Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Keith F. Hatcher As novelist, W. Somerset Maugham tends to be somewhat uninspiring; his short stories - frequently rather long - are better, and his essays run the whole gamut from the almost trivial to the almost philosophical. As a writer he is a long long way from novelists like Henry James, Joseph Conrad and Aldous Huxley: his characterization is shallow, unreal, such that wherever he sets his scenes - Pago Pago, Firenze or uptown London - one does not connect too well with the tale in question, which, often, fills one with a feeling akin to dejà vu: one has seen variations on the theme in previous writings of his. Maugham, then, is very much a one-horse matter, and in most cases, with the passing of time, his stories have become rather insipid.So has 'Up at the Villa'. Even the wonderful Anne Bancroft could do little to rescue this film from being a rather colourless account of well-to-do stiff-upper-lip British people hanging out in Florence on the eve of the Second World War. The dialogues are stiff, wooden, lending much lacklustre to the proceedings and is clearly visible in the performances offered by what, on paper, is a solid cast. But one could not really care whether Kristin Scott Thomas finally made it with Sean Penn, James Fox, or the wretched violinist Jeremy Davies. This last named started off really well, but finally sank into the abjectedness which pervades this film, especially in the second half. The result is a very quaint outdated and outmoded behavioural incursion which ends up being almost farcical, as well as overblown and tedious.No, this is not in any way comparable to 'Gosford Park' (qv) which is magnificent, again with Ms Scott Thomas, far superior with at once more depth and scintillating dialogues. Given the range of Maugham's writing, no way was this film ever to become comparable with 'Portrait of a Lady' (qv), say, 'The Hours' (qv), say, or even the powerful and majestic TV-mini 'Nostromo' (qv). However, 'Up at the Villa' does serve as a pointer inasmuch as it may show in which direction serious attempts at character-driven or dialogue-driven films may be heading, whether period pieces or not.Nice photography in the Italian countryside, and am wondering if part of the film was in fact shot further north of Florence, maybe even in the Lombardy region.

Alenchik I was intrigued when this film showed up on the day's TV roster and even more intrigued when I found out who the cast are and read a quick synopsis of the story. Most of the reviewers here, at IMDB, have made the movie sound dreadful. I found it hard to believe that anything with Sean Penn and Kristin Scott Thomas would be awful and had to check out the film for myself. My conclusion -- it is quite good, engaging, and definitely worth watching.The lead actors as well as most of the supporting cast are rather wonderful. Though, I wish that someone slightly more dashing and not so limp played the role of the Austrian student, even if the stumbling manner and sudden onset of neurosis are required of the part. The scenery is inviting; the sets are great; the variety of accents is interesting; some of the extras are a bit shaky. The film is not so much about the setting, the era, or the social/political/economic spheres, though all of these have a firm bearing on the events and characters. It is chiefly about human actions under pressure of circumstances, about relationships, flights of fancy, slip-ups, weaknesses, trust and emotional maneuvering. "Up at the Villa" addresses these topics as good as any other period film.I recommend this movie to those who, like I, enjoyed more than one of the following:The Talented Mr. RipleyGosford ParkHowards EndCountry LifeThe Wings of the DoveA Room with a ViewThe Remains of the Day

gsoares I watched this movie last night, on pay-per-view. It is boring, pointless. Yet it´s got a beautiful art direction, very well executed in all, but just drags on at times.The book by W. Somerset Maugham is not great, the movie could not be either.But what caught my attention the most was the "professionalism" of Sean Penn. Being a huge fan of him, and having read loads of his independent-minded, bold-against-the-system interviews, it is kind of comforting to see him work plainly for the money, or as someone said earlier, acting as a big dude. You come to the conclusion that "Well, even the just and mighty have to put bread on the table".Still I voted it 6, as being worth the watch. But not renting or paying for it like I did... wait till TNT features it for free and with lots of commercials, so you can zap around for something better!!!

