HOUSTON CHRONICLE April 15, 1997

HOUSTON

'FOR ROSEANNA' takes top prize at WorldFest

LOUIS B. PARKS
Staff

An American film that lovingly mimicked Italian romantic comedy won the Grand Award at the 1997 WorldFest Houston film festival.

"For Roseanna," about a doting husband going to extreme lengths to save a special cemetery plot for his beloved wife, was also the festival's opening night feature.

Directed by Paul Weiland, the upbeat, European-style comedy stars Mercedes Ruehl as Roseanna, French star Jean Reno as her husband and Polly Walker (Emma) as the sister Roseanna wants her husband to marry when she's gone. The Fine Line feature is scheduled to be released this summer, possibly as "Roseanna's Grave" or "For the Love of Roseanna."

PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Monday, July 7, 1997

Issue: JULY 7, 1997 VOL. 48 NO. 1

PICKS & PANS

SCREEN
LEAH ROZEN; TOM GLIATTO; JULIE JORDAN

FOR ROSEANNA Mercedes Ruehl, Jean Reno

The cast of For Roseanna, a pleasant comic trifle set in the Italian countryside, boasts an American (Ruehl), a Frenchman (Reno) and two Brits (Polly Walker and the late Mark Frankel), all of whom have a swell time playing Italians. Ruehl who runs a small-town trattoria with her husband (Reno), suffers from an unspecified fatal illness that manifests itself in a tiny cough. Hubby has promised her that when she dies, he will bury her in the town's graveyard near their deceased only child. But just three burial plots remain, so Reno must make sure that no one else in the town dies. He snatches cigarettes from smokers, pesters motorcyclists to wear helmets and urges the local doctor to keep patients on life support.

The movie's plot eventually overstrains to amuse, but Roseanna pulls off a corker of a surprise at the end, so all is forgiven. Besides, it includes lots of eating scenes, always a big plus in movies about Italy. (PG-13)

LOS ANGELES TIMES
Friday, July 11, 1997

Calendar; Entertainment Desk

O.C. MOVIE REVIEW 'FOR ROSEANNA' a Universal Tale of Amore

JOHN ANDERSON

FOR THE TIMES

Its lead actors are about as Italian as steak and kidney pie-in Bearnaise sauce, with a side of slaw. But "For Roseanna" has its charms, which do not include that cloying title but do include a cast that makes what might have been a trifle into a whimsical, bittersweet romance.

And by romance, we don't necessarily mean straining bustiers and perspiring peasants (although British actress Polly Walker is dutifully distracting.) Striving for an "Il Postino"-like rusticity and native charm, "For Roseanna" is about people and the character thereof. And its three stars-Walker, French demi-idol Jean Reno and American virtuoso Mercedes Ruehl-make those characters buyable if not totally believable; insane, but certainly endearing.

The film also does what any ethnicized soap opera is supposed to: make itself universal. That it happens to take place in an insular, less-than-postcard-perfect Italian village allows the kind of internecine sniping and enforced intimacy that occur in a small, tight communities, but it might as easily taken place in Lindenhurst as Tuscany.

Or in Travento, which is where the discombobulated Marcello (Reno) is busy keeping everyone alive. He's very concerned about the local birth of twins (is everyone healthy?). He yells at hunters shooting too close to town. He cuts off customers in his restaurant when they order more wine ("You have a long drive home."). He even does rounds at the local hospital, ensuring that the terminally ill remain plugged in.

His concern is somewhat egocentric: His beloved wife, Roseanna (Ruehl), terminally ill with a weakened heart, wants just one thing: to be buried beside their daughter in one of the parish's few remaining plots. The wealthy lawyer Capestro (Luigi Diberti), for reasons all his own, has refused to sell any adjoining land to the church.

By keeping the rest of the village safe, Marcello hopes there'll be a place for Roseanna, thus putting him in the unenviable position of having to pray for the quick death of the person he loves the most.

With unquestionably saintly and just as maddening generosity, Roseanna wants Marcello to remarry when she's gone-and to marry her beautiful sister Cecilia (Walker). And, as if Marcello doesn't have enough to worry about, into this mix of melancholy and anarchy, writer Saul Turteltaub insets a Mafia subplot.

