Moviola > Films > Tea with Mussolini

Tea with Mussolini  (12A)   117 mins

"A story of civilized disobedience."

Directed by Franco Zeffirelli and with a screenplay by John Mortimer, based more or less loosely on Zeffirelli's autobiography, Tea with Mussolini is the story of Luca, an illegitimate young boy in 1930s Florence who is adopted by the "Scorpioni", a group of expat English ladies, all of them more or less batty.  Presided over by Lady Hester Random (Maggie Smith), the snooty widow of the British Ambassador, the group also includes kind-hearted secretary Mary (Joan Plowright), dotty art-and-dog-lover Arabella (Judi Dench), and American archaeologist Georgie (Lily Tomlin).  From time to time they are visited by Elsa (Cher), a wealthy Jewish-American art collector.  As political tension mounts, Luca's father sends  him away to Austria because the future is surely no longer English but German; meanwhile Lady Hester has taken tea with Il Duce, and believes his assurances that she and her friends are under his personal protection. When war breaks out, however, the ladies are unceremoniously rounded up and interned.  Meanwhile Elsa's Italian lover plots how to cheat her out of her money and betray her to the authorities.

"Warm, spontaneous and heartfelt"  San Francisco Chronicle

NOTE:  Don't be misled by the black and white stills, the film is in colour.

Last modified: 20-Jun-2008

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