trpdean I'm intrigued by the comment below about how rich Maugham's story is - because I quite like Maugham. I also like Anne Bancroft, Kristen Scott-Thomas and James Fox, so selecting this movie from my video rental store was easy. Unfortunately, something must have happened in writing the screenplay. *** SPOILERS ***One of the more selfless and realistically portrayed acts of love I've ever seen takes place toward the end of this movie. James Fox's character reveals how very difficult and long a climb it has been to now be about to be appointed Governor of Bengal, one of the largest of India's states. With his sigh, his body movement, we sense the dedication, the diligence, the very effort it has taken to climb the "greasy pole". Fox is not a peer - we sense no great hereditary estate. He has been knighted for his painstaking work and is apparently wealthy through his very industry.Fox is promptly informed by a poor widow to whom he has proposed, that during the very weekend she was to consider his proposal: a) her view of charity was to sleep with a refugee ("I thought I'd do him good -he was just so miserable" is the amazing explanation), b) the refugee proceeded to kill himself with the gun Fox had lent her for protection, c) the widow arranged to hide the body in the woods with the assistance of a cad who despises Fox, d) Fox's gun and the cad were held by the police, but e) the widow managed to retrieve his gun and the cad by rifling through her friend's desk for material to blackmail the authorities. She tells Fox that she can understand if he would like to withdraw his proposal. Fox's reaction? Not only does he remain keen on marriage with her, but he would freely give up his career in doing so because he loves more than life, and the scandal (if revealed while he were Governor) of his wife's witless fornication causing a stranger's suicide would make the British government's task in India more difficult. To Fox's astonishing act of love, forgiveness and self-abnegation, the widow says she has never loved Fox, that his attitude is "weak" because they "need him in India" (one suspects she simply wishes to be the Governor's wife at that moment), that he misunderstands the cad who would never breathe a word of the scandal, and that she turns down his marriage proposal because the scandal has caused her somehow to become a woman of the world, rather than the child ("you're used to giving me sweets") who wanted to marry him. However, as the widow, Scott-Thomas had seemed anything but a child. She had spoken before about the horror of marriage to one without virtue - about the twelve year long marriage she had endured in which her husband had gambled and drunk away their money, whored his way through countless women, and finally been killed while speeding. She had spoken of her dread of continuing to live on the generosity of strangers. These aren't a child's sentiments but an adult's sagacity.To whom then does Scott-Thomas turn after the selflessness of Fox's love? To whom does she turn to avoid the insecurity of which she spoke as the bane of her previous marriage? To a married man who says he can offer "no guarantees" of his love or faithfulness except that he will not return to his wife, who asks her to simply take the train to "anywhere", and about whom we know only that he takes waitresses and servants frequently to bed, is disliked by the authorities, and assisted her to deceive the authorities to help her.At the end, she says to the cad, "I was yours when you first sat down". Well, welcome to misery. Sorry, I know it's the movies, but when a movie ends this badly, with the heroine choosing the charmless married void in lieu of the paragon of sacrificial love, security and virtue, I have a difficult time liking the movie. I found Sean Penn's character anything but likeable - he had a sort of neutered quality - making puerile fraternity boy jokes about sleeping with the 60+ old princess, asking "why" of a government official's decision in a crowded antechamber and shrugging weakly before sitting down (when asked if satisfied with the official's bogus explanation). I suspect the movie has taken the story's tragic ending and tried to torture it into a happy one. The same woman who presumably acted on impulse by marrying a weak man and suffered a disastrous marriage for it,the same woman who acted on impulse to seduce a poor refugee and thereby set in train the events that killed him, is indeed the woman who turns away from a man willing to throw away everything for which he worked out of love for her, for a man who says "hey, no guarantees, babe". Tragedy will undoubtedly again ensue - the little painted grin painted on the protagonist as she heads toward the bar car, can't mask it. *** SPOILERS END ***I disliked the movie.