rated on a 4-star scale screening venue : odeon ( liverpool city centre ) released in the uk by uip on april 14 , 2000 ; certificate 12 ; 105 minutes ; countries of origin usa/uk ; aspect ratio 1 . 85 : 1 directed by philip haas ; produced by david brown , geoff stier . written by belinda haas ; based on the novella by w . somerset maugham . photographed by maurizio calvesi ; edited by belinda haas . it was akira kurosawa , i think , or perhaps luis buñuel , who said that movies which tell us everything often have nothing to say . it was one of the great directors , anyway , and those guys know what they're talking about . " up at the villa " feels like it was made to prove the point . if you removed every bit of its dialogue that strains to make sure we understand obvious details , the film would be half as long . that would be great for the authors , because they'd have plenty of free space in which to insert a comprehensible story . kristin scott thomas stars as mary panton , a young english widow staying in florence at the advent of word war two . she receives a marriage proposal from sir edgar smith ( james fox ) , a man she does not love , but who could provide her with security . this point is emphasised by an american society lady , princess san fernando ( anne bancroft ) , who informs her guests " he has his qualities . . . " while rubbing her fingers together to make clear she's alluding to his money . of course , every minor point is emphasised in " up at the villa " . " surely he didn't come all the way here just to dance with you , " princess asks mary , while needlessly adding " he must be wanting to marry you ! " we understand what the characters are talking about , but the screenplay keeps providing them with unnecessary clarifications . my reviews have featured a lot of quotations as of late , because sometimes that's the best way to illustrate what a film is like . it's absolutely essential here ; the dialogue is the key point , drawing attention to itself by insulting our intelligence and cluttering things up . there is a love interest for mary in the movie , a playboy named roley flint ( sean penn ) . he too gets some awkward lines , the most memorable of which are spoken at a dinner party . the topic of conversation is electricity shortages . " it's because of the munitions factories , " says roley . " they're using up all the power . " so far , so good . but then : " they're preparing for war . the situation in europe is getting really tense right now . opposing countries are getting ready for armed conflict , and preparing arsenals of weapons . " as the film goes on , mary finds she needs to turn to roley for help : after she breaks the heart of a young austrian refugee ( jeremy davies ) , the boy shoots himself in her bedroom , and roley is needed to help get rid of the corpse . this part of the plot becomes the middle section of the film ; it's intended , i suppose , to show mary and roley getting to know each other . but it sidetracks the drama by bogging it down in thriller elements -- the characters are closely observed , all right , but as conspirators rather than potential lovers . the emotions of the film get confused and lost , and by the finale i wasn't sure what had happened . mary ends up with neither edgar nor roley , but is this intended as a sad or happy ending , and what made her come to her decision ? " up at the villa " was written , directed and edited by the husband and wife team of philip and belinda haas , who adapted the novella by w . somerset maugham . it's tempting to say that two people with an intimate psychological connection shouldn't work on a film together without some other significant creative influence , because they run the risk of making it so personal that other people won't understand it . but that's just not true -- think of the wonderful movies made by such auteurs as the coen , hughes and marx brothers . this is a bland and aimless film . i don't know why and i don't much care . copyright ( c ) 2000 ian waldron-mantgani please visit , and encourage others to visit , the uk critic's website , which is located at <a href= " http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic " >http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic</a> 
