Lane takes pleasant trip in 'Tuscan Sun'

Friday, September 26, 2003

By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Under the Tuscan Sun" is as warm as the rose-colored walls in the 300-year-old villa that the recently divorced Frances (Diane Lane) buys on a whim.

	'UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN' RATING: PG-13 for sexual content and language STARRING: Diane Lane DIRECTOR: Audrey Wells

If, in a reversal of what happened in "The Purple Rose of Cairo," you could walk into the frame of a movie, you might want to wade into the field of sunflowers in "Under the Tuscan Sun" or drink in the red poppies or stand on the sandy beach and gaze at the homes that cling to the hillsides in Italy.

"Under the Tuscan Sun" is a vicarious vacation, a reminder of the prodigious talent of actress Lane and affirmation that even a woman called "boring and sad again, like a big black hole" can find her way to the light and contentment again. That her happiness doesn't pivot entirely on a man, although men factor into the equation, makes it all the sweeter.

Based on the book of the same title but dramatically changed (author Frances Mayes was married, for one thing), "Under the Tuscan Sun" is about a San Francisco woman who quickly goes from being happily married to tearfully divorced, heartbroken and living in "Camp Divorce," an apartment building for short-timers.

When Frances' friends, a lesbian couple expecting a baby, offer her their tickets for a Tuscan tour and a gentle lecture about moving on, she accepts and finds herself in Italy. When fate deposits her at a villa named "Bramasole" ("something that yearns for the sun"), she buys it.

"Under the Tuscan Sun" tracks the renovation of both her villa, accomplished with the help of workmen who hail from Poland, and her spirits. Since this is Italy, she encounters families, food, young lovers, handsome men with names like Marcello and one dramatic blonde named Katherine (Lindsay Duncan) who quotes Fellini whenever possible. In the end, Frances gets what she wished for, even if she doesn't realize it at first.

Credit Lane and director-writer Audrey Wells, who adapted Mayes' book, with striking just the right tone in "Under the Tuscan Sun." In the old days, a character hearing the line, "You have beautiful eyes ... I wish that I could swim inside them," might make a woman swoon. Here, it provokes laughter and the retort, "Wow -- that's exactly the kind of thing we American women think Italian men say."

The offbeat characters, such as Katherine and Patti (Sandra Oh, an actress with a naturally expressive face) who is Frances' pregnant pal, are not allowed to overpower the proceedings, always a danger. Vincent Riotta is the embodiment of steadfastness as Frances' real estate agent, while Raoul Bova's Marcello is the quintessentially sexy dark-haired Italian with soulful blue eyes.

As for Lane, a 2002 Academy Award nominee for her turn as the adulterous wife in "Unfaithful," she never overdoes it, whether she's the disconsolate divorcee in shapeless gray sweater or joyful woman in a white, belted dress on her way to an assignation.

"Under the Tuscan Sun" doesn't break new ground in its themes, and not everyone can start anew in Italy like the writer-reviewer depicted, but it's as pleasant a movie experience as I've had in some time. Or maybe I was just thankful there were no flesh-eating bacteria, predatory killers, secondhand lions or explosions in the entire two hours.

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