It is available to watch on Hulu (IMDB used to provide this information before Amazon bought it), where I've been enjoying it.
Add a Review
-
safenoe5 May 2024I remember Best of Both Worlds, and I wonder if this British mini-series was the inspiration for Bliss, another British mini-series about bigamy starring Stephen Mangan and written by David "Arrested Development" Cross. Anyway, here Alice Evans graces the screen as Diane Sullivan, a flight attendant who really wants to have it all, being husband number one Martin (played by Jo Stone-Fewings, who is married to Nancy "Father Brown" Carroll) based in England, and husband number two, Mark Landucci (Cal MacAninch) based in Italy. Anyway, no doubt Diane got heaps of frequent flyer points to keep up the best of both worlds.
-
jotix10028 August 2005A liar, or a bigamist, in this case, ought to remember his or her lies because there is a big chance that somehow, somewhere along the line, he or she will forget something that appears obvious and the secrecy will be revealed, which is almost what happens to the heroine of "Best of Both Worlds", shown recently by the Sundance cable channel.
"Best of Both Worlds" directed with great style by David Richards, and based on a screen play by Paul Abbott, reverses roles. The person at the center of the plot is an English flight attendant, based in London who works the London-Bologna route and appears to have a great life. If you haven't watched the film, please stop reading.
Diane is on one hand happily married to Martin, a chef at a fashionable restaurant in London, and is having an affair with Mark in Bologna. Neither Martin, nor Mark, has an inkling of what beautiful Diane is doing behind their backs. In fact, she seems to function perfectly in both situations and is having a great time with both men.
This is a twist in what is always perceived as what a man would do, but not a woman. Diane is bold in her pursuit of two different lives, never taking into consideration who she might hurt if the truth is known. Also, while the screen direction makes us believe this flight attendant has a lot of free time in both London, and Bologna, it's not realistic, since most of those routes will be done as turn around flights, in which the crew always returns to the home base and there is no possibility of a layover in Italy, as is the case here.
The gorgeous Alice Evans makes an excellent and convincing Diane, the flight attendant who is deceiving both men in her life without any scruples, whatsoever. In a way, this could well be the case. After all, why not? The film makers are trying to convince that it is entirely possible to live in this situation, but common sense tells us it's not so. Mark is played by Cal Macaninch and Martin by Jo Stone-Ewings with great style. Carol Starks is Karen, Alice's co-worker and confident.
The film is fun to watch. Some interesting sights of Bologna and of the Emilia-Romagna area are seen in the film. -
pacificdreaming12 January 2007I really enjoyed Best of Both Worlds! To the best of my knowledge it was only ever televised once in Australia, as I've been trying ever since to see it again. Although I've contacted BBC and never received a reply, I understand it is unlikely ever to be broadcast again. It is not available on video/CD (does anyone know differently?)so I'm disappointed as I would love to see it again. There was just something about it; it was compelling viewing as it swept you along with the unbelievable twists and turns. It was interesting, visually attractive and had an unusual story line - with an ending no-one could've guessed. Very well acted and typecast.
-
From the commentaries in the question section on this site I guess many are men, and their views are interesting and poignant. BUT being a woman, and having spent some wonderful days in Bologna, I have a completely different impression from this mini-drama.
To me it is so clear that Diane feels confined in her English life. Whereas it's obvious that Diane adores her son, I'm not so sure about the rest of her family; her husband nagging her to sell her parents' house, irritated that her paid work takes her away from the restaurant (where she's not paid), her mother-in-law noting a new box of Tampax in their bathroom, both of them constantly watching, wanting to control her.
To me it would be impossible to love two men at the same time, so the "gusto" with which she continues her English life feels strange to me. Yes, here I believe she is false, in the same way some men also are with affairs on the side. I guess this is where your anger and rage come from. But of course she has a conscience, and she does display emotions, torn as she is between her two lives.
