Under the Tuscan Sun

Like most people, I tend to embrace the familiar, which is why I enjoyed Under the Tuscan Sun immensely. Frances Mayes' novel, which I read after and because I saw the film, offered a wonderful vacation from my life which seems normal compared to what is going on with Frances. Perhaps because they are both crazy.

Audrey Wells did a great job in both directing and adapting the book into a script. Diane Lane plays a woman of my age who is not worn hard from her years, not fat, and not through with her adventures yet. Still learning, still exploring, still running her fingers over the keys of her computer. How refreshing is that?

Forget the beautiful Rauol Bova as the distant Marcello, forget the charming Vincent Riotta playing the caretaking Martini, and forget the hilarious performance of Sandra Oh as the best friend you would ever want in Patti. Not because they are forgettable in those roles, they are simply overshadowed by Lindsay Duncan's portrayal of Katherine.

I have my own Katherine, her name is Rada. And her unique outlook on life brings me a great deal of entertainment and joy.

I knew that I would relate Katherine as Rada from her first line.

Katherine: It's a nice little villa. Are you going to buy it?
Frances: The way my life is currently going, that would be a terrible idea.
Katherine: Terrible idea... Don't you just love those?

There is more fortune cookie wisdom to be found within the warm landscapes of Tuscany.

Katherine: Regrets are a waste of time. They're the past crippling you in the present.

Martini: Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew some day, the train would come.

Rada and I are not sitting on the tracks waiting for the train. We would much rather be watching Mike Doogan reign as King of Mardi Gras at Jens. Great film for those days that are just to wacked to deal with, or when the house building project starts to feel a bit overwhelming.