Julie Andrews is, for most of us, the eternal Maria von Trapp or the practically perfect Mary Poppins. We see her in starched aprons, spinning on mountaintops, or gliding over London with a parrot-head umbrella. But there is a weirder, darker, and much more "adult" corner of her filmography that doesn’t get played on loop during the holidays. It’s a movie called A Fine Romance.
Honestly, if you haven’t heard of it, you aren't alone. It’s one of those projects that slipped through the cracks of the early 90s, caught between the twilight of old-school Hollywood glamour and the gritty rise of indie cinema.
Released in 1991 (though it took its sweet time reaching various global markets under titles like Cin Cin or A Touch of Adultery), this film is a far cry from the spoonfuls of sugar we expect from Dame Julie. It’s a story about betrayal, booze, and the messy reality of two people whose spouses are having an affair with each other.
What Actually Happens in A Fine Romance?
The setup sounds like the start of a bad joke. Julie Andrews plays Pamela Piquet, a very "British," very "strait-laced" doctor’s wife living in Paris. She crosses paths with Cesareo Grimaldi, played by the legendary Italian icon Marcello Mastroianni.
The twist?
Cesareo’s wife is sleeping with Pamela’s husband.
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Instead of just crying into their tea, these two decide to stalk their cheating partners across France. They huddle in cafes. They spy from street corners. They drink—a lot. It’s a "boulevard comedy" based on the French play Tchin-Tchin by François Billetdoux, and it is fascinatingly uncomfortable to watch.
The Julie Andrews We Never Knew
For decades, the public tried to box Julie into the "nanny" archetype. She fought it constantly. You've seen her try to break out before, like in S.O.B. (directed by her husband Blake Edwards), where she famously mocked her own "wholesome" image.
But in A Fine Romance, the rebellion is quieter. Pamela Piquet is a woman who admits she is "strait-laced and British" because she’s busy, not because she’s cold. Watching her share scenes with Mastroianni is surreal. He is the ultimate Latin lover, looking tired and crumpled, while she is trying to maintain her poise while her life falls apart.
The chemistry isn't "magical" in the Disney sense. It’s grainy. It’s human. They argue, they get drunk, and they eventually realize that their spouses might actually be better suited for each other than they are for them.
Why Nobody Talks About It
If you look for this movie today, you’ll probably find a grainy DVD or a questionable YouTube upload. It was a flop. A big one.
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Critics at the time were brutal. They didn’t like the pacing. They didn't like the dubbing (some versions are notoriously poorly synced). Even the director, Gene Saks, seemed to struggle with the tone. Was it a farce? A tragedy? A romantic comedy? It couldn’t decide.
Also, the title was a mess.
- In Italy, it was Cin Cin.
- In Northern Europe, it was Tchin-Tchin.
- In the UK, they tried to spice it up as A Touch of Adultery.
- Japan went with Afternoon Tea in Bed.
By the time it landed as A Fine Romance in the US, the momentum was dead. It went almost straight to video.
The Reality of Working with Marcello Mastroianni
Despite the film's failure, Julie herself had nothing but praise for her co-star. She once described Marcello as the "most natural man to work with," calling him a "darling human being."
Think about that pairing for a second. The woman from The Sound of Music and the man from La Dolce Vita. It’s a fever dream of 20th-century cinema. According to Richard Stirling’s biography, Julie Andrews: An Intimate Biography, the two stars got along famously on set in Paris and Biarritz, even if the movie around them was crumbling.
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Is It Actually Worth Watching?
Look, it’s not Victor/Victoria. It’s not a masterpiece. But if you’re a Julie Andrews completist, A Fine Romance is essential viewing for one reason: it shows her as a flawed, middle-aged woman dealing with real-world pain.
She rides a motorcycle. She wears Versace. She deals with a twenty-two-year-old son who she treats a bit like a von Trapp kid, even as she's navigating a crumbling marriage. It’s a glimpse into the "work" part of her career that she discusses in her second memoir, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years.
She was a survivor. Even when a movie didn't land, she showed up, did the job, and maintained that legendary poise.
Where to Find It and What to Look For
If you’re going to hunt this down, don’t expect a digital 4K restoration. You’re looking for a relic.
- Check the Title: Search for Cin Cin or A Touch of Adultery if A Fine Romance doesn't show up in database searches.
- The Soundtrack: The music is by Pino Donaggio, who did the score for Carrie. It has a weirdly haunting quality that doesn’t always match the "comedy" on screen.
- The Wardrobe: Pay attention to the costumes. Julie was dressed by Versace for this film, and she looks sharp, even when her character is supposed to be "starchy."
The film serves as a reminder that even the biggest icons have these strange, "lost" chapters in their lives. It wasn't the "fine romance" the title promised, but as a piece of film history, it's a fascinating look at an artist trying to redefine herself when the world just wanted her to keep singing in the Alps.
To truly understand this era of her career, your next step should be to track down her memoir Home Work. It provides the actual context of what it was like for her to balance these European film experiments with her chaotic personal life and her marriage to Blake Edwards during the late 80s and early 90s.