Under the Tuscan Sun
Platform: VUDU (owned movie)
Director: Audrey Wells
Release Year: 2003
Watch Date: July 30, 2021
My Rating: 8.4
I love this movie. It doesn’t have amazing cinematography, fabulous acting, or an amazing script. What it does have, is an amazing story and characters. Frances (aka Francesca) is a recently divorced woman whose friends convince to go on a gay couples tour of Tuscany. While in Tuscany, Frances falls in love with an Italian villa and decides to buy it. She just wants to find love again, have a wedding at the villa, and have a family. However. she can’t see all of the good that she does on her way to find this bit of happy
Frances hires a contractor and his Polish workers to do renovations of the house. She starts to cook for them and brings them together almost like a family. One day in frustration she goes to Rome to seek out an antique dealer where she meets Marcello. Marcello takes her to his home in Positano and she thinks that she has finally found love. The only problem is…every time after that they try to see each other something happens. First her pregnant friend Patti shows up unannounced because her partner has left her. Then Frances is out with her neighbors when Marcello stops by.
Frances finally goes to Positano to see Marcello, but finds that he has already found someone else. He tells her that things didn’t seem to work out so they weren’t meant to be. She is upset and distraught, but steps outside of herself to help Pawel (pronounced Pavel) and Chiara convince Chiara’s parents to let them get married. At the wedding reception she is looking around with Martini (who sold her the house). She seems happy with life, but disappointed with still not finding love. Martini reminds her that she got what she wanted. Pawel and Chiara have brought a wedding and Patty and baby Alexandra have brought a family. The two things she told him she really wanted. She goes to sit in a chair and suddenly Ed, a writer whose work she negatively reviewed, arrives. Fastforward to Christmas where everyone is sitting around the table….and Frances and Ed are together. Everyone looks happy.
Frances can’t see how she has the ability to bring people together. She is so focused on what she doesn’t have, that she can’t see what she does have. I am like that sometimes, which is probably why this story resonates with me so much. I recognize that all of the things that have happened to me have made me who I am today. I love myself, flaws and all. I would like to find a partner. Someonw to share my life with. Someone to love for who they are who loves me for who I am. So far the Universe hasn’t brought me that love, but that doesn’t mean she wont. In the meantime I am grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life who appreciate me for me. And I am grateful that I have learned to love myself. Self love is the most important love of all.
Photo Credit: imdb.com
