Lily Tomlin in "Tea With Mussolini."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, Judi Dench, Cher and Lily Tomlin Director: Franco Zeffirelli Rated: PG, with mild profanity and sexual innuendo Length: 117 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(June 11, 1999) -- Franco Zeffirelli, the creator of the 1968 Romeo and Juliet, the most romanticized Shakespeare film ever, has now romanticized his own youth to the brink of implausibility in Tea With Mussolini.

Set in the Florence of the 1930s, the tale of an orphan Italian childhood in the midst of flamboyant English and American women has the distinct aura of exaggeration or, perhaps, wishful thinking. Yet it's often much fun, thanks to the top-shelf cast that brings his rose-tinted memories to life.

Tea With Mussolini succeeds mostly as a delightful duel of grand dames, as three of the greatest British actresses, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright, go toe-to-toe. And the Americans Cher and Lily Tomlin prove themselves no slouches either.

Thus, Tea With Mussolini is one of those off-center dramas in which the protagonist the central character is little more than spectator. The party here is thrown by the delightfully eccentric supporting characters.

Loosely based on Zeffirelli's autobiography, the film stars young newcomers Charlie Lucas and Baird Wallace as the Zeffirelli boy, here called Luca, at different ages. Born illegitimately in Florence, he's been cast aside by his married, middle-class father (and his mother's dead).

He's raised, instead, by the warm-hearted Mary Wallace (Joan Plowright), an older Englishwoman who works as secretary to the boy's father.

Mary is part of a circle of artistically inclined English expatriates who include Lady Hester Rando (Maggie Smith), a snobbish widow of a former British ambassador to Italy; and Arabella Delancey (Judi Dench), a most impassioned art lover who adapts the scarves and attitude of Isadora Duncan, and says things like "I've drunk deep the wine of Firenze."

Luca also comes under the influence of two unusual Americans Elsa (Cher) a flashy American gold-digging art collector, and Georgie (Tomlin), a practically minded, outspokenly gay archaeologist.

And all five female characters are fascinating and have entertaining stories to unfold. However, they seldom weave together smoothly; the film is more like a three-ring circus than center-stage drama. Or, to be more exact (and to stretch the analogy), the sideshows here are much more fun than the activity in the main tent.

The dramatic tension is triggered by Mussolini's growing power and Italy's entrance into the war against England and, eventually, America. The women, thus, become in jeopardy, and are interned in a barracks in the Tuscan town of San Gimignano. For the English women, Mussolini's actions are seen as a personal betrayal; after all, Lady Hester once had "tea with Mussolini" and believed him an admirable man in the line of the great Caesars.

The film is at its best in the earlier reels, as the various women joyously demonstrate their eccentricities. It's a bit less successful when Zeffirelli and co-writer John Mortimer realized he had to put these delightful characters in some sort of a story. Unfortunately, the tale of underground allies and prerequisite escape seems almost tacked on.

I also was a bit surprised that Zeffirelli, who began his career as a noted costumer and set designer, would ignore the famous warm glow of Tuscany to give his film a dull, muted color scheme.

But, despite the film's substantial flaws, Tea With Mussolini somehow manages to be a delight, thanks to the fabulous array of memorable women. Ultimately, the film is like a proper British tea in which the participants are much more satisfying than the beverages or biscuits.