Tea with Mussolini

Infobox Film
name = Tea with Mussolini


caption = "Tea with Mussolini" film poster
director = Franco Zeffirelli
producer = Clive Parsons
Riccardo Tozzi
Giovannella Zannoni
Frederick Muller (uncredited)
Executive Producer
Marco Chimenz
Associate Producer
Pippo Pisciotto
writer = John Mortimer
Franco Zeffirelli (autobiography)
starring = Cher
Joan Plowright
Judi Dench
Maggie Smith
Lily Tomlin
Charlie Lucas
Baird Wallace
music = Stefano Arnaldi
Alessio Vlad
cinematography = David Watkin
editing = Tariq Anwar
distributor = USA
G2 Films (theatrical)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (DVD)
non-USA
Universal Studios
released = Italy
26 March 1999
UK
2 April 1999
USA
14 May 1999
runtime = 117 min.
language = English / Italian
budget = $12,000,000 (estimated)
imdb_id = 0120857

"Tea with Mussolini" (1999) is a semi-autobiographical film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, telling the story of young Italian boy Luca's upbringing by a kind British woman and her circle of friends.

ynopsis

Set in Florence, 1935, a group of diverse and distinguished English expatriate women known as "the Scorpioni" make it a habit of meeting for tea each afternoon. Their proud members are Lady Hester Random, widow of the former British Ambassador to Italy; Arabella, an artist; and Mary Wallace, a secretary to self-pointed Italian businessman. They are sometimes joined by two Americans, Georgie, a lively archaeologist, and Elsa, a wealthy American art collector. When Mary becomes a guardian to Luca, a young boy, she turns to the ladies for help. But the onset of Fascism has irrevocable consequences for all of them. In order to help, Luca must confront the challenge of becoming a man and embrace independence.

Plot

The film begins in Florence, where a group of cultured expatriate British women meet for tea every afternoon. Luca (Charlie Lucas) is the illegitimate son of an Italian businessman. When Luca's mother dies, his father shows no interest in his son's upbringing and Mary Wallace (Joan Plowright) steps in as his guardian. Finding the task of bringing up a young boy alone daunting, she turns to the Scorpioni women for support. Together, they teach Luca many lessons about life. Mary acquaints him with the works of Shakespeare. He is also befriended and introduced to modern art by a rich, young, and attractive American widow, Elsa Morganthal Strauss-Almerson (Cher), who knew his late mother and offers him financial support. Meanwhile, Lady Hester Random (Maggie Smith), who is forever reminding everyone that her late husband was the Ambassador to Italy, keeps a sharp eye on Elsa.

One day, when the ladies are in a restaurant for afternoon tea, it is vandalized by Fascists. The situation then begins to become difficult for the ex-pat community due to the rising tide of Italian Fascism. In spite of this, Lady Hester Random retains an admiring faith in Benito Mussolini. She takes it upon herself to visit him to obtain his assurance that the community will be safe. He promises them his personal protection, and the group sits down to tea. The next day the front page of the local paper features a photo of Lady Hester and Mussolini, which she frames and proudly displays to local officials at every opportunity.

Despite this, the political situation continues to deteriorate. The Scorpioni can no longer have their afternoon teas at the Uffizi Gallery. Luca's father decides that Italy's future is with Germany rather than the United Kingdom. He removes Luca from Mary's care and sends him away for several years to an Austrian boarding school so that he can learn the language and be assured of a safe and prosperous future.

When Luca returns to Italy, he is reunited with his former guardian Mary, minutes before she is loaded on to a police transport truck by the police along with the other women. Italy has declared war on Great Britain causing the British ladies to be rounded up. Lady Hester forces her grandson Wilfred to disguise himself as a woman for his protection, and with the others calling him "Miss Lucy" he is packed onto the transport as well. Arabella becomes upset when the guards won't let her take her beloved dog, so Mary asks Luca to take him. After the women are taken away, he follows behind with a friend and sees they are being taken to the nearby towered city of San Gimignano. The woman are appalled by their new quarters, which are well below their accustomed standard. Although snubbed by the ladies in the past, Elsa, who along with her American compatriot, Georgie, remains free and takes pity on the ladies. Having trusted young Luca, who adores her, she asks him to deliver fake passports to a Jewish family to help them escape. Elsa now charges him with the task of giving money and fake documents to the guards ordering that the women be moved to an upper-class hotel. Believing that Mussolini himself issued the orders, Lady Hester is delighted and quickly asserts her authority over the hotel staff, eagerly brandishing the newspaper photo. The eccentric would-be artist Arabella (Judi Dench) and archaeologist Georgie (Lily Tomlin) decide to restore the famous St. Fina Ghirlandaio frescos at a nearby chapel, which had started to fade and flake off the walls.

