Enchanted April

This 1991 movie is based on Elizabeth Von Armin’s novel of the same name. In it, a sad and some might say pathetic -alright, I’m saying pathetic- woman named Lottie, played by Josie Lawrence (EastEnders) sees an ad to rent a castle in Italy and sees it as a way to distract herself from her drab existence. She pesters and cajoles Rose played by Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) into joining her. To defray expenses they run an ad and two strangers join them, Joan Plowright (Spiderwick Chronicles, Widow’s Peak) as Mrs. Fisher and Polly Walker (Emma, Restoration) as Lady Dester. All you need to know about them is Mrs. Fisher is old, stiff and talks about a bunch of dead writers she met when she was young and Lady Dester is tired of being beautiful, wealthy and having a care-free party of a life. Yes, I found them as annoying as they sound.

As far as plot, forget it. There is a lot of moping how life pretty much sucks, but what can be done about it? But they don’t even have the necessary conversations to convey such a feeling. We are supposed to guess this from forlorn looks, and to help us out, occasionally we hear the thoughts inside a character’s head, which was much more annoying than it was helpful. The three women who haven’t hit menopause yet have a lot of man problems, even though men are in short supply and not one of them is attractive or interesting.

Lately, because of some of the high quality productions of Jane Austen’s works that I’ve seen recently, this film tempted me. I thought, I like English accents, I like romance and when they’re together- all the better. It was a disappointment. The most positive thing I have to say is that it was visually stunning once they reached Italy and it made me long to go on vacation there. I thought since I like a wide range of movies and don’t have a problem with British films, artsy films, or small films I would probably appreciate this- but I didn’t. This movie is strictly for those who only watch PBS and hate anything mainstream. Maybe someone who owns and uses their own tea service daily? I don’t know, I’m just guessing, but if slow movies where nothing happens is up your alley this movie is for you.

Enchanted April