The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone 2003
A film review by Timothy Voon Copyright 2006 Timothy Voon
1 out of 5 stars
Directed by Robert Allan Ackerman
Writing credits Martin Sherman Tennessee Williams (novella)
Cast - Helen Mirren .... Karen Stone Olivier Martinez .... Paolo di Lio Anne Bancroft .... Contessa
I came across this movie accidentally on the undusted shelves of a DVD store of not so frequently watched movies. It had a good cast and I thought it would be worth a view. After all it is based on a famous novel by Tennessee Williams of the same name, and carried with it a good cast.
I will come straight out and say that I was very embarrassed for both Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez who carry the title roles. Their love scenes were, shall we say, unconvincing!
Martinez (who is French) tries hard to come across convincingly as a raging, Italian playboy, who uses his good looks to seduce wealthy older women for his own financial gains. He is convincingly good looking, although not convincingly Italian. His love pouncing on Mirren in the car, in bed, against a wall was also amusing. I could feel his discomfort in the love scenes which falls to an all time low, when as he pumps into Mirren against a wall and forces her say 'please' repeatedly as her legs are wrapped around him. I just laughed, and wasn't sure if I was meant to at the time.
As for Mirren, who plays the ageing stage diva, Karen Stone who is desperately trying to recapture her youth by filling her bed and loins with young virile men, doesn't fair much better then Martinez. Mirren isn't a great stage beauty but is a fine actress. However, the only thing memorable about her performance in this movie, is her acrobatic skills whilst making love to Martinez in the front seat of her car - she spreads her legs so wide for him that 1 am almost sure they were at 180 degrees mirror to mirror. Wow! Ouch!
As for Ann Bancroft the Contessa in one of her last roles of her amazing career, fortunately doesn't make the same mistake as Mirren by hopping into bed with a young Italian boy. Thank god for that!
I'm not sure if this movie is true to the Tennessee Williams novel, as I haven't read it. And I cannot make comparisons to the earlier 1961 film version staring Vivienne Leigh and Warren Beatty. However, I can surmise that it is a tale of lost youth and beauty, in the form of Karen Stone. Who literally tries to recapture some of this youth through love and sex in the form of younger Italian men - I guess her 'Roman Spring'. I may be oversimplifying this complex story but that's how it came across in the movie - old woman having lots of sex with young Italian men as the final scene of the movie would suggest. Mirren after being dumped by Martinez, throws the keys to her palatial Italian villa to a stray, Italian man who has been stalking her, and I believe had urinated in front of her in a public place, inviting him into her home and stars into his eyes wantonly, before the movie fades into a haze of I can only guess more sex! Sadly this says it all!
Timothy Voon
Email - winklebeck@hotmail.com Web - http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?Tim+Voon
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