Tea with Mussolini

• 6.4 Comedy
• 1999-03-25
• 117 minutes mins

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.

Starring:

Maggie Smith (Lady Hester Random) Judi Dench (Arabella) Joan Plowright (Mary Wallace) Cher (Elsa Strauss-Almerson) Lily Tomlin (Georgina "Georgie" Rockwell) Baird Wallace (Luca) Charlie Lucas (Luca (Child)) Michael Williams (British Consul) Paul Chequer (Wilfred Random, aka Miss Lucy) Massimo Ghini (Paolo)

Director:

Franco Zeffirelli

Writer:

John Mortimer