Is the world’s best job enough?
“An 85 minute feast of wealth and luxury….Margherita Buy, the beautiful actress who was 51 when she played Irene, won awards at film festivals for the role and you can understand why. Her performance is exquisitely modulated.”
– Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News
“A smartly written and directed light comedy….poignant.”
– George Sax, Artvoice
“A frequently sumptuous pleasure to watch….beautiful cinematography.”
– Jen Chaney, The Dissolve
“Director Maria Sole Tognazzi gently explores what it means to be unmarried, middle-aged and female.
She illuminates a seldom-seen line of work, bathes her flawed characters in affection, and makes points both obvious and astute, soft-pedaling her insights with celebratory travelogue touches.”
– Sheri Linden, The Los Angeles Times
“Pleasant and engaging.
There is a warm naturalness to the dialogue, and Buy is wonderfully evocative.”
– Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic
A Five Star Life is the sophisticated and delightful story of one woman’s quest for personal and professional fulfillment set against some of the most stunning cities and opulent hotels of the world.
Stylish and independent, Irene (Margherita Buy) is a single career woman in her forties with a job to die for. As a luxury hotel critic, she checks into the world’s finest establishments incognito to assess their standards, meticulously judging every detail from the concierge’s manners to the temperature of the food to the quality of the bedsheets.
Her elegant, unattached lifestyle affords her the freedom to jet around the globe at a moment’s notice to experience a world of luxury, but doesn’t leave her with much of a personal life. On the rare occasions she’s not working, Irene’s world revolves around her absent-minded sister Silvia (Fabrizia Sacchi), two lively young nieces, and best friend–and former lover–Andrea (Stefano Accorsi).
But when Silvia begins to deal with marital problems and Andrea faces an unexpected life change, Irene’s small support network is fractured and she struggles to balance a glamorous career with the growing desire for something more. After a chance meeting shakes up her worldview even more, she’s compelled to reexamine her choices and charts her own path to happiness despite the expectations of others.
Described by The Hollywood Reporter as “part Up In The Air, part Eat Pray Love,” A Five Star Life is a warm and heartfelt trip worth taking. (c) Music Box Films
