Plot
Previously filmed in 1935 with Ann Harding, Enchanted April, a romantic novel by Elizabeth, was remade in 1992. The first film skips along superficially at 66 minutes: the second, directed by the always intriguing Mike Newell, runs 101 minutes, allowing for richer characterizations and a bottomless reserve of brilliant dialogue. Two cloistered, married English women (Josie Lawrence, Miranda Richardson) impulsively rent an Italian villa and embark upon a vacation without their spouses. They are joined by two other ladies: the high-flown aging widow Joan Plowright, and elegant upper-crust beauty Polly Walker) whom they've never met. Under the spell of an exotic new location, the foursome are in for quite a few life-altering experiences, many of them amusing, and not a few very surprising. Impeccably accurate in its recreation of European manners and mores in the 1920s, Enchanted April is sheer bliss from fade-in to fade-out.
MPAA Rating:
PG for some mild language.
Theatrical Release Date:
07/13/1992
DVD Release Date:
05/05/2009
Distributor(s):
Curzon-Miramax, Miramax
Themes:
Women's Friendship,Vacation Romances
Tone:
Lyrical,Talky,Humorous,Reflective,Springlike,Gentle
Keywords:
Italy,vacation,villa,widow/widower,wife,women,writing
Country of Origin:
USA (07-31-1992)