Starring: Maggie Smith, Chris Cooper and Timothy Spall
Director: Richard Loncraine
Rated: M15+
ADAPTED from a novella by William Trevor, My House in Umbria is very civilised entertainment, the kind they pick for Royal Command Performances.
It is an interesting drama for adults, especially for those who are not as young as they used to be.
The plot is generally unpredictable except at the end (and why not?).
What looks like another Maggie Smith performance as an agreeable/disagreeable eccentric marooned in Italy (after all, she did it in Tea With Mussolini and A Room with a View), turns out to be a pleasing sojourn in Umbria with more than a little edge. And Maggie Smith as Mrs Delahunty does it perfectly.
Who else can make a line like “the brash technology of the 21st century” sound so haughtily off-putting?
Not knowing anything of the plot, I was pleased to discover it and so will merely mention that circumstances bring an unexpected group of people to the house in Umbria.
They include Ronnie Barker as a retired general – and his presence makes us regret his absence from the screen for so long.
Timothy Spall is the factotum of the house. Chris Cooper (Adaptation, Seabiscuit, October Sky) is the American professor who finds it very difficult to cope with Mrs Delahunty. Giancarlo Giannini is a police investigator.
The film is not just a return to the past. Its themes, including terrorism, are quite contemporary. It has a satisfying blend of the old and the new.
Audiences who have been to Umbria will be making resolutions to return as soon as they can.
