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25/03/1999 Comedy, Drama, War 1h 57m
64
User score

A story of civilized disobedience

Overview

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.

  1. Franco Zeffirelli

    Director

Top billed cast

  1. Maggie Smith

    Lady Hester Random

  2. Judi Dench

    Arabella

  3. Joan Plowright

    Mary Wallace

  4. Cher

    Elsa Strauss-Almerson

  5. Lily Tomlin

    Georgina "Georgie" Rockwell

  6. Baird Wallace

    Luca

  7. Charlie Lucas

    Luca (Child)

  8. Michael Williams

    British Consul

  9. Paul Chequer

    Wilfred Random, aka Miss Lucy

  10. View more

Full Cast & Crew

Reviews

A review by CinemaSerf
Written by CinemaSerf on 2025-12-20
The “Scorpioni” are a bunch of entitled and privileged British women who live in Florence in the 1930s under the leadership of “Lady Hester” (Dame Maggie Smith). She is the widow of the former British Ambassador and is not entirely unsympathetic to the aspirations of “Il Duce”. Occasionally, they have to tolerate the interloping presence of the brash and wealthy American actress “Elsa” (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, “Mary” (Joan Plowright) is a kindly soul, and...read the rest
Read All Reviews

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  11. The Man Who Never Was70%
  12. Uprising65%
  13. The Young Lions68%
  14. Block-Heads69%
  15. Devotion70%
  16. Woman Times Seven63%
  17. Made in Italy60%
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  19. What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?59%
  20. Palestine 3678%

Status
Released

Original Language
English

Budget
$12,000,000.00

Revenue
$21,001,563.00

Keywords