Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

In depressing post-war London, Lottie Wilkins (Josie Lawrence) reads a newspaper ad for an Italian castle. Fellow Nightingale Women's Club member Rose Arbuthnot (Miranda Richardson) reads the same ad. Despite being relative strangers, Lottie is desperate to convince Rose to join her on vacation. Lottie suffers under her overbearing husband Mellersh (Alfred Molina). Rose has disinterested husband Frederick (Jim Broadbent). The women are joined by snooty widower Mrs. Fisher (Joan Plowright) and the enigmatic Lady Caroline Dester (Polly Walker).These are compelling characters. Lottie and Rose's joy from simply deciding to go on the trip is heart-breaking. Once in Italy, the sunshine actually shone through the screen. One can feel the simple healthy energy. I wouldn't mind if the husbands never showed up there. It would be great if the women gain back more of their personal identity before they are swallowed up by their relationships. It is still nice to be rejuvenated by the countryside.

A dud and a bore. Evidently I am not a "play" type person.I am sorry but 4 middle aged women wondering about love and relationships with their husbands is boring period. Give it a feminist twist a couple poorly cast characters and you get either sleep or torture.I particularly found the "beautiful" woman Caroline Dexter bothersome people who think they are beautiful and aren't are such a turn off.... but wouldn't this be the director's fault?During the first 5 minutes of the movie I should have followed my impulse to turn it off when I saw the feminist twist to it = a shy woman is going against all custom and going on a high adventure holiday without her husband (renting castle like villa in Italy with 4 other women a la golden girls). Is there such a category as yuppie feminist boring fluff with pretenses of depth?There was nothing deep or interesting in this thing... even the most boring soap opera has a story this of course was "above" all that.Avoid like the plague

From rainy, dreary late winter England of early 1920s...---where there is still sadness and many young widows and disabled vets from the great slaughter of men and killer of their womens' dreams--- known now as World War I...Four women share this lovely small sunny Italian castle on a hill; one a young widow who is drowning her sorrow in frantic partying, two women who will rediscover their own husbands, and a fourth woman who is tired of her famous dead friends......These four women will come together with two husbands and a former soldier - almost blind - to get a spiritual "makeover" for one great April vacation in early 1920's Italy.NOTE to would-be filmmakers. Study this film for how mood and beauty can tell a story. (Probably not a film to please many men...)NOTE: Stock up on coffee & hot chocolate and invite the girls over on some dreary late winter day...Spring is coming...Enchanted April promises you!

"My child, my sister, dream How sweet all things would seem Were we in that kind land to live together, And there love slow and long, There love and die among Those scenes that image you, that sumptuous weather."Charles Baudelaire Based on the novel by Elizabeth Von Arnim, "Enachanted April" can be described in one sentence – it takes place in the early 1920s when four London women, four strangers decide to rent a castle in Italy for the month of April. It is the correct description but it will not prepare you for the fact that "Enchanted April" - an ultimate "feel good" movie is perfection of its genre. Lovely and sunny, tender and peaceful, kind and magical, it is like a ray of sun on your face during springtime when you want to close your eyes and smile and stop this moment of serene happiness and cherish it forever. This is the movie that actually affected my life. I watched it during the difficult times when I was lost, unhappy and very lonely, when I had to deal with the sad and tragic events and to come to terms with some unflattering truth about myself. It helped me to regain my optimism and hope that anything could be changed and anything is possible. I had promised to myself then that no matter what, I would pull myself out of misery and self-pity and I would appreciate every minute of life - with its joy and its sadness...I promised myself that I would go to Italy and later that year I did and I was not alone.Charming, enchanting, and heartwarming, "Enchanted April" is one of the best movies ever made and my eternal love. This little film is a diamond of highest quality.