Italian actress Vanessa Hessler does an excellent job playing a modern day princess. Even though technically, she isn't. Since this story take place in 1950s Italy where an upper class girl and classical piano prodigy Aurora de Luca falls in love with one of the Ausperg brothers who lived next door to her who was very kind to her when she was thirteen years old and he dreams of becoming a writer. When her beloved father died suddenly, she is forced to live with her evil stepmother and mean-spirited stepsister who turns her family home into a hotel. She ends up working for her stepmother as a maid until she becomes of age to inherit her inheritance. She grows up to her into a beautiful young woman where an older maid and the cook protects her and love her like she is their surrogate daughter. When one of the brothers from her childhood return to their old home next door, now older and a successful businessman in the family business along with his parents, Aurora becomes excited and hopes it's the brother who befriended her when she was thirteen. Also, a rich, old lady with a mysterious past stays at the hotel and Aurora befriends her and learns she is in competition with the brother in order to secure a deal with another businessman both the brother and the old lady want to win a deal with. The brother's family uses the hotel for meals and Aurora deliver them food. The brother who name is Sebastian Ausperg doesn't remember her and treats her with much respect given to a someone who is the help. He has become a businessman obsessed with pleasing his father and gave up his dream of being a writer. Aurora is determined to get him to see her as more than the maid and hopes to bring back the kind spirited boy she remember as a teenager.
I really liked this two part minseries because the set, the location, the characters, and the location were great. It goes more deeply than the 1950s Disney's Cinderella where the characters just meet once and instantly fall in love. In this movie, the characters get to know one another. They aren't perfect and make mistakes. It's also a story about forgiveness and taking chances on one's self and never giving up even if the odds seemed against you. It's a story about following one's dreams. Yes, the story does get very Italian at points especially during the ball dance scene but it was still a great enjoying movie with a great message and compelling characters and a heroine you root for even when she is too scared or stubborn to follow her heart and dreams. A great movie you should give a chance to and one of the great adaptation of the Cinderella score with a beautiful score too.
