Women in the theater, between nods of compassion and the
occasional tear, asked themselves the same question that Frances
Mayes asked: “What is it about love that makes us so stupid?”

Men found themselves asking a different question: “Why am I
watching this movie?”

Diane Lane stars as Mayes in the ultimate chick-flick of the
year, Under the Tuscan Sun, a film adapted from a book by
the same name. The movie delves into every woman’s dreams of a
villa in Tuscany; a bold and charismatic friend; a tall, dark and
handsome Italian boyfriend; and finally discovering true love.

Mayes’ life as a writer in San Francisco seemed to have been be
shattered–she divorced her husband after he had an affair, she was
forced to give up her huge, gorgeous house and move into a shanty
of divorcees, and she suffered from a case of long-term writer’s
block.

Her life turned around when her friends, a lesbian couple, gave
her the generous gift of a plane ticket to Italy and a bus tour of
the Italian countryside with a group called Gay and Away–a tour
group for homosexual couples.

Mayes arrives in Italy and is indirectly persuaded by an exotic
woman named Katherine to buy a villa in the Tuscan countryside.
Mayes pours all of her money into the home and, with the help of a
kind realtor named Signor Martini (Vincent Riotti) and a team of
contractors, transforms the run-down house into an incredible
mansion. Feeling alone in the big empty house, Mayes tells Martini
she wishes she could have a wedding in the house, people in the
empty bedrooms and loved ones to cook for.

In a chance meeting on the street, Mayes crosses paths with the
debonaire and handsome Marcello (Raoul Bova) and daydreams that her
three wishes might come true. Her friend Patti (Sandra Oh), who
gave her the trip to Italy, comes to visit after being left by her
lover, and soon Mayes’ heart is broken also–by Marcello.

Under the Tuscan Sun is beautiful–the scenery of Tuscany
is beautiful, the people are beautiful and the script is filled
with beautiful, poetic thoughts that convey the film’s underlying
theme: Take chances and experience the beauty of life and love.

I was entertained by the film even after I ran out of Milk Duds
because it is a movie in which any woman can become absorbed in the
scenery and romance, and lose herself in the fairy tale. There was
no chance, however, of getting lost in the storyline, because there
wasn’t one. It’s simply an account of things happening to Mayes
that most of us only experience in dreams. It’s a film that reminds
us to dream, to be ambitious, courageous and to allow ourselves to
fall in love, no matter how impractical that may be.