Up at the Villa
Encyclopedia
Up at the Villa is a 1941
novella
by William Somerset Maugham about a young widow caught between three men: her suitor, her one-night stand
, and her confidant. A fast-paced story, Up at the Villa incorporates elements of the crime
and suspense novel.
The Leonards—a couple who never appear in the novella—offer her their 16th century villa on a hill above Florence
, Italy, to stay there for some time, and she gladly takes them up on it. The old villa is staffed by two people—Nina, the maid, and Ciro, her husband, a manservant—but otherwise empty. Mary, whose parents are both dead, enjoys the solitary life up at the villa. Occasionally, she joins other highbrow residents of, and visitors to, Florence for a party or luncheon. Also, she likes driving round the countryside in her car. So far it has never occurred to her to take a lover—whether this is because she considers it immoral, because it may cause a scandal or because she does not feel the need remains obscure; what she does say is that it has been easy for her to do without one because she has never been tempted
.
During dinner at a restaurant together with some of her acquaintances—among them the old Princess San Ferdinando, an American who is said to have been quite a loose woman in her day—they listen to a young man playing the violin. He is ridiculously dressed up in folkloristic clothes and not good at all at playing the instrument. At the end of the evening, the Princess tries to set Mary up with Rowley Flint, a young Englishman of independent means whose reputation is very bad, by asking her to give him a lift back to the hotel
where he is staying. Flint actually makes a pass at her, but she rejects him and just laughs at him when he even proposes to her. They both seem to know without speaking that this proposal of marriage
could not be meant seriously.
After she has dropped him off at the hotel, she drives back home. On her way up to the villa, although it is late at night and dark, she stops to have a look at the scenery. She senses that there is someone else quite close to her. This other person turns out to be Karl Richter, the fiddler from the restaurant, also admiring the view. They strike up a conversation, and Mary learns that he is a 23 year-old Austrian art student who has recently fled the country because he was being persecuted by the Nazis
, and now, without a passport or any other documents, is staying as an illegal immigrant in a shabby rented room at the foot of the hill quite close to the Leonards' villa.
Mary takes pity on the poor boy and, on the spur of the moment, asks him if he wants to come up with her to have a look at the precious paintings in the villa. Once there, it turns out that, due to his having no money, Richter has not had dinner. With the servants long gone to bed, Mary fixes him some bacon and eggs. They have wine with their improvised meal.
One thing leads to another, and they end up in bed. Earlier that same night, when taking leave of Flint, Mary confessed to him that if she ever had sex outside marriage it would have to be with a poor man whom she pitied
; and it would only be once. This kind of foreboding now becomes reality.
When Mary thinks it is time for Richter to leave and the latter, to her dismay, asks when he will be able to see her again, the idyllic situation quickly deteriorates. Mary remembers the revolver
her suitor, 54 year-old Sir Edgar Swift, has forced upon her as a means of protection. When Richter starts insulting and threatening her, she pulls it out of her handbag, aims it at Richter, but then cannot summon up the courage to pull the trigger. She wants to do him good, advising him to try and escape to Switzerland, but to no avail. Richter feels utterly humiliated
when he learns from Mary that she has only slept with him out of pity. He says he saw a goddess in her, but now she is just a whore for him. It is then that Mary Panton's nightmare begins: Richter with a swift gesture picks her up and roughly throws her on her bed, before covering her face with kisses. She tries to get away from him but as he is much stronger than her, she is powerless and ceases to resist. A few minutes later in a fit of remorse over what he sees as the impossibility of life since escaping his homeland Richter announces You asked me not to forget you. I shall forget, but you won't, then in the dark he shoots himself through the breast with Swift's gun. There is only little blood due to the internal haemorrhage Richter inflicted on himself.
Nina, her maid, hears the shot and presently knocks at her bedroom door. Mary panics and sends her away without opening. Then she phones Rowley Flint and asks him to help her. As taxi
s are not available all night, Flint borrows the hotel porter's bicycle and then walks up the hill to the villa. They have to think fast as there are only a few hours left before the break of the new day. Mary Panton is prepared to accept full responsibility for her actions. But then Flint has the idea that the two of them might just as well try to dispose of the body.
Flint and Panton drag the body out of the house and into Mary's car. Then they drive along the highway and finally turn into a country lane. There, in the dark of the night, Flint dumps the body. A dangerous situation arises when a car full of drunk Italians approaches. The driver has difficulty passing Mary's car and has to slow down almost to a halt. When the party see Mary and Flint, who are embracing each other, pretending to be lovers, they start singing "La donna è mobile
" and drive on. On the following morning, in broad daylight, Flint returns to this spot to throw away the revolver, which they forgot the night before.
On the following morning Mary Panton sleeps almost until noon. She has an invitation for luncheon, and Flint has inculcated upon her not to show any signs of panic or fear or whatever, so she goes there. Her guilty conscience
is her constant companion though.
