My House in Umbria
I took the big kids and two of their friends to Wangaratta today to see Star Wars. While they were watching the latest in science fiction, I relaxed to view My House in Umbria.
To save some summary text, here’s the "New York Times" version …
"Adapted from William Trevor’s novella of the same name, the made-for-cable My House in Umbria stars Dame Maggie Smith as Mrs Emily Delahunty, a British romance novellist living in Italy.
While on a shopping excursion to Milan, Emily barely survives a terrorist train bombing. Though she recovers fairly rapidly from her ordeal, three others — a German journalist, a British general and a traumatised orphan girl — still bear profound physical and emotional wounds.
In the spirit of democracy and compassion, the pluck Mrs Delahunty invites her fellow survivors to recuperate at her lavish Italian estate.
This ersatz family gets along famously — at least until the arrival of the orphan’s priggish uncle, American entomologist Tom Riversmith (Chris Cooper), who strongly disapproves of Mrs Delahunty’s carefree lifestyle."
That’s where the paper’s review ends and that’s where the story becomes interesting! Riversmith was a cold fish who had no real interest in raising his niece. Delahunty used all her ancient experience and remaining charm to convince him of his inadequacy.
This wasn’t a gripping movie, and I haven’t read the novel, so I can’t comment on its literary accuracy. However, the vision was stunning and the cast magnificent. Every actor played his/her part to perfection. Congratulations to them: Maggie Smith, Ronnie Barker, Chris Cooper, Emmie Clarke and Benno Fürmann.
I was moved to sentiment on several occasions, which reflects well on the film.
The weakness, in my view, was the film’s portrayal of the actual "terrorist". His motivation and fate weren’t property explained.
Despite this, I enjoyed my visit to Umbria, and hope to really go there one day!
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
