As you would imagine, Rory is dying and doesn’t have long to live, so the rest of the film is about this father and son duo getting beyond their anger and reconnecting. To complicate things, Rory observes that Emily “wears the pants” in the family and feels like he’s getting pushed around by his Emily and Frank as planning for the restaurant is not as Ian expected. Then add a subplot involving the attractive museum curator Claudia (Rosanna Arquette), the American doctor Weiss (Tim Matheson), and a cultural anthropologist (Peter Coyote)—who insists on capturing Rory’s dialect of Gaelic for research.
The Etruscan Smile is a fairly standard story of family, and you’re going to figure out quickly the direction the plot is moving. But what saves this predictable story are its characters, performances, and small twists in the predictable to make it worth watching.
“…what saves this predictable story are its characters, performances, and small twists…”
At the core is both Rory and Ian played wonderfully by Brian Cox and JJ Field. If anything, this is a showcase of veteran actor Brian Cox, who can still act his pants off. Although their deeply-rooted Scottish heritage makes them the fish out of water in the San Francisco setting, they almost come off as the most normal compared to these “Americans.” Both have to humble themselves dramatically and expose their greatest weakness to become father and son. The most touching moments are between Rory and his grandson Jamie. It is Rory’s relationship with his grandson that provides the sweetest moments in the film as well as the vehicle for Rory to confront his shortcomings as a father to Ian.
You know Rory and Claudia will eventually fall for one another. Predictable. But the emasculated Ian juxtaposed with his strong wife, Emily, plays out in an unexpected way. Quite frankly, it’s a refreshing new take and that my use of “emasculated” is unfair.
The Etruscan Smile is a heart-warming story of father and sons. Its use of the beauty of Gaelic culture and language for flavoring adds to a story of how family has a profound effect on the person we become along the giant walls we build as an obstacle to reconnecting and growing as adults ourselves.
"…a showcase of veteran actor Brian Cox, who can still act his pants off."
