Movie information

 

My House in Umbria (2003) is based on the novella of the same name by William Trevor. The film stars Dame Maggie Smith and was directed by Richard Loncraine. Production of UK and Italy.

 

From the Internet Movie Database review:

"This is a delightful film. There is no glitz, no whiz-bang action. It is a study of the human soul, of the human capacity to deal with pain, to cope, and to survive. The acting ranges from the good to the wonderful, and it is a fabulous example of film-making."

Movie Plot

Emily Delahunty (Dame Maggie Smith) is an eccentric British romance novelist who lives in Umbria in Central Italy. One day while traveling, the train she is on is bombed by terrorists. After she wakes up in a hospital, she invites three of the other survivors of the disaster to stay at her Italian villa for recuperation. Of these are The General, a retired British Army veteran, Werner, a young German man, and Aimee, a young American girl who has now become mute after her parents were both killed in the explosion.

As the group recovers from their ordeal (in which The General lost his daughter, and Werner lost his girlfriend and suffered considerable burns to his arm), the explosion is being investigated by Inspector Girotti, a local policeman. Responding to the warmth and kindness of Mrs Delahunty and the others, Aimee begins to speak again, while the local authorities seek out any relatives who might be able to take her in. They eventually locate her uncle, Tom Riversmith, a university professor in the US. He agrees to take Aimee back to the US to live with his wife and himself, though they have little time for raising children and are particularly concerned about trying to raise a child who has been through such a traumatic experience.

Mrs Delahunty works hard to find common ground with Aimee's uncle and eventually convinces him to leave Aimee with her in Italy rather than taking the child back to America to a loveless home. Meanwhile, Inspector Girotti discovers that Werner was involved in the terrorist attack on the train.