TEA WITH MUSSOLINI [Un tè con Mussolini] [1999 / 2019] [Blu-ray + DVD Combo] [French Release] Award Winning Film Directed By Franco Zeffirelli!
A Story of Civilized Disobedience. Florence, in Italy is on the brink of World War 2 – it was a time of social unrest and, of course – afternoon tea. Join Oscar® winner Cher and an incredible cast of leading ladies such as Dame Judi Dench, Dame Joan Plowright, Dame Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin and Paula Jacobs as they host this radiant, and most beautiful film that is worth savouring. Pre-war Florence is the place to be for any proper British woman who relishes culture and the arts. These ladies have everything they could ever want or need – including a promise from Dictator “Il Duce” Mussolini himself that not even the imminent World War 2 will impose upon their lifestyle. But when it appears that his word is not kept, and these expatriates – who chose to stay in Italy instead of seeking refuge in their own country – are in trouble, it takes a young outcast boy and a brash younger nouveau riche Jewish-American woman named Elsa Morgenthal [Cher], to keep them in the high life and out of harm's way.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1999 Golden Ciak Awards: Nominated: Best Costume Design (Migliori Costumi) for Alberto Spiazzi, Anna Anni and Jenny Beavan. 1999 Golden Trailer Awards: Nominated: Best Drama. 2000 BAFTA Awards: Win: BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Dame Maggie Smith. Nominated: BAFTA Film Award for Best Costume Design for Alberto Spiazzi, Anna Anni and Jenny Beavan. 2000 Hollywood Make-up Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards: Win: Best Period Make-up for the Feature Film for Leonard Engelman. Win: Best Period Hair Styling for the Feature Film for Vivian McAteer. 2000 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists: Win: Silver Ribbon Award for Best Costume Design (Migliori Costumi) for Alberto Spiazzi for Anna Anni. 2000 Premio Berenice Awards: Win: La Chioma di Berenice Award for Best Costumes in Film for Alberto Spiazzi (costume designer), Anna Anni (costume designer) and Jenny Beavan (costume designer).
FILM FACT No.2: ‘TEA WITH MUSSOLINI’ is a semi-autobiographical film directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Michael Williams, who was married to Dame Judi Dench in real life, died not long after the film was finished and this film marks his last on-screen appearance. Dame Angela Lansbury was offered the role of Mary Wallace, but had to drop out when her husband became very ill. Lady Hester Random is based upon a real resident of Florence whom Franco Zeffirelli knew in his childhood. Franco Zeffirelli mentions her and a couple of other ladies of the “Scorpioni” fraternity in his autobiography. Franco Zeffirelli said: “I don’t remember if she was called Lady Hester Random, but I remember this terrible and fantastic woman at the time and Lady Hester Random was the dowager of the community. Franco Zeffirelli remembers the many outrageous things Lady Hester Random did because she could afford to be arrogant and bossy.” Closing texts explain the mostly happy fates of the characters, concluding with the remark that Luca went on to become an artist and “helped in making this film” – in other words, as writer and director.
