ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512170017
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
Don't be misled by the previews.
``A Month by the Lake'' is not about two women - one well into middle age, one very much in the flush of youth - vying for the attention of one older gentleman.
The distributor or someone apparently thought audiences wouldn't be turned on by advertising that more accurately represents what the movie's about: a strong-minded, independent middle-aged woman whose fancy is strangely struck by a man near her own age - but who must teach him a thing or two to make him worthy of her affection.
Vanessa Redgrave's Miss Bentley is, in fact, one of the most inspiring portraits of female middle age in recent memory. It's true - female middle age isn't a subject filmmakers are lining up to celebrate. When a woman is middle-aged in a movie, she's usually mentally ill, someone's whining mother, or recently divorced and trying to make a go of it.
Miss Bentley, spending April at her favorite resort on Italy's breathtaking Lake Como, is just living, soaking it up with all the wide-eyed wonder of a happy child and taking photographs of the beautiful scenery. The year is 1937, and it's the first time she's come to the resort without her father, who recently died.
Along comes Major Wilshaw (Edward Fox), an aging dandy visiting Lake Como for the first time. The two - the only English tourists for miles around - seem quite naturally drawn to each other, although Miss Bentley has the annoying habit of just being herself, which offends his rather oversized ego. (Their tennis match is uproariously funny, and gives real meaning to the expression ``to beat someone at his own game.'')
When the flighty American governess Miss Beaumont (Uma Thurman) enters the picture, the major's weaknesses become so obvious that the younger woman can't resist the impulse to use them to her own advantage - which is also to the older woman's advantage.
The blackshirts meanwhile are marching through the streets of Como, but the movie gives the war just ahead pretty perfunctory, sometimes clumsy treatment. It's as if the screenwriter didn't want to weigh things down with all that ``war menace'' stuff.
Nevertheless, Fox is outstanding. Thurman has done better, more understated work. And the movie is capably directed by John Irvin and beautifully filmed by Pasqualino de Santis.
It gets its real power from Redgrave, who gives depth to this very pretty picture - and makes middle age look like something well worth celebrating.
A Month by the Lake ***
A Miramax release, 95 min., showing at the Grandin Theatre. Rated PG for adult situations.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Vanessa Redgrave and Edward Fox play English tourists inby CNB1937 Italy in ``A Month by the Lake.''