Enchanted April: A quiet escape worth taking

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that are basically a warm blanket, then yes, absolutely. If you need explosions or someone screaming at a wall to stay interested, skip this. It’s for the people who want to feel like they just spent a long weekend drinking tea in a garden somewhere they aren't allowed to be. ☕

The whole thing starts in London and honestly, it’s grey. Like, really grey. I felt like I needed a space heater just watching the opening scenes. Lotty Wilkins is the one who kicks the door open, so to speak, and she’s got this frantic, desperate energy that feels very real. She’s just done with the rain and the husbands who don't listen.

The Villa

Once they hit the Italian coast, the movie just exhales. The shift in color is aggressive—all those deep greens and blindingly bright blues. It’s almost too much at first, but then you settle in. There’s a scene where they’re eating lunch and nobody says anything for a long, quiet stretch, and it’s just wonderful. It’s rare to see a film trust that the audience is okay with just… sitting there.

• The flowers are everywhere. You can practically smell the wisteria through the screen.
• The pacing is slow, but not in a way that feels like it’s dragging its feet. It’s just lazy, like a nap in the afternoon.
• Some of the dialogue is a bit stilted, but that’s just how people talked back then, I guess? Or maybe they were just being polite.

I couldn't help but think about how different this feels compared to something like The Black Abbot. Where that is all shadows and secrets, this is just trying to find a patch of sunlight. It’s not trying to solve a mystery, unless the mystery is how to be happy for five minutes.

There is a moment where the husbands show up later on, and you can just feel the mood sour. It’s like a cloud passing over the sun. The movie handles that friction perfectly without turning into a shouting match. It just lets the annoyance hang in the air, thick and uncomfortable.

One of the actresses, Rafaela Ottiano, has this look she gives whenever someone says something particularly silly. It’s priceless. It’s not a big, dramatic acting choice, just a tiny tilt of the head. I rewound it twice just to see it again. Little things like that are why I watch these old films.

Is it perfect? No. It’s a bit soft around the edges and maybe a little too tidy at the very end. But watching it felt like I was cheating on my own chores. And honestly, that’s enough for me today. ✨