Cast: Cher, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Joan Plowright, Dame Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin, Baird Wallace, Charlie Lucas, Massimo Ghini, Paolo Seganti, Claudio Spadaro [“Il Duce” Mussolini], Mino Bellei, Paul Chequer, Tessa Pritchard, Michael Williams, Paula Jacobs, Bettine Milne, Hazel Parsons, Helen Stirling, Kathleen Doyle, Gisella Mathews, Gianna Giachetti, Chris Larkin, Giovanni Nannini, Pino Colizzi, Jackie Basehart, Giacomo Gonnella, Clemente Abete, Roberto Farnesi, Chris Tattanelli, Claudia Piccoli, Allan Caister Pearce, Hermann Weiskopf, Benedetta Magini, Beppe Landini, Giuseppe Rossi Borghesano, Marcellina Ruocco, Ferdinando Ferrini, Massimo Salvianti, David Agranov (uncredited), Steven Blake (uncredited), Gavino Bondioli (uncredited), Fabio Fulco (uncredited), Rizia Ortolani (uncredited), Luca Padrini (uncredited) and Maria Weiss (uncredited)
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Producers: Clive Parsons, Frederick Muller (uncredited), Giovannella Zannoni, Marco Chimenz, Pippo Pisciotto and Riccardo Tozzi
Screenplay: Franco Zeffirelli (screenplay/ autobiography) and John Mortimer (screenplay)
Composers: Alessio Vlad and Stefano Arnaldi
Costumes Design: Alberto Spiazzi, Anna Anni and Jenny Beavan
Cinematography: David Watkin, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (CinemaScope)
Audio: French: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
French: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: French and French SDH
Running Time: 117 minutes
Region: Blu-ray: All Regions + DVD: PAL
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Universal Pictures / Elephant Films
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘TEA WITH MUSSOLINI’ [Un tè con Mussolini] [1999] The film opens in the Florence of 1935 at a memorial service for the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who died in Florence in the 19th century. A group of expatriates pay their annual respects to her. Dame Judi Dench is Arabella, a dizzy painter and lover of the arts, in a role that gives her no room to be anything but a stereotypical English old biddy. Dame Judi Dench has the most embarrassing line in the film, as Arabella explains to Luca why she remains in Italy “I have warmed both hands before the fires of Michelangelo and Botticelli.”
These English expatriates feel very comfortable in Florence in Italy, and are excited by all the art around them. “Il Duce” Mussolini [Claudio Spadaro] is still perceived as a civilized gentleman, who makes the trains run on time. They desperately want to be loyal and to stay in Italy in Florence between 1935 and 1944, and their relationship with a local boy called Luca [Charlie Lucas], and later with older Luca [Baird Wallace]. Disowned by his father, Luca goes to live with kindly Mary Wallace [Dame Joan Plowright], a British expatriate who becomes a surrogate mother for Luca and is also taken under the wing of her eclectic set of friends, known as the “Scorpioni.” As the political situation in Italy deteriorates, Lady Hester Random [Dame Maggie Smith] widow of the former British ambassador to Italy, one of the “Scorpioni” and the widow of the former British Ambassador and takes tea with "Il Duce" Mussolini [Claudio Spadaro], convincing herself that Lady Hester Random and her friends are now under his personal protection. But when the war progresses, the ladies are arrested and held in custody, putting their American Jewish friend Elsa Morgenthal [Cher] in terrible danger. Now a teen, Luca must risk everything to help the “Scorpioni” and the only real family he has.
This a semi-autobiographical story inspired by the childhood of director Franco Zeffirelli, this touching drama gives a small but nonetheless moving insight into life in Italy during World War II. Seen from the perspective of English and American expats in their senior years. ‘TEA WITH MUSSOLINI’ was an original take on the familiar story of political upheaval, discrimination and fear. As you might expect from a Second World War film about a group of elderly ladies and the pace at least to begin with is unhurried. But that doesn't mean it's not engaging. These dowagers and spinsters are full of life, enjoying a spirited banter and not taking any nonsense and even from "Il Duce" Mussolini himself. Eccentric, artistic Arabella Delancey; uptight, sharp-tongued Lady Hester Random;; and kind, and selfless Mary Wallace may be free and easy with their English upper-class privilege, but it's nicely balanced by their American counterparts: straight-talking Georgie [Lily Tomlin] and fun and feisty Elsa Morgenthal [Cher]. Cultural stereotypes abound, but this doesn't make their droll chemistry and quick wits any less charming.
The settings are skilfully designed to draw the viewer in, and when the setting of your film in Florence and its environs you can't go wrong anyway. The ongoing clash between two worlds i.e. Lady Hester Random versus Elsa Morgenthal reaches a satisfying resolution which it would be unfair to reveal to spoil your enjoyment.