Insanity, you say? Not really. The Marcell-Roseanna-Cecilia imbroglio would be tough sledding for 90 minutes, and something has to give. It does, via the squat, angry figure of Fredo Iaccoponi (Trevor Peacock), a kidnapper who, after a 20-year sentence, is expecting to be greeted by his banker Rossi 9Roberto Della Casa) and the millions of lira in ransom money with which Rossi was entrusted. The banker, however, has spent most of the money on his voluptuous, voracious mistress Francesca (Fay Ripley), and things are not going to go well.

There are many more twists to this bowl of pasta, which might easily have been an ungodly mess; Paul Weiland, who's done a lot of British TV (including Rowan Atkinson'' Mr. Bean), has directed just one previous feature, the eminently dismissible "City Slickers II." But Reno is as watchable a character as there is on screen; Ruehl is a national treasure. With Walker they give fluff a spine and serve up sentiment.

*MPAA rating: PG-13 for sexuality and brief language. Times guidelines: a complex movie about adult choices, with the death of a loved one playing a central part.

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Friday, July 11, 1997

SHOW

'FOR ROSEANNA' has many grave concerns
REVIEW: Escapist black comedy could have used more laughs

JANET MASLIN: The New York Times

At one point during the not-very-black comedy "For Roseanna," two characters use hair dryers and space heaters to thaw a frozen corpse. The film tries no less desperately to warm hearts. Nominally about the approaching death of a healthy-looking coronary patient named Roseanna (Mercedes Ruehl), this gallows farce actually cares more about the cute scheming of her husband. Marcello (Jean Reno) is the gravedigger in small Italian village. To guarantee his beloved a space in the crowded local cemetery, he must work overtime to keep all the other townspeople alive.

No, this doesn't sound any too funny, but at least it has Reno doing his best to make it work. In his first starring role in an English-language comedy (after gloomier English turns in "The Professional," "Mission Impossible" and "French Kiss"), he recalls Giancarlo Giannini's ability to seem proudly Italian while mugging in the broadest, most all-purpose international fashion. This genial French star tries everything, including rude asides about French people and French cooking, to adapt himself to the film's jokey and obvious tone.

Directed in an ersatz European style by Paul Weiland (whose credits include advertising, children's television, the series "Mr. Bean" and "City Slickers II"), and written with the connect-the-gags purposefulness by Saul Turteltaub, the film unfolds in a picturesque Italian village. Many of the citizens speak with spectacularly fake Italian accents, but there are enough pointed references to garlic and oregano to establish authenticity.

Marcello and Roseanna run a trattoria, which provides the film with one of its more agreeable settings. A wide-screen look, scenic backdrop and colorfully extroverted cast are among the film's tourist attractions.

Ruehl seems neither sick nor local, but that suits the escapist mood as well as Reno's zany scams do. These two manage to make a warmly likable couple even when the story indulges its great big sentimental streak. But "For Roseanna" presses its luck too hard with a particularly far-fetched final twist. The feel-good storytelling and sad subtext are hopelessly at odds in the closing scene.

Among the secondary characters breezing through "For Roseanna" is Polly Walker as Cecilia, the dying heroine's beautiful sister from Rome. If it's hard to believe Walker's Roman brogue, it's even harder to buy the notion that Roseanna's dearest and most uncomplicated wish is for her husband and sister to marry each other some day.

A kidnapper, a rich tyrant and a lost fortune also figure in the story, as does Mark Frankel as Cecilia's young suitor. There are enough antic elements here to keep the film dizzy, but its better moments are those that have Reno trying to prove he can be nonchalantly funny under the most improbable and even grim conditions. One of the film's ruder comic bits even finds him and a doctor arguing over a man on a respirator. They wave and holler as they fight about whether to pull the plug.

