian vacation which Patti & her partner can’t attend due to them expecting a baby.Furthermore, Patti explains that its a gay tour disabling any man from getting close to Frances.Upon her friend’s conviction Frances goes on the tour only to stop at Tuscan.To know why, please do watch the movie.
Diane Lane’s acting credibility delivers the hurt & betrayal felt by Frances effortlessly & she happens to handle the film brilliantly without seeking help from the few male extras added to the storyline.The cameraman definitely needs to be appreciated for portraying Italy’s countryside beautifully while still maintaining its rawness.
Final grade- A+, definitely a feel good movie which proves that the viewer’s breakup experience is nothing compared to what Frances went through.
FYI- Frances’s book was a New York times bestseller for more than two & a half years.Now that’s information worth knowing.