Roseanna's Grave

Stereotypical Italian drama which hammers home the indomitable, colourful, roguish but romantic spirit of the simple rural life. Marcello (Réno) will do anything to ensure that his beloved, ailing wife Roseanna (Ruehl) gets one of the last three plots in the village cemetery. Trouble is, old age, illness and accidents throw up rivals for the remaining space. Meanwhile, Roseanna, worried that Marcello will be alone after her death, tries to fix him up with her younger sister Cecilia (Walker). She, however, already has an admirer in lawyer Antonio (Frankel), nephew of a wealthy local who refuses to sell the church the land it needs for burial purposes. While Saul Turteltaub's screenplay fleetingly suggests the film might turn into a mildly interesting black comedy, too often the broad acting, the sentimentality and the manipulation of our emotions give the impression that this is an inferior attempt to cash in on the success of Il Postino.