Whereas her Italian life seems to bring her more alive and allows her to be more spontaneous, both among strangers and Mark's family and friends. She learns Italian and discovers that she's good at it. Wonderful for your self-esteem! We get to see Bologna's magnificent centuries old buildings, squares and churches, the chaotic street life. That combined with the wonderful vibrancy of Cal Macaninch's acting and voice makes this mini exquisitely exciting to watch. Eventually that life also would become more humdrum, but in that stage which is the present in the mini they're not there yet.
And we're left with the question of what happens after the end of the mini; will she lose everything or come to terms with which one of the lives she actually wants; providing it's still available, because in the end it is not possible to have the best of both worlds. That I believe is the message Paul Abbot wanted to send. -
khunkrumark12 January 2019Delicious Diane Sullivan (Alice Evans) has a loving husband and a great kid, but she's feeling a bit cornered. She's being badgered into selling her house, spied on by the inlaws, and smothered by her nice, normal life.
Along comes an alternative to all that, a more exciting life as the wife of a successful Italian architect. Well, of course, it eventually unravels and this is the story of that drama.
The first husband is a bit selfish, and is too wrapped up in his crappy little restaurant. The wife sees this as her excuse to start a whole new second life in Bologna!
In this world, airline dollies almost never work! They sit around in hotel rooms drinking wine, go to the opera and become bigamists for the sheer hell of it.
It's a pretty good drama, there's some nice scenery and if you're a bit older, there's some nostalgia value, too. I stuck with it, and enjoyed the ride but the ending is a bit of a let down. -
Philby-316 July 2001***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Certain occupations rather lend themselves to adultery; being a sailor was a good historical example, and one modern day equivalent is aircrew. In this story, Diane (Alice Evans) is a flight attendant on the London - Bologna route. She meets Mark (Cal Macaninch), a handsome Scottish/Italian businessman, on board, and commences an affair with him, despite being happily married to her chef husband Martin (Jo Stone-Ewings) and being devoted to her eight year old son. Then things go a bit off the rails. Mark, a rather vulnerable character who is unaware Diane is married (she's suppressed the fact), asks her to marry him, and she accepts. So for a while she has two husbands, two homes and two lives, punctuated by the air trips in between. But of course sooner or later she is going to slip up (mobile phones can tell you a lot about their owner) and the emotional consequences are needless to say pretty devastating for all.
It is conventional wisdom that while men don't need an excuse to screw around, woman do it because there's something wrong with their primary relationship or because they don't have one. Here, Diane, played by the drop dead gorgeous Alice Evans, is behaving just like a man. Her parents have recently died, one after the other, events which hit her hard (she can't bring herself to sell their house) but the connection between their deaths and her dangerous deception is not obvious. True, her husband Martin is busy running his restaurant and she is away a lot, but when she is around he is attentive and charming in a Welsh kind of way. He's certainly not seeing anyone else. Perhaps her adulterous workmate Karen's example excites Diane, or maybe it's just the thrill of the chase. Anyway, it's not apparent why a seemingly sensible woman with so many worthwhile things in her life would act in such a reckless way. The ending leaves the story unfinished, with Diane curled up on her bed in a (literally) blue funk, while Martin continues to flambé the prawns downstairs. Surely this wasn't a pilot? Maybe she would have been better off just having an affair with one of the pilots - she wouldn't even have had to move out of the hotel, let alone get married.
It also must be a tribute to the featherbedding of European airlines that their cabin crew get three days off after a flight from London (Stanstead) to Bologna. In reality of course poor old Diane would have done four or five flights a day and finished up back at sunny Stanstead to catch the train home to Notting Hill at the end. Never mind. This was a Euro-movie in that as well as the English principals we also got a number of Italian supporting players and plenty of location footage in Bologna, and of course an Italian wedding. Bologna isn't Venice or Florence, but it's still a bit more attractive than Notting Hill, so I suppose we should be grateful. And we should also be grateful that, if this was a pilot, the series never eventuated.