Enchanted April in Corrie

This month, the Corrie Film Club, very suitably, shows the deliciously wry and romantic Enchanted April – but a week later than usual, on Sunday April 15th. It’s a treat worth waiting for. Elizabeth von Arnim’s original novel sprang from her own experience of an eccentric but wonderful Italian castle, and the film was shot on location in that exact place, Castello Brown in Portofino. Set in the 1920s, it tells the story of four randomly assorted Englishwomen who, each for her own reasons, come together on an Itanian holiday. Mrs Arbuthnot and Mrs Wilkins belong to the same, somewhat chilly, ladies’ club, but have never spoken until alerted by a newspaper advertisement for a ‘small mediaeval Italian castle on the shores of the Mediterranean, to be let furnished for the month of April’. They realise that they have something in common, as both of them are bravely putting up with unhappy marriages – but they will need other participants if they are to meet the costs of a month abroad. . Not without misgivings, they take on the waspish, elderly Mrs Fisher. The fourth is the cold and beautiful Lady Caroline Dester. It looks an unpromising foursome, yet the ill-assorted group comes together in the fabulous setting of the castle. To the surprise of all of them, they rediscover their youth in the tranquil beauty of their surroundings, and start to feel the stirrings of new hope and love.

Made in 1992, the film features fine performances, with Joan Plowright as Mrs. Fisher and Miranda Richardson as Rose Arbuthnot. Alfred Molina as Mellersh Wilkins (one of the unsatisfactory husbands) thought the castle was haunted, and said he frequently felt that a cold hand was being laid on the back of his neck – but the film comes over as pure and delicious warmth.

Again, the showing is on Sunday April 15th, at 8.00 pm in Corrie Hall. Admission is free and all are welcome – as is any voluntary donation towards the hall’s upkeep.

for more information see here & check dates on the Corrie hall Diary Here