Under the Tuscan Sun will charm you

Under the Tuscan Sun

Director: Audrey Wells

Cast: Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Raoul Bova, Vincent Riotta, Lindsay Duncan

Cert: 12.

According to every other TV programme, you can buy a large Italian/Greek/Spanish farmhouse and 45 acres of prime vineyards for the small change in your pocket. We all wish we could do it.

Frances (played by the charming Lane), suffering the aftermath of a nasty divorce, is given a ticket to Italy by a friend (Oh) who has just become pregnant. As you do, she comes across a rambling villa in scenic Tuscany and buys it.

We all wish we could do it.

Like Frances, we would get to meet everybody's idea of the mad Italian and the gangs of incompetent, but charming, builders who will always be there on Thursday (a day which apparently does not exist in Italy). Stereotypes and clichés grow in abundance in the ramshackle, but charming, garden.

This lightweight, but charming, film is based on the Frances Mayes book about her own charming experiences under the charming Tuscan sun. It's as deep as the morning dew on a charming vine.

It looks good, of course, and Frances finds it all life-enhancing - daft locals and useless builders notwithstanding - and it's like eating an entire box of very sweet chocs.

When Frances finds a stray kitten you know somebody's plucking the old heart-strings. But the kitten's charming.

Star Rating: 2/5