Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews
From the novel, The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth von Arnim
Four women in 1920s London take a vacation in Italy together, and their lives are changed.
We were visiting The Pumpkin House and having a wonderful time. The Witch and Snoopy suggested that we watch this, which is The Witch’s favorite go-to, feel-good movie, and we agreed, not having seen it before. I reserved the right to check out, not being fond of touchy-feely chick flicks, but I have to say, this one is a real gem.
It starts out in rainy, dank London, with women who are unhappy in their lives, and four of them end up in beautiful sunny Italy. Right there, they had me; every time winter hits, I start dreaming of camping in the Southwest.
The characters were good; they were in various ruts in their lives, but mostly made the effort to break out of them and enjoy themselves, and change what they could when they returned home (or didn’t return, depending.) The story was believeable, but had a touch of magic realism and fantasy about it that suited the story very well and gave the whole movie a bit of charm that it would otherwise not have had.
We chez Otter like Alfred Molina a lot, and he was excellent here; the only other two actors I already knew in this movie were Miranda Richardson and Jim Broadbent, and of course they were fine too.
This is not an exciting movie, but it is a good one to watch, and if you’re in the market for something charming that will make you smile, you’ll enjoy it. Trust the Otter.
theotterlimits 