Dir. Audrey Wells
Under the Tuscan Sun is a trifle, a fantasia of Italy, where ancient housing and rustic settings heal all wounds, apparently. Italy as Arcadia has been seen in such works as Room With a View; this just adds pretty camerawork. Diane Lane is Frances, a newly-divorced professor who gets tix to Tuscany from sympathetic friends looking to pull her out of post-divorce misery. Of course she stays on in Tuscany on a lark. Of course she bonds with the locals. And of course there’s an Italian charmer with smouldering eyes and the ability to make love in the way only native speakers of Romance languages can. It’s romance porn, rescued from pure hooey only by gorgeous camerawork, Lane’s radiance, and Sandra Oh’s sparky turn as Lane’s pregnant lesbian friend.