There are splendid comic vignettes mixed into the overall drama. Dame Judi Dench and her dog being thrown out of the cathedral, sharply contrasts with the chilling moment when the Jewish arts professor is taken away by the Gestapo. These old English ladies love to gather in Doney’s Tea Room and at the Galleria Uffizi and to be served tea at exactly 4 pm, enjoyably gossiping about one another and talking about their past. When Elsa Morgenthal enters the group, Lady Hester puts her nose in the air and mentions how much she detests her because of her sordid lifestyle. Lady Hester Random sets the tone and proper standards for how this snooty group behaves.
This film could have been entitled “four crazy grannies” for the marvellous portrayal of little old ladies, each more eccentric than the next. Like the comedy team of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon, but with Dame Judie Dench, Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Joan Plowright you have a chemistry that is marvellously explosive. Dame Maggie Smith plays a role that she has spent a lifetime perfecting and captivates us as the snobbish dowager, tantalizes us with her improbable tea party and brings us to tears of joy when she demonstrates her capacity to grow.
Dame Joan Plowright as Mary Wallace gives great compassion for her sudden charge made me wish she would adopt me. Mary Wallace’s love of the classics, remind us that art, literature and friends can help us transcend life's constant miseries. Cher demonstrated that she could act in any time period. While Dame Judi Dench portrays a particularly pitiful creature as an aging artist with more passion than talent.
With Florence as its backdrop and numerous scenes set in elegant tea rooms, art galleries, or cathedrals, the movie is visually beautiful and historically compelling. And as the World War 2 progresses, so too does the pace of this deceptively gentle story. As the tension rises, our characters muster all their courage to unite against injustice, and we're rewarded with an uplifting and if largely implausible ending. If you haven't seen this film, see it as soon as you can.
Buried beneath the film's satin surface are some gestural attempts at addressing questions of sexual politics. The presence of lesbian archaeologist Georgie played by Lily Tomlin as if she were auditioning for the role of Indiana Jones, signifies this, as does the curious subplot which sees Lady Hester Random's grandson Wilfred 'Lucy' Random dressed as a woman to escape detection. When the strain of this becomes too much, he strips off, shouts (not with masses of conviction), “I'm a man,” and runs away to join the partisans, instantly sprouting stubble in the process. The trouble is that he looks immensely more convincing in the first kind of drag than the second, implying perhaps that while anti-fascist guerrilla subversion may be a fine and noble cause, it's never as important in a Franco Zeffirelli film as the swish of an epigram or the cut of a frock.
The cinematography by David Watkin, B.S.C. is outstanding and with its more than its share of sunsets over the Duomo, makes this film totally gracious and very beautiful. Its young hero Luca, played at different ages by Charlie Lucas and Baird Wallace is truly outstanding and is the illegitimate son of an Italian cloth merchant who hands him over to Dame Joan Plowright to make him a “proper English gentleman,” which indeed he becomes. But of course the other outstanding cast are Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith and Lily Tomlin as the token American lesbian.
Indeed, the few Italians with speaking parts are depicted as pretty vile Black shirts, pencil-moustachioed Lotharios, or buffoonish guards whom Dame Maggie Smith twists around her little finger. Dictator “Il Duce” Mussolini's palace is shot as a luminous temple of glowing marble and wafting curtains and you would never believe this is the same thirties Italy depicted in Bernardo Bertolucci's ‘The Conformist.’
The settings are skilfully designed to draw the viewer in, and when you have a setting of your film in Florence, you cannot go wrong anyway. The ongoing clash between two worlds i.e. Lady Hester Random versus Elsa Morgenthal reaches a satisfying resolution which it would be unfair to reveal. But be warned; get ready with the box of Kleenex tissues, as you will need them by the time the end credits appear. This film sends a clear message to Hollywood: experience and talent win out over vacuous pretentious Hollywood actors. Applause at the end of this film is to be expected. Bravo!
