Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
tles7
Not being able to take my eyes off of Mimieux, I stll had to face facts. I would love to see this as a restored print to really get the beauty of the color photography. The movie is too tame to be taken seriously. What they call "retarded" is basically valley girl intelligence. We have seen Marilyn Monroe play characters of equal intellect. Rather than just being an airhead, it would have been great to see a more truthful and powerful version of the character and a better reason for the mother to actually be upset about it. Talking about not being tan because of her bra or telling someone that they have an ugly dress is more like making a social faux pas than brain damage. The musical was a much better version of this story.
richard-1787
Starting in 1951 with *An American in Paris*, Hollywood spent the next 15 years turning out a series of light-hearted and often very fun movies set in Paris (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Gigi, Love in the Afternoon, etc.). To a lesser extent, it did the same thing with Rome (Three Coins in the Fountain, etc.).This is not that sort of movie. What sort of movie it is, it never really seems to decide.First, the positive. There is fine acting from the principals, especially Mimieux, de Haviland, and Brazzi. There are also some nice shots of northern Italy, though not a lot of them.But there's also a lot not to like.Why, for example, did they cast George Hamilton as a young Italian? For no real fault of his own, he comes off as a caricature. There were young Italian actors they could have used.And then there is the treatment of the daughter's mental limitations, the result of an accident. Her father wants to institutionalize her, her mother wants to marry her off without telling the husband what the situation is, etc. It's all very disquieting.There's also a theme of anti-Catholocism which could have been less distastefully treated.If you can ignore this sort of thing and look at the pretty pictures, I guess you'll enjoy this movie as a sort of travelogue with too much serious dialogue. If you do play attention to the dialogue, it won't always please you.
williwaw
MGM deserves credit for producing a magnificent film The Light In The Piazza starring a classic star Olivia De Havilland and featuring two of MGM's brightest contract stars George Hamilton and as the key player in the film Yvette Mimieux as a learning disabled Girl who for the first time is treated like an adult and is romanced by a handsome man who because of the language barriers does not realize her disabilities. A remarkable film beautifully filmed in Italy by the fine director Guy Green. Having seem this film I am going to review and study more of Mr. Green's films. Of course it goes without saying that Olivia De Havilland often nominated and winner of 2 Oscars gives a brilliant performance of Yvette Mimieux's mother. George Hamilton is fine as the Lothario. A courageous film and a credit to the MGM Studio
fedor8
I didn't realize this was supposed to be a tear-jerker until I read some of the comments here. LITP is an okay little cheesy film to waste one's time to, but it didn't jerk any tears. Not even close. (But maybe when one is a jerk, tears cannot be jerked out of oneself?) Emotionally the movie is rather flat, resembling a casual picture-postcard stroll through the streets of Florence i.e. not at all a storm of gut-wrenching plot-twists played by over-actors. LITP has a very convincing De Havilland, plus a relatively cute Mimieux being good playing a somewhat retarded woman. (We're told it's an IQ of a 10 year-old, in other words somewhat higher than Tom Cruise's and slightly lower than Sean Penn's.) Of course, before you shower Mimieux with undue praise, keep in mind that nearly all Hollywood bimbos have very low IQs (WITHOUT having been hit in the head by ponies) hence portraying such characters is like shooting fish in a barrel for them. Even easier than couch-casting.And of course I mustn't forget George Hamilton. What a legend. What a presence. No, not really... Casting this Anthony Perkins Clone School reject as a flirtatious Italian is the height of silliness. Sure, compared to casting Di Caprio as a man or Jennifer Aniston as a "hot babe" it's nothing dramatically bad, but it still makes you wonder how it's possible that they couldn't find a dark-haired, big-nosed Southern-looking chappy to play Mimieux's love-interest. Even Charles Bronson looks more the part than Hamilton. John Cassavetes? Why not. That snide grin would have given this story a whole new perverted twist...LITP has the usual old-school Hollywood clichés about Italians: charming, fun-loving, always thinking about sex, etc. The movie even suggests in a very subtle way (barely noticeable) that Italy might be a great place for a retarded American woman to blend in perfectly. I mean, no-one noticed that there's something wrong with her! Now, if that isn't insulting, I don't know what is...
