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Roseanna's Grave

Roseanna's Grave

Movie · 1997 · 13 people

Roseanna's Grave, a 1997 American-Italian co-production that mixes romantic comedy with drama, is known in some countries as For Roseanna. Paul Weiland directed it from a screenplay by Saul Turteltaub. The English-language film runs about 98 minutes and, in France, is known as Pour l'amour de Roseanna. It is about what people will do for those they love.

The story unfolds in a small Italian town. Roseanna (Mercedes Ruehl) has a bad heart, though her vital signs are still normal for now. Her devoted husband Marcello (Jean Reno) looks at that condition and is certain she will die before he does. When he learns that only three plots remain in the town cemetery, one thing occupies him: one of them must be set aside for his wife. A run of deaths then complicates matters, and the townspeople start a relentless scramble for the empty graves. Polly Walker, Mark Frankel and Fay Ripley are also in the cast.

The production company is Spelling Television. Critic Roger Ebert judged the film a small, sweet piece of work, of no great consequence, whose plot mechanics occasionally show but which never reaches for more than it can handle; the cast, he said, seem relieved to play such goodhearted people.

DirectorPaul Weiland
Production companySpelling Television

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Cast

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Luigi Diberti Luigi Diberti Actor · 87 years old Capestro Renato Scarpa Renato Scarpa Actor · died at 82 Doctor Sergio Benvenuto Jean Reno Mercedes Ruehl Polly Walker Fay Ripley Giuseppe Cederna Paul Müller Franco Odoardi Roberto Della Casa Alfredo Varelli Lidia Biondi Peter Gunn

Also in the cast: Mark Frankel

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Roseanna's Grave sets a heavy subject, death, inside a small-town comedy and keeps its ambitions modest from the start. Three empty plots left in the cemetery is a clever engine, but the script needs a string of coincidences to keep it running, and, as Roger Ebert noted, the plot's gears are sometimes all too visible. Still, the film never reaches for depth it cannot manage, and it knows how to hold its tone on that thin line between sadness and a smile. For anyone not expecting a major piece of cinema, it is a measured, likeable work.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

The subject is graves and death, but the film treats it in a sweet, wistful way rather than a frightening one. At its centre is a husband who adores his wife, and that message of love and sacrifice can feel warm to a family audience. Even so, humour built on illness and death may be heavy or confusing for small children. In my view it suits teenagers and adults better.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

What is most interesting here is how, in a small Italian town, even a place in the cemetery becomes a scarce resource. The townspeople's scramble for the empty graves is a light but apt observation about how small communities share limited means. Death turns from private grief into a question of queues and entitlement, showing the cooperative and the competitive sides of town life at once. The film leaves the theme at the level of a gentle comedy rather than digging deeper, but it still gives viewers curious about community life something to think about.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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