TEA WITH MUSSOLINI MUSIC TRACK LIST
MATTINATA FIORENTINA (Written by Giovanni D'Anzi and Michele Galdieri) [Performed by Alberto Rabagliati]
SULLA CARROZZELLA (Written by Gino Filippini and Riccardo Morbelli) [Performed by Odoardo Spadaro]
SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES (Written by Jerome Kern and Otto A. Harbach) [Performed by Cher]
TULIPAN (Written by María Grever and Riccardo Morbelli) [Performed by Trio Lescano]
CREOLE CLARINET (Written by Keith Nicholls) [Performed by Keith Nicholls]
STOMPING AT THE RITZ (Written by Alan Moorhouse) [Performed by Alan Moorhouse]
MOONLIGHT MAGIC (Written by Alan Moorhouse) [Performed by Alan Moorhouse]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Universal Pictures presents the film ‘TEA WITH MUSSOLINI’ [Un tè con Mussolini] that finally makes its long-awaited Blu-ray debut with a brand new wonderful 1080p image and enhanced with an equally wonderful 1.85:1 CinemaScope aspect ratio. The film has very strikingly detailed and consistent image. Much of the film takes place during bright summer days, and the image captures the essence of the romantic Italian setting with tremendous amounts of detail. Additionally, facial features and other textures are all on display gives a very natural look throughout the film. Colours are consistently vivid, and manage to capture the bright lushness of the landscapes of Florence. Contrast remains incredibly high throughout the film, which is helped with wonderful cinematography by David Watkin, B.S.C. All in all, this is a fantastic looking Blu-ray disc which gives you a joyous and wonderful experience of Italy. The only negative aspect is when any Italians or Germans speak we do not get the English subtitles, only the French, which is understandable as this Blu-ray was only released in France.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Universal Pictures brings us the film ‘TEA WITH MUSSOLINI’ [Un tè con Mussolini] with one enormously enjoyable English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience. The mix isn't tasked with doing much more other than making sure the dialogue is clean and very easily heard which it does with great ease here. The sound is primarily sourced via the front speakers, and generating an effortless immersive experience that highlights the sounds of the breeze blowing through the countryside. But the robust sounds happen when planes fly overhead and when the German troops arrive and the British forces arrive to thwart the German troops and the Italians celebrate the German defeat. Most of the time throughout the film is mainly a very quiet film that makes good use of every bit of dialogue and sound effects are distinct and purposeful. It's not going to be used as reference for anyone's next demo, but it certainly goes above and beyond in terms of setting the tone of a wonderful film.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Blu-ray/DVD BANDE-ANNONCE [1999] [1080p] [1.85:1] [1:40] This is the trailer for the film ‘TEA WITH MUSSOLINI.’ French: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo audio
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Special Feature: Dans La Même Collection: Here we get to view three Blu-ray/DVD trailers and they are:
Le Cendres D’Angela [Angela’s Ashes] [1999] [1080i] [1.85:1] [2:29] English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio [French subtitles]
HAVANA [1990] [1080i] [1.85:1] [2:29] English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio [French subtitles]
MASK [1985] [480i] [1.37:1] [1:34] English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio [French subtitles]
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Special Feature: Galerie Photos [1999] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:00] Here we get to view 30 stunning colour promotional images of scenes from the film ‘TEA WITH MUSSOLINI.’
Finally, ‘TEA WITH MUSSOLINI’ [Un tè con Mussolini] film is one of the most touching and lovely films that I have seen in many years. Its gaggle of top British actresses that are second to none and turn out excellent performance, Dame Joan Plowright in particular brings an irresistible sweetness to the role. People who have commented on the film so far seem to have neglected to mention of the beautiful and romantic soundtrack which is beautiful and awe inspiring with a wonderful piano piece. Criticism that the film is too old fashioned or that the characters are unappealing and pompous seems to miss the point, the very charm of Lady Hester Random [Dame Maggie Smith] in particular is how she overcomes her snobbery at the end and realises how much Elsa Morgenthal [Cher], who in any other film would doubtless be misplaced but in this case fits the role like a glove. In short the film is a setting of a gentler age and is simultaneously uplifting, upsetting and relaxing and this film is totally excellent and the subject matter was based on the truth. It showed just a little of how things were during this fascist regime. It is truly one of the great films. I implore everyone to hunt down the soundtrack on the Compact Disc to the ends of the earth if necessary! Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
