My House in Umbria

Based on a novella by William Trevor, this lovely made-for-HBO adaptation from director Richard Loncraine (Richard III) might be described as a Lifetime Network women's movie done up in the style of Enchanted April. The plot certainly has a faint air of soap opera in its story of an aging, heavy-drinking, romance novelist spinster (Maggie Smith) who is revivified when she takes the fellow survivors of a terrorist explosion into her villa to recuperate, latching--in particular--on to an orphaned girl (Emmy Clarke). The group develops into a virtual family until the girl's uncle (Chris Cooper), a sour-tempered scientist, arrives to retrieve her out of a sense of obligation to his dead sister, from whom he was estranged. But the story isn't told simply; a good deal of it emerges from the novelist's remembrances, shown in flashback, and through her elaborate reflections on events, delivered in voiceover. Subtly crafted and superbly acted, My House in Umbria is unquestionably a tearjerker, but a highly refined and diverting one, with an excellent central performance by Smith, and a lovely setting in the lush, verdant countryside of central Italy. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a solid audio commentary by the director and executive producer Frank Doelger, as well as cast and crew text bios. Bottom line: a small extras package for a small but winning film.] (F. Swietek)