It's easy to picture Simon Callow’s excitement upon learning he would not only be wearing religious attire, but also cavorting around a lake unclothed with Julian Sands and Rupert Graves—a scene that has since become legendary for countless gay filmmakers. While the rest of the film doesn't quite reach those heights, it remains a pleasant and well-developed portrayal of leisurely upper-class individuals enjoying them…

The movie seems preoccupied with critiquing 19th-century customs rather than delivering a compelling narrative. Set during the early 1900s, it’s a romantic story about a young British woman who is staying at a guesthouse in Florence alongside other English tourists. Because her room lacks a view of the Arno River, she exchanges rooms with a young man possessing forward-thinking and unconventional ideas—a man who w…