The situation becomes even more complicated with the impending arrival of Sir Edgar Swift, who has known her and her parents since she was a little child, and who politely retreated when she got married to Matthew Panton. Now Swift has gathered new hope ever since she has been widowed. Shortly before Richter's suicide, he had informed her of his impending promotion to a high government post in colonial India. As he will have to do a lot of entertaining, he is looking for a suitable wife, and he actually proposes to Mary before he flies off to Cannes
on urgent government business. Mary tells him she will give him an answer when he is back in Florence.
When Swift comes up to the villa Mary has already made up her mind to confess everything to him. After listening to her story he says that he forgives
her and that he still wants to marry her. At the same time, however, he declares that he will not be in a position to accept the post he has been so eager to get, claiming that if his wife's criminal past caught up with them, the ensuing scandal
might even jeopardize the Empire. He suggests the following course of action: He retires, they get married, and then they move to the French Côte d'Azur. Mary, however, objects to that: She tells him bluntly she is not in love with him and that she could not stand his presence 24 hours a day.
After Swift has left, Flint turns up at the villa again, remarking that he does not "keep all [his] goods in the shop window": He owns an estate
in Kenya
, and has also read Dr Johnson
, so all of a sudden he does appear eligible to Mary. She remembers the previous night, their emergency embrace in the dark country lane, which she found not wholly unpleasant. And, agreeing with him that life is all about taking risk
s, she decides to accept his proposal this time.
by Philip Haas
. The movie starred Kristin Scott Thomas
, Anne Bancroft
, James Fox
, Derek Jacobi
, and Sean Penn
. In the film, subplot
s were added to expand the material to feature film length, a fact on which reviewers as well as cinemagoers commented rather critically.
1941 in literature
The year 1941 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Frank Herbert marries Flora Parkinson.*F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished work, The Last Tycoon, is edited and published by Edmund Wilson.-New books:...
novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by William Somerset Maugham about a young widow caught between three men: her suitor, her one-night stand
One-night stand
Originally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship...
, and her confidant. A fast-paced story, Up at the Villa incorporates elements of the crime
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
and suspense novel.
Plot
The action takes place in the late 1930s. 30 year-old Mary Panton, whose extraordinary beauty has always been one of her greatest assets, has been a widow for one year. Her late husband Matthew, whom she married when she was 21 because she was really in love with him, turned out to be an alcoholic, a gambler, a womanizer, and a wife-beater. However, Mary Panton patiently endures all the hardship and pain inflicted on her by her husband (including him having sex with her while drunk). When he drinks and drives he has a car accident and eventually, a few hours later, dies in Mary's arms. This, she concludes, is a blessing for both of them.The Leonards—a couple who never appear in the novella—offer her their 16th century villa on a hill above Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy, to stay there for some time, and she gladly takes them up on it. The old villa is staffed by two people—Nina, the maid, and Ciro, her husband, a manservant—but otherwise empty. Mary, whose parents are both dead, enjoys the solitary life up at the villa. Occasionally, she joins other highbrow residents of, and visitors to, Florence for a party or luncheon. Also, she likes driving round the countryside in her car. So far it has never occurred to her to take a lover—whether this is because she considers it immoral, because it may cause a scandal or because she does not feel the need remains obscure; what she does say is that it has been easy for her to do without one because she has never been tempted
Temptation
A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions, for various reasons: legal, social, psychological , health, economic, etc...
.
During dinner at a restaurant together with some of her acquaintances—among them the old Princess San Ferdinando, an American who is said to have been quite a loose woman in her day—they listen to a young man playing the violin. He is ridiculously dressed up in folkloristic clothes and not good at all at playing the instrument. At the end of the evening, the Princess tries to set Mary up with Rowley Flint, a young Englishman of independent means whose reputation is very bad, by asking her to give him a lift back to the hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
where he is staying. Flint actually makes a pass at her, but she rejects him and just laughs at him when he even proposes to her. They both seem to know without speaking that this proposal of marriage
Proposal of marriage
A marriage proposal is an event where one person in a relationship asks for the other's hand in marriage. If accepted, it marks the initiation of engagement. It often has a ritual quality, sometimes involving the presentation of an engagement ring and a formalized asking of a question such as "Will...
could not be meant seriously.
After she has dropped him off at the hotel, she drives back home. On her way up to the villa, although it is late at night and dark, she stops to have a look at the scenery. She senses that there is someone else quite close to her. This other person turns out to be Karl Richter, the fiddler from the restaurant, also admiring the view. They strike up a conversation, and Mary learns that he is a 23 year-old Austrian art student who has recently fled the country because he was being persecuted by the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, and now, without a passport or any other documents, is staying as an illegal immigrant in a shabby rented room at the foot of the hill quite close to the Leonards' villa.
Mary takes pity on the poor boy and, on the spur of the moment, asks him if he wants to come up with her to have a look at the precious paintings in the villa. Once there, it turns out that, due to his having no money, Richter has not had dinner. With the servants long gone to bed, Mary fixes him some bacon and eggs. They have wine with their improvised meal.
One thing leads to another, and they end up in bed. Earlier that same night, when taking leave of Flint, Mary confessed to him that if she ever had sex outside marriage it would have to be with a poor man whom she pitied
Pity
Pity originally means feeling for others, particularly feelings of sadness or sorrow, and was once used in a comparable sense to the more modern words "sympathy" and "empathy"...