Luca, who narrowly escapes local police on his night-time errands for Elsa, becomes jealous when she forms a romantic alliance with a shrewd young Italian lawyer. Pearl Harbor is attacked and it is announced that the United States has entered the war. The police soon detain the Americans Elsa and Georgie and install them in the hotel along with the English women. But as a Jew, Elsa is in far greater danger than the other women. In return for her boyfriend's promise to help her flee to Switzerland where they would be safe together, she signs over her valuable collection of modern art as well as all of her money and other possessions to him. However, as Mary now discovers, Elsa's boyfriend had no such intention and was plotting all along to betray her to the Gestapo. Mary scolds the jealous Luca and tells him to grow up as he already knew about the plot, but didn't tell Elsa earlier. For her part, Elsa refuses to believe the story or try to escape. Desperate, Mary goes to the women for help. At first Lady Hester scorns the idea of helping Elsa, believing she owes her nothing. Mary is then forced to reveal that it was not Mussolini but Elsa who arranged and financed their stay at the luxurious hotel. Shamed, Lady Hester agrees to try to convince Elsa of the truth. She goes to Elsa, who has isolated herself in her room, thanks her for her generosity, and assures her that her boyfriend will not be keeping his promise. Surprised by Lady Hester's change of heart, Elsa believes her and fears for her life. She consents to an escape plan hatched by Mary, Luca, and Wilfred, who have already fled the hotel to join the Italian resistance movement. Aided by money given by Luca from his inheritance, Wilfred and his friends in the underground help Elsa flee during the night. Just before she boards the tiny rowboat taking her out to sea, Elsa tells Luca how she once helped his young mother decide to go through with her pregnancy, thus saving his life; she now sees his help as a form of payback.

Against the threat of bombs going off in the outskirts of San Gimignano, Georgie and Arabella anxiously protect the precious St. Fina frescoes using piles of sandbags. Florence is invaded by Nazi forces, who begin seizing Jews, including Luca's art teacher, who was revealed to the Germans by Elsa's ex-boyfriend. The Germans lay explosives to blow up some of the towers in San Gimignano, and Arabella becomes frantic. Following her lead, the women immediately take action and all tie themselves to one of the buildings, bravely standing up to the pistol aimed at them by a frustrated Nazi officer. But within seconds the officer receives orders to abandon the city, and he and his men quickly take off, leaving the women behind and the towers untouched. The whole city rejoices as Scottish Allied troops arrive, with a grown-up Luca riding in the commander's jeep as his Italian interpreter. He gently warns his superior that the British women they are there to liberate, might not be easily ordered about. True to form, Lady Hester refuses to cooperate with the evacuation plans, and the other women join her, resolving to resume their former lives in Italy. Mary is thrilled to see that her beloved Luca has become the "English gentleman" of his father's dreams after all. Arabella and Georgie both rush into the chapel, past the rubble and are relieved to find the frescoes safe and sound.

Closing texts inform us, among other things, that the Scorpioni later resumed their afternoon teas (although, as Lady Hester reminds them, things are not the same as they were), and that Luca went on to "help" make the film - i.e. director Franco Zeffirelli.

Cast

*Cher - Elsa Morganthall Strauss-Almerson
*Maggie Smith - Lady Hester Random
*Judi Dench - Arabella
*Lily Tomlin - Georgie Rockwell
*Joan Plowright - Mary Wallace
*Charlie Lucas - Young Luca
*Baird Wallace - Teenage Luca

Quotes

*Lady Hester Random - "Americans simply don't understand picnics!"
*Lady Hester Random - "The Germans and the Italians couldn't get rid of us. There is absolutely no reason why we should surrender to the Scots"
*Scottish Soldier - "No! We are not bloody English, laddie! We're bloody Scots!"

Awards and Nominations

Awards won

*2000 - BAFTA Awards - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; Maggie Smith.
*2000 - Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards - Best Period Hair Styling Feature; Vivian McAteer.
*2000 - Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists - Best Costume Design (Migliori Costumi); Anna Anni, Alberto Spiazzi.

Awards nominated

*1999 - Golden Trailer Awards - Best Drama.
*2000 - BAFTA Awards - Best Costume Design; Jenny Beavan, Anna Anni, Alberto Spiazzi. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120857/awards]

ee also

* The Scorpioni
* Gran Caffé Doney
* Lady Hester Random

External links

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