X
- 1999
- PG
- MGM Home Entertainment
- 1 h 57 m
- 1999
- PG
- MGM Home Entertainment
- 1 h 57 m
Summary A coming-of-age tale about an illegitimate child who struggles to assert his independence and find his way into a life of art, taken from the autobiography of Franco Zeffirelli. (MGM)
Directed By: Franco Zeffirelli
Written By: John Mortimer, Franco Zeffirelli
- 1999
- PG
- MGM Home Entertainment
- 1 h 57 m
- 1999
- PG
- MGM Home Entertainment
- 1 h 57 m
Tea with Mussolini
53
7.3
Summary A coming-of-age tale about an illegitimate child who struggles to assert his independence and find his way into a life of art, taken from the autobiography of Franco Zeffirelli. (MGM)
Directed By: Franco Zeffirelli
Written By: John Mortimer, Franco Zeffirelli
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
53
38% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
54% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
53
38% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
54% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Its rich movie-ness is heightened by the talents involved. John Mortimer knows how to shape scenes with dialogue, much as painters know how to turn shapes with color. Zeffirelli, in his long career as designer and director of opera, theater, and film, has not been noted for restraint; yet here his directing is generally taciturn and implicative. [7 June 1999, p. 32]
Zeffirelli creates a lovely, perfectly composed and lyrical look at life under Mussolini's black-shirted fascist regime. But despite danger on every corner in Italy, there is a tinge of rose-colored sentiment that blurs the events yet lends to the making of an affecting dramatic period piece.
The movie seemed the stuff of anecdote, not drama, and as the alleged protagonist, Luca/Franco is too young much of the time to play more than a bystander's role.
Some fine individual perfs by the tony cast, plus fine period detail and costumes, make the time pass fairly agreeably, but Tea With Mussolini suffers from a fatal lack of focus and emotional center, reducing potentially involving material to a succession of individual scenes.
And while the divas make their characters hugely entertaining, they're also such high profile actresses in such a soft-edged film that it's hard to actually worry about what's to become of them.
Tea With Mussolini is really about the first women in the Italian director's life. It's drawn from a single chapter of his book but suffers from a lack of focus. None of these great ladies is willing to give up center stage; nor, for that matter, are the grande dames who bring them so vividly to life.
Franco Zeffirelli's contrived autobiographical film about his youth in fascist Italy has little social grace -- it's embarrassingly awkward, like a dilettante playing the doyenne.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 User Ratings
7.3
70% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
20% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
10% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 User Ratings
7.3
70% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
20% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
10% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Medusa Film,
Cattleya,
Cineritmo,
Film and General Productions
Release Date May 14, 1999
Duration 1 h 57 m
Rating PG
Tagline A story of civilized disobedience
Awards
Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
