Tea with Mussolini (1999)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Franco Zeffirelli

Writers:

John Mortimer (writer)
Franco Zeffirelli (autobiography)

Release Date:

14 May 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | War

Tagline:

A story of civilized disobedience

Plot:

Semi-autobiographical tale from the early life of director Franco Zeffirelli looks at the illegitimate son (Charlie Lucas as a child...

Plot Keywords:

American | Italian | Italy | 1930s | Eccentric

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Cher	...	Elsa Morganthal Strauss-Armistan
Judi Dench	...	Arabella
Joan Plowright	...	Mary Wallace
Maggie Smith	...	Lady Hester Random
Lily Tomlin	...	Georgie Rockwell
Baird Wallace	...	Luca
Charlie Lucas	...	Luca (Child)
Massimo Ghini	...	Paolo
Paolo Seganti	...	Vittorio Fanfanni
Claudio Spadaro	...	Mussolini
Mino Bellei	...	Cesare
Paul Chequer	...	Wilfred Random, aka Miss Lucy
Tessa Pritchard	...	Connie Raynor
Michael Williams	...	British Consul
Paula Jacobs	...	Molly

Also Known As:

Un te con Mussolini (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements, language, brief nudity and some mild violence.

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

Italy | UK

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:L | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Germany:6 (bw) | New Zealand:M | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG | Portugal:M/6

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cattleya

Trivia:

Vanessa Redgrave and Angela Lansbury were first considered for the roles of Lady Hester and Mary, but due their schedule problems they were replaced by Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The tanks the Germans ride in on are in-fact U.S. Army M4 Sherman's, not German Built Panzer's.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Title Card: Florence 1935.
Title Card: The love affair between the artistically-inclined English community and Florence was soon to be overshadowed by the clouds of war.
Title Card: But at the moment the sun is still shining on the squares and statues, and the dictator Mussolini is the gentleman who makes the trains run on time.
Connie Raynor: Excuse me, are you the Consul?
British Consul: Yes.
Connie Raynor: Connie Raynor of the Morning Post. I'm fascinated to know what His Majesty's Consul in Florence makes of it all?
British Consul: I can't believe your readers would be interested in our little ceremony.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Features A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Soundtrack:

Tulipan

An ode to humanity

This is a melodrama and you should not expect anything else. But what a melodrama! In the hands of a great director, using an eccentric story involving some eccentric people, it conveys straight to the heart how the great darkness descended upon Europe in the 1930's. It tells you that the greatest evil is the work of humans, and that the potential for evil lurks in the human soul. But, and here is the movie greatest strength, it shows you that humans possess the capacity to be human and to act human, when they heed Shakespeare's advice: "Love thyself last". All the negative comments that can be made about this or that deficiency caused me to downgrade this movie's rating from a "10" to a mere "9". Go see it. If you have kids - make sure to take them along for a great and satisfying lesson about life as it should be lived.