Thursday, November 17, 2022

Enchanted April, by Mike Newell (1991)

Four English women, after World War I, who are unhappy with their lives, and their time away on vacation in a beautiful Italian villa.

Quatro inglesas, depois da Primeira Guerra Mundial, que estão infelizes com suas vidas, em viagem de férias em uma bonita mansão na Itália.

Directed by Mike Newell

Based on novel by Elizabeth von Arnim

Cast: Alfred Molina, Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson, Polly Walker, Josie Lawrence, Jim Broadbent.

The movie is copyrighted but it is only blocled in Canada, USA, Marshall Islands, American Virgin Islands, American Samoa.

O detentor de direitos autorais bloqueia o conteúdo nestes países

Canadá, Estados Unidos, Guam, Ilhas Marshall, Ilhas Virgens Americanas, Porto Rico, Samoa Americana

Legendas: English, Português, Español (ad duas últimas legendas foram ressincronizadas pelas legendas em Inglês).

LINK: https://youtu.be/_NB3yPKXGtE


Trivia IMDb:

The Italian castle scenes were filmed at Castello Brown in Portofino, Italy, the same castle where Elizabeth von Arnim stayed in the 1920s while writing the novel of the same title, on which this movie was based.

When she was cast as Mrs. Fisher, Dame Joan Plowright said that about twenty years earlier she and Dame Maggie Smith had planned an adaption of the same novel in which they would play the parts of Lottie Wilkins and Rose Arbuthnot.

Made for British television in 1991, but well-produced enough to be released in theaters in the United States in 1992.

There was no road leading up to Castello Brown, the Italian filming location for the castle. Cast and crew had to walk a mile up the hill every day in the morning, and then down again in the evening. All equipment and furnishings for the castle had to be carried up the hill. There was one elevator in the rock up to a neighboring house, but Dame Joan Plowright was the only member of the cast allowed to use it.

Alfred Molina was the only member of the cast and crew who could speak Italian and communicate with the Italian actors and locals during the shoot in Italy. He ended up acting as general interpreter for the production.

After filming wrapped, the cast and crew later remarked upon several supernatural experiences while filming on-location in Italy. Alfred Molina reportedly felt an ice-cold hand grasp the back of his neck on a night shoot, while Miranda Richardson felt her knee-high dress being aggressively yanked to the floor while waiting to film in an old castle. There were also several instances of crew members having to leave the set after suddenly feeling unwell.

Miramax Films, then a relatively small and new company, used the proceeds from the surprise success of the distribution of this movie to produce Neil Jordan's Traídos pelo Desejo (1992), which became another big success for them.

Featured Dame Joan Plowright's only Oscar nominated performance.

Former U.S. President George Bush watched this movie to cheer himself up directly after losing the 1992 election.

World War I looms large in this story set in the early 1920s. Everyone seems to assume that Mrs. Rose Arbuthnot (Miranda Richardson) and Mrs. Lottie Wilkins (Josie Lawrence) are war widows since they travel to Italy alone. Lady Caroline Dester's (Polly Walker's) life is adrift because she lost her beau in the war. Mr. George Briggs' (Michael Kitchen's) bad eyesight is due to mustard gas used by the Germans during the war.

When Mellersh Wilkins (Alfred Molina) is warned by local workmen about the boiler, but ignores them with disastrous consequences, he protests, "I didn't know 'pericoloso' meant 'explosion'!" "Pericoloso" is Italian for "dangerous".

The final movie watched by singer and songwriter Harry Nilsson.

The castle, to which the ladies travel, is located in Portofino on the outskirts of Genoa. Mr. George Briggs and Mr. Frederick Arbuthnot (Jim Broadbent) stop by the castle en route to Rome.

The novel had already a first (and lesser known) adaptation in the '30s, Enchanted April (1935), that didn't impress contemporary audience and critics.

Dame Joan Plowright and Jim Broadbent appeared in Widows' Peak (1994).

The film cast includes one Oscar winner: Jim Broadbent; and two Oscar nominees: Joan Plowright and Miranda Richardson.


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