The Roman spring of Mrs.Stone

Year of release : 2003

 

Run time : 1h50min

 

Genre : Romantic Drama / Television

 

Cast : Helen Mirren, Olivier Martinez, Rodrigo Santoro, Anne Bancroft

 

 

The movie is based on the 1950 Tennessee Williams novel of the same name.

 

Karen Stone is a 50 year old actress who still plays Juliet in the Romeo and Juliet play. Her husband is wealthy,so she decides to end her career,as she wasn't such a good actress(so she says,while at the same time we hear she was an acclaimed American actress),and retire with him in Rome,as his health is getting worse.

While in Rome,visiting the sights, her husband dies while on a plane.

 

Deciding to stay in Rome,she calls a Contessa her friends find unpleasant as she gossips about everyone,and goes out with her. Whenever they go out, certain young men hit on her,and while at her place,they start selling her a soppy story about some family member or friend,asking her to give them a lot of money.

 

Seeing she can't leech off her,the Contessa,who is pimping these young men,plays her last card,Paolo.

Karen falls in love with Paolo, and starts buying him things,although he treats her badly,and flirts with young women in front of her all the time.

The Contessa, although poor,feels entitled to Karen's fortune,and hates her for being rich and American.

She and Paolo are trying to get even more money from Karen,as a young homeless man,keeps on stalking Karen,ever since she landed in Rome.

 

The Contessa was despicable,-envious, hateful and spiteful-,and Paolo was the perfect example of poor and proud,when he had nothing to show for,except his beauty(which is in the eye of the beholder-I never found Olivier Martinez attractive,quite the opposite).

Karen was a sad character,who just seemed afraid of being alone,unluckily, trusting undeserving people, finding only fake friends.

 

This is the first movie I saw Rodrigo Santoro in,and I've been a "fan" for 20 years now.

 

I loved the interior design,and Helen Mirren's outfits. I really liked her first two haircuts,which matched her face and skin color,and hated the red one,which made her look older. I always thought she looks like Christina Aguilera,and that she aged like fine wine.

 

The actors were fine,it seems to me,Anne Bancroft always plays the kind of characters she played in this movie,as this character reminded me of the character she played in Great Expectations.

 

You can watch the full movie here,for free :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fShaskBS_yA&ab_channel=ChickenSoupfortheSoulTV

 

Rating : Worth a watch !