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Cattleya
Not part of a collection.
A story of civilized disobedience
In 1930s fascist Italy, adolescent Luca just lost his mother. His father, a callous businessman, sends him to be taken care of by British expatriate Mary Wallace. Mary and her cultured friends - including artist Arabella, young widow Elsa, and archaeologist Georgie - keep a watchful eye over the boy. But the women's cultivated lives take a dramatic turn when Allied forces declare war on Mussolini.
CinemaSerf
Dec 20, 2025 Β· via TMDB
The βScorpioniβ are a bunch of entitled and privileged British women who live in Florence in the 1930s under the leadership of βLady Hesterβ (Dame Maggie Smith). She is the widow of the former British Ambassador and is not entirely unsympathetic to the aspirations of βIl Duceβ. Occasionally, they have to tolerate the interloping presence of the brash and wealthy American actress βElsaβ (Cher) but even with the aggressive rise of the fascists, that appears to be the only inconvenience in their rarified world. One of their number, βMaryβ (Joan Plowright) is a kindly soul, and has taken the recently orphaned young βLucaβ (Charlie Lucas) under her wing - and that provides a link, of sorts, between herself and the American who also cares deeply for the young lad and who wants to make some providion for his future. When the civil disorder starts to interrupt the sanctity of afternoon tea, βLady Hesterβ is outraged and seeks an audience with Mussolini and whilst there she promised that he will personally guarantee her safety. Doubtless, as soon as she left his palace he had forgotten all about her, but armed with a photo of the two together she assumes he is as good as his word. When war breaks out between Italy and Britain, the ladies are dragooned into a dormitory and thence to an hotel, and she still believes she is being looked after. We, on the other hand, soon learn just who their guardian angel actually is, and when the US enters the war, even βElsaβ finds herself on a sticky wicket. βLucaβ (now Baird Wallace) has got himself involved with the resistance and so is trying to help the ladies when he can, but after βElsaβ makes quite an important error of judgement just about everyone is in peril from the Gestapo. The story is a little strung out, but itβs beautiful settings in Florence and Siena and that lovely sunshine on the stonework gives the film a gorgeous richness to itβs look. The ensemble cast are a formidable array of talents, and although only really sparingly used itβs worth noting Dame Judi Denchβs effort as the somewhat windswept artist βArabellaβ and the frequently scene-stealing Lily Tomlin as the no-nonsense βGeorgieβ - quite possibly the only woman with her head screwed on properly amongst the lot of them. The story has something of the end of empire to it, epitomised by a distinct change in attitudes towards English as opposed to German at school, and the writing does contain some humour as we follow the antics of these ladies who, I have to say, never really had much of a clue as to the goings-on in the real world anyway. It spans pretty much an whole decade and is prone to quite considerable leaps in time, but that actually serves quite well to showcase some of the starkness of the changes in their attitudes and behaviour as the war raged on. Might it be autobiographical from Zeffirelli? Well it has a haphazard authenticity to it that could suggest some of these characters might have been real, or almost real, and the amiability of it all makes it worth a watch - just to see these pros both in front and behind the camera in action.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Amazon Video
Maggie Smith
Lady Hester Random
Judi Dench
Arabella
Joan Plowright
Mary Wallace
Cher
Elsa Strauss-Almerson
Lily Tomlin
Georgina "Georgie" Rockwell
Michael Williams
British Consul
Massimo Ghini
Paolo
Claudio Spadaro
Benito Mussolini
Roberto Farnesi
Maurizio
Chris Larkin
Major Gibson
Giacomo Gonnella
First Carabiniere
Hermann Weiskopf
German Officer
Pino Colizzi
Grandi
David Watkin
Director of Photography
Jenny Beavan
Costume Design
Zoe Tahir
Hairstylist
Franco Zeffirelli
Director
Franco Zeffirelli
Novel
John Mortimer
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1987 · 14 wins
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1978 · 13 wins
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2000 · 12 wins
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1981 · 11 wins
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