My House in Umbria (2003)

Sick Product of a Sick System

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

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.

I gave this movie a generous "6", although it is so uneven that it probably deserves less. Yes, Maggie Smith is good to great.... and most of the acting is good. But the plot meanders badly. Plus, Mrs. Delahunty has a curious gift... her dreams are visualizations of reality, or as close as she ever come to it. This was an aspect which could have been used to much better advantage. As it was, we just assumed the dreams were just her fantasies after another drunken binge. Werner's character is complex and of course one suspects him immediately... he's the only one who could have any reason to blow up a train. But does someone who wants to blow up a plane (ooops, they got the wrong vehicle) just camp out at a palatial country home, planting flowers... or rather would he try to escape back to Germany? Would Mrs. Delahunty continue to embrace him even though she knows he's a monster? But it's worth it to watch Maggie Smith. She gives, for the most part, a very nuanced performance.

Sometimes it is good not to know much about a movie before watching it, so you won't have any prejudices. And it is sometimes even good to have wrong idea about what you're going to see, because you can be pleasantly surprised.My House in Umbria sounded as it was happening on the beginning of 20th century, either in castle full of aristocrats (like Age of Innocence) or in deserted house with poor artists having no money to leave (Stealing Beauty; Sirens). Room with a View or Under Tuscan Sun came in mind too.The train in first few minutes was obviously not a century old one. Characters were more likely to fit in Miss Marple story. And that was just a beginning of surprises.A warm story about so different people that can successfully create a small community (instant family) is so hard to find. Unusual communities are usually shown as unstable group and intense interpersonal relations build the dynamic of group which develops the plot. (Tillsammans, Black Moon, Hair as an example.) But it is developing harmony that we see in House in Umbria, people who learn to lean on each other and help each other in the same time. Almost like an ideal early Christian community. Though religion isn't a topic of the movie, there are more Christian feelings here than in many religious movies. From loving and helping to forgiving. When one of the main characters appears to be the one guilty for all the tragedies that happened to the group, he isn't shown as a villain but rather a seduced man, a poor victim of circumstances.The only person who is rather odd and doesn't fit is the only one that enters the movie after first five minutes (when we meet all other characters): another surprise - in an American (HBO!) movie the only person we dislike is the only (adult) American character in the movie (played incredible effectively by Chris Cooper as a superb contrast in cast). The interaction between him and the group is the only real conflict we see, and during that time our feelings towards him change. Finally we learn to accept him the way he is (as we should accept all people, says another message of the movie), because he is just that kind of man. He is not evil, he is just different. And, maybe as the only influence he was able to let himself implement, he makes an unexpected choice at the end, realizing that though this community is strange and odious to him, it's not necessary worthless, and it might be wrong forcing someone to replace this warmth and caring love with his scientifically precise but cold, emotionless world.Something, however, didn't change from the beginning: Maggie Smith is still so Ms Marpleish that I was expecting at least one small murder which she could solve. And all people living in House in Umbria might have been imagined by Agatha Christie, actors (Barker, Spall, Dazzy, Cooper) ideal for Poirot's suspects and even Giannini as inspector could pass well as inspector Japp.But at the end I didn't mind lack of murder. It was one of those rare TV movies that can be recommended to anyone who prefers emotions and peace instead of action and violence. It is not a soap opera, it is not cheesy; and don't let my words make you understand it is a religious movie: it is humanity in the first place that House in Umbria promotes.

Too many reviews here and in print misinterpret My House in Umbria as another sweet movie in the Big Scenery genre, too few emphasize the film's essential theme of fictions and illusions. And yet, are they really illusions when you are aware of weaving them? Emily Delahunty has just experienced something absolutely horrific and over the course of the film, we learn too of her early losses and calamities. Somewhere along the line, she chose happiness; in fact, she chooses it time and again. Her foil in the movie is the Chris Cooper character, a cold man whose scientific mind brooks no illusions. She's persistent with him. She wants to draw him out and draw him in, seducing him into her enchanted world view. She may succeed a little. She'll certainly succeed with anyone who mindfully watches this tale unfold. If this is a fairy tale, it's a stunningly contemporary one. We who rise every morning and meet each day's challenges with some enthusiasm, we who continue to love, work and create in a world threatened by terrorism, live this fairy tale too.

There are people who do things to escape a life made empty due to their own personal baggage. Mrs Ella Delahunty is such a person. An author of a bookshelf full of romance novels and a victim of a marked past, she suffers a turning point in her life when she gets caught in a terrorist bombing on a train bound to Milan and survives. She is able to take under her wing several other people who were in her cabin at the moment of explosion, among them, a little American girl who was with her parents and a young German man.Under Ella's tutelage, the little girl -- Aimee -- slowly comes out of her shell and both form a bond that is threatened to become severed when Aimee's only surviving member arrives to claim her and take her back to America. Tom Riversmith is from the get-go someone who could care less who Ella Delahunty is and wants nothing more than to return to the States and he hints of someone who would do Aimee more harm than good. As both Mrs Delahunty and Mr Riversmith interact there is a growing tension between the two, and her vivid imagination finds its way to disclosing his true nature.Finding its way in and out of MY HOUSE IN UMBRIA is the appearance of Giancarlo Gianini who plays Inspector Gotti who is investigating the bombing of the train and evidence leads him closer to Mrs Delahunty's house. While crucial to the plot, it's less a mystery of who bombed the train as much as the evolution of both Aimee's and Mrs Delahunty's characters as one begins to open up to communication and the other stops living a life of fantasy and fiction and begins to see things as they truly are.If it weren't for its cute ending, MY HOUSE IN UMBRIA would be perfect -- most of the time, life is less about an ending which satisfies. Even though, this is one of those rare movies that move at its own pace and rely more on the strength of the actors' performances. Maggie Smith, always subtle, makes the most of her Miss Havisham role and the baggage of an incomplete life she has led. As a perfect foil to her, Chris Cooper is also subtle but can only muster disgust -- perhaps because he has his own wounds or simply because he cannot understand Mrs Delahunty. Both are excellent in this intimate film.Broadcast on HBO, MY HOUSE IN UMBRIA was nominated for nine Emmys including Best Actress for 2003 and marks yet another of Dame Maggie Smith's gorgeous, detailed performances.