'FOR ROSEANNA'
Stars: Jean Reno, Mercedes Ruehl, Polly Walker, Mark Frankel and Giuseppe Cederna
Behind the scenes: Directed by Paul Weiland; written by Saul Turteltaub
Playing: Opens today at the Edwards Town Center in Costa Mesa
Running time: 1 hour , 39 minutes
 

SCOTSGAY MAGAZINE
Issue 16 - June 1997

Life in an Italian village can be far from dull as "Roseanna's Grave", proves with cafe owner Jean Reno solving the troubles of the neighbourhood. A problem harder to cope with is his wife of many years, Mercedes Ruehl, being diagnosed as having only a year or two to live. She treats it philosophically saying she has been given a very good life and tells him when she is gone he must soon get married again. Polly Walker is her good looking sister playing a waitress who stops customers concentrating on their food. The stunning Mark Frankel is the one she is happy to give second helpings to. A delightful film with great humour - but tissues are essential for the poignant moments.

CHICAGO SUN -TIMES
Friday, July 25, 1997

WEEKEND PLUS

MOVIES

Sweet 'Roseanna' Comedy boasts many charms
Roger Ebert

FOR ROSEANNA ***

Death inspires a certain logic that can seem very funny, if seen from a safe distance. "For Roseanna" tells the story of a woman who believes she has weeks if not days to live, and of her loving husband, who wants to observe her dying wish-to be buried in the village cemetery with their child. It is not a simple matter; since the tightrope walker fell from the rope, there are only three graves left.

The village is in Italy-a movie Italy where everyone speaks English, with an Italian accent. The international cast populates a picturesque location just around the corner, I imagine, from the location of "Enchanted April." Every time I see a movie like this, I find myself thinking, to hell with the movie, I want to go there on vacation.

The dutiful husband is named Marcello (Jean Reno), as well he might be, since this is the kind of role Marcello Mastroianni could have performed in his sleep. He's a friendly but worried trattoria owner whose fear that the cemetery will fill up leads him to a desperate death-prevention campaign in which he directs traffic in the town square, grabs cigarettes out of the mouths of smokers, and even lies that a coma victim in the hospital has regained consciousness and asked for the soccer scores.

Reno, who played a col d, skilled killer in "The Professional," is here a warm Everyman, besotted with love. His wife Roseanna is played by Mercedes Ruehl, who may be surprised to find herself a housewife in Italy but rises to the occasion. She doesn't appear terribly ill; perhaps she has Ali McGraw Disease, first identified in "Love Story," where the only symptom is that the patient grows more beautiful until finally dying. Her heart is weak. She wants to stage-manage from the grave, and is obsessed with making plans for those who will have to carry on without her. Her husband, for example, should marry her sister Cecilia (Polly Walker). Fine, except that they don't much like each other, and besides Cecilia falls in love with Antonio (Mark Frankel), the nephew of the rich landowner Capestro (Luigi Diberti), who has caused all the trouble in the first place by refusing to sell the village more land to expand the cemetery. Why is Capestro such a killjoy? Because he and Marcello have been enemies for years. It may have something to do with an old feud over a bicycle race, but there are also deeper currents and old loves that have not died.

We now have all the pieces in place for a good hearted farce, in which lovers will be split up and united, misunderstandings will nearly lead to tragedy, and death will be feared, avoided and confronted. There's enough going on that we hardly need the escaped kidnapper, although his final act of vengeance against the man who wronged him does show a certain ingenuity.

"For Roseanna" isn't much consequence, perhaps, and the gears of the plot are occasionally visible as they turn. But it's a small, sweet film that never tries for more than it's sure of, and the actors find it such a relief to be playing such goodhearted characters that we can almost feel it. Of course we're sure that with a setup like this the movie must have a sad ending. That only adds to the fun.

EVENING STANDARD
August 26, 1997

Roseanna's Grave

 (12) Jean Reno, Mercedes Ruehl, Polly Walker, Mark Frankel. Dir: Paul Weiland. UK/Ita. 1997. 98 mins.

Several decades ago this would have been perfect fare for Marcello Mastroianni. As it is, it gets Jean Reno in an Italian-American romantic comedy about a small-town trattoria owner whose wife is dying. She wants to be buried in the local graveyard but spaces
are in short supply. Can other ailing folk be kept alive long enough? Will the ex-jailbird heading back home for his stash of cash fill the holes up? Can the cantankerous old lawyer be persuaded to sell some land for extra burials? An old-fashioned fuss in a funeral plot.