; and it would only be once. This kind of foreboding now becomes reality.
When Mary thinks it is time for Richter to leave and the latter, to her dismay, asks when he will be able to see her again, the idyllic situation quickly deteriorates. Mary remembers the revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
her suitor, 54 year-old Sir Edgar Swift, has forced upon her as a means of protection. When Richter starts insulting and threatening her, she pulls it out of her handbag, aims it at Richter, but then cannot summon up the courage to pull the trigger. She wants to do him good, advising him to try and escape to Switzerland, but to no avail. Richter feels utterly humiliated
Humiliation
Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It can be brought about through bullying, intimidation, physical or mental mistreatment or trickery, or by embarrassment if a person is revealed to have...
when he learns from Mary that she has only slept with him out of pity. He says he saw a goddess in her, but now she is just a whore for him. It is then that Mary Panton's nightmare begins: Richter with a swift gesture picks her up and roughly throws her on her bed, before covering her face with kisses. She tries to get away from him but as he is much stronger than her, she is powerless and ceases to resist. A few minutes later in a fit of remorse over what he sees as the impossibility of life since escaping his homeland Richter announces You asked me not to forget you. I shall forget, but you won't, then in the dark he shoots himself through the breast with Swift's gun. There is only little blood due to the internal haemorrhage Richter inflicted on himself.
Nina, her maid, hears the shot and presently knocks at her bedroom door. Mary panics and sends her away without opening. Then she phones Rowley Flint and asks him to help her. As taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
s are not available all night, Flint borrows the hotel porter's bicycle and then walks up the hill to the villa. They have to think fast as there are only a few hours left before the break of the new day. Mary Panton is prepared to accept full responsibility for her actions. But then Flint has the idea that the two of them might just as well try to dispose of the body.
Flint and Panton drag the body out of the house and into Mary's car. Then they drive along the highway and finally turn into a country lane. There, in the dark of the night, Flint dumps the body. A dangerous situation arises when a car full of drunk Italians approaches. The driver has difficulty passing Mary's car and has to slow down almost to a halt. When the party see Mary and Flint, who are embracing each other, pretending to be lovers, they start singing "La donna è mobile
La donna è mobile
"La donna è mobile" is the cynical Duke of Mantua's canzone from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto . The inherent irony is that it is the callous playboy Duke himself who is mobile...
" and drive on. On the following morning, in broad daylight, Flint returns to this spot to throw away the revolver, which they forgot the night before.
On the following morning Mary Panton sleeps almost until noon. She has an invitation for luncheon, and Flint has inculcated upon her not to show any signs of panic or fear or whatever, so she goes there. Her guilty conscience
Conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...
is her constant companion though.
The situation becomes even more complicated with the impending arrival of Sir Edgar Swift, who has known her and her parents since she was a little child, and who politely retreated when she got married to Matthew Panton. Now Swift has gathered new hope ever since she has been widowed. Shortly before Richter's suicide, he had informed her of his impending promotion to a high government post in colonial India. As he will have to do a lot of entertaining, he is looking for a suitable wife, and he actually proposes to Mary before he flies off to Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
on urgent government business. Mary tells him she will give him an answer when he is back in Florence.
When Swift comes up to the villa Mary has already made up her mind to confess everything to him. After listening to her story he says that he forgives
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all...
her and that he still wants to marry her. At the same time, however, he declares that he will not be in a position to accept the post he has been so eager to get, claiming that if his wife's criminal past caught up with them, the ensuing scandal
Scandal
A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...
might even jeopardize the Empire. He suggests the following course of action: He retires, they get married, and then they move to the French Côte d'Azur. Mary, however, objects to that: She tells him bluntly she is not in love with him and that she could not stand his presence 24 hours a day.
After Swift has left, Flint turns up at the villa again, remarking that he does not "keep all [his] goods in the shop window": He owns an estate
Estate (house)
An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...
in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and has also read Dr Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
, so all of a sudden he does appear eligible to Mary. She remembers the previous night, their emergency embrace in the dark country lane, which she found not wholly unpleasant. And, agreeing with him that life is all about taking risk
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
s, she decides to accept his proposal this time.
Film version
The novella was filmed in 20002000 in film
The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....
by Philip Haas
Philip Haas
Philip Haas is an American artist and filmmaker. His exhibition of film installations at the Kimbell Art Museum, "Butchers, Dragons, Gods and Skeletons," was listed by TIME magazine as one of the top ten museum shows of 2009 Retrospectives of his art films have been held at the Tate Gallery in...
. The movie starred Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin A. Scott Thomas, OBE is an English actress who has also acquired French nationality. She gained international recognition in the 1990s for her roles in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient....
, Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
, James Fox
James Fox
James Fox, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:James Fox was born in London, England to theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington. He is the brother of actor Edward Fox and film producer Robert Fox. The actress Emilia Fox is his niece and the actor Laurence Fox is his son. His...
, Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
, and Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
. In the film, subplot
Subplot
A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
s were added to expand the material to feature film length, a fact on which reviewers as well as cinemagoers commented rather critically.