In theaters

UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, written and directed by Audrey Wells, based on the book by Frances Mayes, 113 minutes, rated PG-13.

Last year, in “Unfaithful,” Diane Lane played a repressed American housewife brought to sexual release and liberation with the help of a French dealer in rare books. No quiet reading time there, but I think we all learned how well the French can turn the pages.

This year, in “Under the Tuscan Sun,” she plays a repressed American divorcee brought to sexual release and liberation by an Italian cafe owner, who knows, shall we say, a few things about steaming one’s latte.

For me, this clinches it.

Lane’s career, which reaches back to 1979’s “A Little Romance,” in which she played a teenager who flees Paris with her boyfriend with the sole intention of kissing him under Venice’s Bridge of Sighs, has become a series of General Foods International Coffee commercials.

Most actresses would sag beneath the schmaltz, but not Lane. Her nervy performance was the main reason to see “Unfaithful,” scoring her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and her turn in “Tuscan Sun” confirms what Hollywood realized with Lane’s comeback film, 1999’s “A Walk on the Moon” – she’s a gifted actress, one of the best working today.

As directed by Audrey Wells from her own script, “Under the Tuscan Sun” is a romantic fantasy cum dramatic travelogue. Inspired by Frances Mayes’ popular book, it’s pure formula, for sure, but in the best sense of the word.

Indeed, in this case, there’s truth to be had in the formula, not to mention a crisp wit, enormously likable stock characters, and gorgeous, postcard-ready views of Tuscany serving as the backdrop. Yes, the movie is slight, but it’s slight by way of Versace.

In the film, Lane is Frances, a recently divorced San Franciscan book reviewer whose closest friends, a lesbian couple expecting their first child, offer her the gift of Tuscany. “It’s a gay tour of Tuscany,” says Patti (Sandra Oh). “Relax. You won’t get hit on.”

And Frances doesn’t, at least not initially. Besides, what she finds in Tuscany is something potentially more valuable – the rewards of impulse shopping.

Drawn to a certain Tuscan villa in need of work, Frances decides to buy it, hoping that rebuilding the house also will rebuild the damage her former husband did to her self-esteem. Hiring a team of horny Polish craftsmen certainly helps and Frances, emboldened if overwhelmed by the task at hand, immerses herself in the remodeling effort, making fast friends along the way while being reminded of an important lesson: beauty attracts kindness.

It also attracts plenty of Italian men, including the smoldering Marcello (Raoul Bovia), who literally sweeps Frances off her feet and into his bed just when she needs it most. But at what cost Marcello? And is a man really what Frances needs?

Those who know the book shouldn’t expect to find it here – the changes are numerous. However, the changes also are a necessity; without them, audiences would have been left with a poetic discourse in how growing oregano, mastering the preparation of local Tuscan cuisine and repairing a 300-year-old house can help to change your life.

Some of that is retained here for flavor – the poetry of Mayes’ prose, for instance, is delivered in the glorious form of Tuscany itself – but in order to make her film work, Wells needed a dramatic arc. She gives us one in her version of Frances, with Lane’s winning, beautifully measured performance effortlessly stealing our affection and grounding the film’s contrivances along the way.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

NOWHERE IN AFRICA, written and directed by Caroline Link, based on the novel by Stefanie Zweig, 138 minutes, rated R, in German with English subtitles.

Caroline Link’s excellent, Academy Award-winning foreign-language film, “Nowhere in Africa,” follows the recent “Shanghai Ghetto” and “The Pianist” in exposing another corner of the Holocaust, stripping it bare of sentiment but, in this case, not of a sense of humor.

Based on a true story, the film follows three German Jews – father, mother, daughter – who flee Frankfurt in 1938 for the rural flatlands of East Africa in the long, turbulent days leading up to the Nazi stronghold.

One member of the family leaves Germany first – Walter Redlich (Merab Ninidze), the patriarch of the group, who arrives in Kenya to find work at a cattle ranch before sending for his wife, Jettel (Juliane Kohler of “Aimee and Jaguar”) and young daughter, Regina (Lea Kurka).

When Jettel and Regina arrive, it’s with the belief that all of this unpleasantness will be behind them within a year – two years tops. As such, Jettel unpacks only what she believes she’ll need – such as an elaborate gown, which suggests this striking woman has no idea what awaits her in this barren land, the likes of which are about to consume her while becoming her home for the next several years.

Winner of five German Film Awards, including Best Picture, and beautifully acted by a great cast, including Karoline Eckertz as the teenage Regina and Sidede Onyulo as the family cook, Owuor, “Nowhere in Africa” deals honestly with the past, refusing to romanticize the proceedings and thus ask us to feel something false and manufactured.

That’s often the difference between a film made with a European sensibility and a Hollywood sensibility, the latter of which is more inclined to pat our hands when all is said and done in an effort to reassure us that all is OK with the world.

Directors like Caroline Link know better, and in her work, you find electrifying jolts of the truth.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those capped and in bold print are new to video stores this week.

A Man Apart ? C-

A Mighty Wind ? B+

Anger Management ? C-

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM ? A-

BOAT TRIP ? F

Bowling for Columbine ? A-

Bringing Down the House ? B

Bulletproof Monk ? D

Chicago ? A

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind ? C

Confidence ? B-

The Core ? B

Cradle 2 the Grave ? C-

Daddy Day Care ? D

DREAMCATCHER ? C-

From Justin to Kelly ? F

Gods and Generals ? D-

Head of State ? B+

Holes ? B+

House of 1,000 Corpses ? D

The Hunted ? C+

Identity ? B+

The Kid Stays in the Picture ? A

The Life of David Gale ? C-

The Lizzie McGuire Movie ? C+

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ? A-

NOWHERE IN AFRICA ? A

Phone Booth ? B

The Pianist ? A+

Punch Drunk Love ? B+

The Quiet American ? A

Raising Victor Vargas ? A

Real Women Have Curves ? A-

The Recruit ? B

Shanghai Knights ? B

Solaris ? C+

2 FAST 2 FURIOUS ? C-

The 25th Hour ? A

View from the Top ? C+