Luisa Sanfelice (2004) Online

Though miscast (her ethereal beauty fits neither the period nor the character) with supermodel turned leading lady Laetitia Casta in the title role, the Taviani Brothers' adaptation of Dumas' adventure LUISA SANFELICE is an engrossing TV movie.

The historical and political considerations are right up the bros' alley, but overall this is way too conventional for them. I wonder why they were hired, or alternatively wanted to develop this material, but it's fun to watch nonetheless.

Trademark Dumas plot ploys, including impersonation, reversals, adventurous derring-do, and the backdrop of convulsive historical events, are present in this tale of an abortive revolution in Naples circa 1799. The battle between Royalists and Jacobins is evoked in the tale of Luisa, who becomes involved with rebels, her Royalist husband who is really her old-old guardian (from childhood) and only nominally hubby, and her lover, a Jacobin hero ably played by Giancarlo Giannini's handsome son Adriano.

Virtually stealing the lengthy (179 minutes of total running time) movie is Emilio Solfrizzi as King Ferdinand of Naples, a rogue who suggests at times Robert De Niro in one of his comedy turns, more interested in attending hunts than saving his kingdom. In a multinational cast, Cecilia Roth is forceful as his queen Carolina; the royal duo were treated in an entirely different fashion in Lina Wertmuller's unsung but worthwhile movie FERDINANDO & CAROLINA.

Dumas peppers his narrative with many historical figures, notably Lord Nelson & Lady Hamilton, as the British try to interfere with the war engulfing France and Italy. There are endless subplots, including Queen Carolina having a beautiful lesbian confidante and lover, but ultimately the tragic fates awaiting Luisa and her pals are emotionally delivered.

Lensing by Franco Di Giacomo is exemplary, balancing the "talking heads" closeups endemic to TV productions with some impressive long-shot vistas.

Dumas's novel, upon which this mini-series in based, is a 181 chapter romantic tragedy, in 9 volumes, following true events in 1799 Naples, about the ousting of the Bourbon monarchy by the French, and then the triumphant and bloody return to power of the Bourbons. For the plot, Dumas took the real and tragic case of 34-year-old Luisa, lover of a number of men, but accidental informer, and turned her into a virtuous 21 year-old virgin illegitimate daughter of a murdered prince. Luisa falls in love with a created revolutionary character called Salvato. If you sing the Abba song 'Fernando' and replace Fernando with 'Salvato', you'll get the general plot.

A significant part of the Dumas novel plot takes place on or around ships of Nelson's fleet (including the death of a young Bourbon prince - which explains much of the reaction of the Bourbons). Much hinges on Nelson's breach of an armistice signed by Cardinal Ruffo and all the other powers present (including the British) at the end of the short lived French-backed puppet Parthenopean Republic in Naples, and the hanging of Neapolitan Admiral Cariccolo by Nelson. All of this is missing from this mini-series/film, which is a shame, given the lavish budget and expensive sets / period costumes. Nelson is set up in the film for this breach of trust through clever manipulation by Lady Hamilton and Queen Caroline of Naples (supposedly in a lesbian relationship), but the film/series never delivers Nelson's fatal blow, which makes the plotting seem pointless.The breach of the armistice is dealt with in a few frames, then leads directly to wholesale executions of the republicans of Naples, ultimately poor Luisa (although the ending is slightly more upbeat than the novel). Big, sweeping, epic novels are hard to adapt to film, and a mini-series offers a way of achieving a screen adaptation, if handled well. Given the resources, and the good casting, this could have been done so much better.

This review is of the English language version of the film.