Audrey Wells
26 connections found
Filmography
View:
Connections, in both directions
La Dolce Vita (1960)
Directed by Federico Fellini
influenced Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Visuals Characters
This is not Tennessee Williams' "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" or Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" (although one of the most famous scenes from that film is restaged here).
Wells assumes the audience’s ignorance of all things Italian, and as such any scene with Lindsay Duncan’s Katherine (an American with delusions of Anita Ekberg) engaging La Dolce Vita or Nights of Cabiria feels more condescending than helpful.
But there's also Lindsay Duncan as Katherine, an eccentric 50-ish Englishwoman who has, unluckily for the locals, transplanted herself to Italy, where she swans about in apish imitation of Anita Ekberg in "La Dolce Vita."
This culminates in a well-done homage to the Trevi Fountain scene from Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" that is striking.
The early part of the film is like a slicker version of Paul Mazursky's An Unmarried Woman (1978).
Consider the next best thing: a jaunt to your local video store, where you can pick up the diametrically opposed but concurrently released travelogues Under the Tuscan Sun and Death in Venice.
Geoffrey Simpson's ("Shine," "Under the Tuscan Sun") digital photography even evokes the filmmaking of the earlier decade.
Moscow on the Hudson (1984)
Directed by Paul Mazursky
influenced Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Visuals
By herself, she bravely faces an array of contractors (many of whom look like Robin Williams in his "Moscow on the Hudson" period), finds new friends and hopes to love again.
Based on a novel by Frances Mayes and written/directed by Audrey Wells, Under the Tuscan Sun sets itself apart from thematic cousins (including Ridley Scott's A Good Year) by eschewing the cliches of this mini-genre and instead unfolds in a much more natural (and believable) way.
We’ve been here before (and better) with the charming stranger-in-a-strange-land tale, “Under the Tuscan Sun,” starring the equally charming Diane Lane.
We've seen this movie before in various incarnations -- most notably, as Under the Tuscan Sun , with Diane Lane in the Russell Crowe part, discovering herself in the Italian countryside.
The result is a mix of Sideways' man-meets-wine infatuation and the Diane Lane endeavor, Under the Tuscan Sun.
It's not much more than Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), but set in France and with Russell Crowe standing in for Diane Lane.
I kept remembering Under the Tuscan Sun, in which divorcee Diane Lane ran off to an Italian villa, fell in love with an exotic local, and ultimately decided to abandon her previous way of life.
Truly Madly Deeply (1991)
Directed by Anthony Minghella
influenced Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Themes
…director Audrey Wells ( Disney's The Kid , George of the Jungle ) from Frances Mayes memoir, reminded me, surprisingly, of Truly Madly Deeply -- it's not so devastating as Anthony Minghella's ghost story, of course, but it follows a similar trail from loss to recovery to redemption, and exudes a similar exhilaration about the rediscovery of life along the way.
Of course, that film became a "cult movie" (it was a masterpiece, to be sure, but one that only six people wound up seeing) while the other script, "Splash", became an enormous hit and made a star out of Daryl Hannah.
Cross “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” with “Thelma and Louise,” set it “Under the Tuscan Sun,” and you’d have something akin to “Like Crazy,” a vibrant and compelling look at friendship, freedom and the fine line between sanity and madness.
Field of Dreams (1989)
Directed by Phil Alden Robinson
influenced Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Themes
And so Under the Tuscan Sun becomes a female Field of Dreams (1989): If you restore it, they will come.
Nights of Cabiria (1957)
Directed by Federico Fellini
influenced Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Characters
Wells assumes the audience’s ignorance of all things Italian, and as such any scene with Lindsay Duncan’s Katherine (an American with delusions of Anita Ekberg) engaging La Dolce Vita or Nights of Cabiria feels more condescending than helpful.
But we’re on the same wave length as Fred, the only thing we know for certain about Elsa is that she’s obsessed with Fellini’s La Dolce Vita , and wants for nothing more than to recreate Anita Ekberg’s famed feline assisted dip into the Trevi Fountain (which felt old back in 2003 when we had to watch Lindsay Duncan do the same thing in Under the Tuscan Sun ).
This movie about a just-divorced woman has already been made once before by another feminist, Audrey Wells, called Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), and it was almost as bad as this thing, if possible.
The work that will more obviously come to mind, however, is "Under the Tuscan Sun," the 2003 film (based on the 1996 memoir of the same name) where Diane Lane also played a writer who also got divorced and also moved to Italy to rediscover and reconnect with herself.
Diane Lane gave a much more convincingly moving, well-nuanced performance in Under the Tuscan Sun, a superior film which treads similar waters, but with a smarter script, less schmaltz and more comic relief.
Europe’s rejuvenating effects on a staid American tourist have been depicted many times before and in far better films (Dodsworth, 1936; Before Sunrise, 1995; American Dreamer, 1984; Under the Tuscan Sun, 2003) but Letters to Juliet’s narrow focus and fumbled execution don’t warrant comparison with the best of them.
No troublesome construction problems emerge, as they did in Under the Tuscan Sun.
“From the Vine” breathes the same fragrant air as “Under the Tuscan Sun,” “A Good Year” and any number of other movies that offer up beautiful scenery and a stripped-down way of life as a tonic for the soul.
Part Shirley Valentine, part Changing Rooms and part Wish You Were Here, Under the Tuscan Sun is lovely to look at and has good performances, but is let down by a pedestrian script.
Those looking forward to a scenic view of Italy might want to stick to films like Luca and Under The Tuscan Sun ; Amber is promised a stay in a villa but she and her fellow Tuscany Grove managers are restricted to a crappy motel.
Made in Italy (2020)
Directed by James D'Arcy
influenced by Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Visuals Themes Plot
Visually, Made in Italy is reminiscent of another escape-to-Italy romance, Audrey Wells’ 2003 Under the Tuscan Sun, starring Diane Lane (and also featuring Duncan).
The film fits neatly into the same vibrant, postcard-quality camp as Under the Tuscan Sun and A Good Year.
There is a fine tradition of “American women find themselves in Italy” films, from Only You (1994), Stealing Beauty (1996), Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), and Chasing Liberty (2004) to Eat Pray Love and Letters to Juliet (both 2010) but less films about men doing the same.
The result is sort of a male-centric version of “Under the Tuscan Sun.”
Lost in Florence (2017)
Directed by Evan Oppenheimer
influenced by Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Themes
He also cites the influence of such films as A Room with a View, Under the Tuscan Sun and Eat, Pray, Love, suggesting that in each instance Florence—as literal place and metaphor—plays a transforming role.
From the Land of the Moon (2016)
Directed by Nicole Garcia
influenced by Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Themes
But the story could have used a little less “Under the Tuscan Sun” and a little more “All That Heaven Allows.”