Diane Lane's first movie and one of Laurence Olivier's last, this
sweet romantic adventure is really worth renting. Diane Lane is a
brilliant young American girl, Lauren, living in France with her flighty (maybe slutty) mother
(Sally Kellerman) and her rich stepfather (Arthur Hill). Despite the
attractions of Paris, she's pretty bored with her life until she meets a
cute French boy named Daniel who's as smart as she is. It's puppy love
at first sight. During one of their outings together, they meet an
elderly man with a gift for storytelling (Olivier). One of his stories
involves the legend that if a couple kisses under the Bridge of Sighs in
Venice at sunset, their love will last forever. When Lauren's parents
announce that they will be moving back to America, she decides and
convinces Daniel that they must go to Venice so they can be assured that
their love will last despite the distance. How they manage this, with
the help of Olivier makes up the bulk of the movie.
This
is another small, non-action-packed movie, showing my clear bias, but I
think you will really enjoy it nonetheless. Olivier's performance is
fantastic, and the kids are adorable. The love triangle among,
Kellerman, Hill and David Dukes is a little swingin' seventies, but it's
a small side plot. For those of you too young to remember mainframe
computers and punch-cards this will be something of an education. A
friend of mine used to get mad at me for saying that this was Diane
Lane's best movie - and she's right that really isn't fair, but it is
delightful. The boy who plays Daniel is up to starring opposite Diane Lane although he did only one other movie and now, according to IMDB is a dentist!? Plus his name is Thelonious - how great is that! Both manage to stand up to the acting genius of Olivier. The movie also has wonderful locations of Paris, other parts of France, Italy and especially Venice. If you rent this movie and Summertime (watch this space) you can feel like you've seen Venice without ever having to smell a canal. One more tidbit - Broderick Crawford has a cameo as himself that is worth the price of admission all by itself.
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