My House In Umbria Review

With picture-postcard views of the Italian countryside and a reliably quirky central performance from Maggie Smith, this comedy drama is an experience to be wallowed in. Adapted by Hugh Whitemore from the novel by 'Felicia's Journey' author William Trevor, it oozes a love for sun-bleached foreign climes but with hints of discord to temper the lushness.

The film starts, unexpectedly, with a bang when the train carriage transporting expat romance novelist Emily Delahunty (Smith) through Umbria is destroyed by a bomb. Emerging unscathed, Emily invites the three other survivors back to her rural villa to recuperate while the police investigate the incident. Her guests are a retired English general (a rare appearance by comic genius Ronnie Barker), young German Werner (Benno Fürmann), and orphaned American girl Aimee (Emmy Clark), stuck dumb by the event.